Armoral Tuttle Public Library

For five generations, Patrick Tracey's family has been plagued by what he calls "a perfect storm of schizophrenia." In his new book, Stalking Irish Madness, he traces his family lineage — and the roots of the disease — all the way back to Ireland.

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During 40 years as fiction editor of the New Yorker magazine, William Maxwell worked with luminaries like Vladimir Nabokov and John Cheever. His own writings were often overshadowed by his job — but now they've been reissued by the Library of America to mark the centennial of his birth. NPR's Jacki Lyden finds out more about the man and his words.

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The last summer holiday, Labor Day, is fast approaching and Karen Grigsby Bates is planning to use the weekend to kick back and catch up on some summer reading.

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America America is an ambitious, old-fashioned novel about politics, power and class in a small, upstate New York town. The Nixon-era tale is Canin's sixth book.

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Journalist Jeroen van Bergeijk wanted an adventure, so he bought a 1988 clunker in his native Amsterdam and drove it across the Sahara with the intention of selling it. Within a week of arriving in Africa, he had dozens of offers. By then, however, he was attached to his vehicle and the possibilities it held.

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China's scale is so vast, its variety so great and its rising power so apparent, it acts as an enormous magnet fixing our attention. One result is a torrent of books — but how on earth to choose?

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