Dec 17th, 2008 · The Holocaust provides the backdrop for a spate of new movies. While The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Reader just premiered, they're closely followed by three others. Can we chalk up this trend to an artistic need? Critic Andrew Wallenstein says no — the timing indicates the real reason: the Holocaust is Oscar bait.
Dec 15th, 2008 · Dear reader, sitting down with a collection of letters — or a vivid reflection on them — affords a singularly intimate encounter with a writer, so please give a look to these exercises in mail bonding.
Dec 12th, 2008 · Two new movies — Doubt and The Reader — deal with sex with minors. Doubt takes place during a time of change for the Roman Catholic church in the 1960s. The Reader is about two generations of Germans, those who lived through World War II and those who learned about it as history.
Dec 12th, 2008 · Writer Mark Jordan Legan takes us through reviews of The Reader, a mystery set in post-World War II Germany and The Day the Earth Stood Still, a sci-fi thriller, among others.
Dec 10th, 2008 · Adapting books for the big screen can be tricky — more so when language is key to the story. Stephen Daldry's film is handsome, but it ultimately shortchanges this story of an illicit Holocaust-era tryst.
Aug 1st, 2008 · Brunonia Barry says that the storyline for her debut novel came to her in a dream — but the first-time author couldn't have imagined the fate of her self-published work. With the help of local book clubs, Barry launched The Lace Reader into the big leagues.
Jul 7th, 2008 · Amazon's electronic reader, Kindle, is starting to replace paperbacks, but people question how well the device holds up to surf and sand. Can summer reading be done on the device? Lynn Neary finds out.
May 24th, 2008 · Nam Le's The Boat is a collection of short stories loosely based on Le's own experience as a writer. The book takes the reader from the South China Sea to Bogota to Tehran and Beyond. He talks with Guy Raz about writing from experience and creating fiction through research.