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The humorist, who made his name with personal essays and other nonfiction, tells Steve Inskeep that his return to fiction kept taking him to surprising places. But the unhappy endings? Those he could have predicted.

Heat author Bill Buford finds "his McGee" indispensable — that is, Harold McGee's essential tome On Food and Cooking. "McGee is the most important person alive writing about food," Buford says.

Out of the Vinyl Deeps is a tribute to The New Yorker's first pop critic — a writer whose words were as accessible as a great backbeat. The articles, collected and edited by Willis' daughter, are like conversations that feel relevant and real.

A sad tale's best for winter, as Shakespeare wrote — and reviewer Alan Cheuse recommends The Snow Child, a sad but ultimately hopeful winter tale touched with myth and fairytale. Cheuse says this novel about Alaskan homesteaders, out now in paperback, has "a mysterious onward-pulsing life force."

Comics fans and car buffs alike will enjoy Drawn & Quarterly's new collection of early Gasoline Alley strips, which capture an America at the dawn of its national love affair with the automobile.

Writer Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer reflects on what the holiest day in Judaism has meant for her after an experience in Germany changed her connection to religion.

Time to read during the holidays, away from school and work, is a gift you give yourself, author and book critic Alan Cheuse says. His suggested list of 2005 holiday gifts includes tales of space, dinosaurs, music and a mystical poet.

Having a baby changes everything: "There's just no way to comprehend how completely your old identity vanishes," Klein says. Her new book is I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife & Motherhood.

The power of photos can be seen in our most popular picture essays of the year, with compelling images from South Sudan, the Philippines, Mexico (check out those artistic face coverings) and more.

Writer and commentator S. Pearl Sharp offers an audio essay about her experience as a fly on the wall at a recent meeting of the Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere, an all-white organization that is dedicated to understanding feelings about race.