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The latest book by former New Yorker editor Robert Gottlieb, Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, reads more like scintillating gossip about the famous writer and his family than literary scholarship. NPR's Heller McAlpin is fine with that.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec by Jaques Tardi features a beautiful, gun-wielding detective and a horrifying prehistoric monster. Author Rosecrans Baldwin explains why this is no ordinary comic book. Do you have a favorite graphic novel? Tell us in the comments.

The Bird Artist, Howard Norman's 1994 novel about the murder of a lighthouse keeper, is set in Witless Bay. Author Da Chen writes that the distinctive setting makes this novel a success. What is your favorite book with an unforgettable setting? Tell us in the comments.

In fiction, Ann Beattie channels first lady Pat Nixon, while Ben Marcus looks at the consequences of nasty rhetoric, and Jonathan Odell imagines a slave healer's life. In nonfiction, the creators of Portlandia offer a guided tour of Portland, Ore., and Ellen Forney reflects on her bipolar disorder.

Cartoonist Ellen Forney documents her bipolar disorder in Marbles, a graphic memoir that sustains its honesty and humor through both manic and depressive phases. No matter what she's experiencing, Forney wants you to be there with her — and chances are you'll want to be there, too.

The cult favorite 1965 novel Dune was a classic of sci-fi literature. But author Leigh Bardugo says that when she was 12, Dune wasn't just an escape — it changed her world. Has a book ever opened your eyes to an alternate reality? Tell us in the comments.

Encouraging students to make healthier food choices is part of an ongoing wellness push at the Chula Vista Elementary School District. But it may be parents who have the most trouble adjusting.

The great Sanskrit epic The Birth of Kumara details the heavenly lovemaking of Shiva and Parvati. Author Aatish Taseer tells how reading the fifth-century epic connected him to classical India. What work of literature brought you closer to home? Tell us in the comments.

Food writer Ellen Brown has enlivened this often-maligned, yet much-beloved hot dish with dried porcini mushrooms and mozzarella cheese in a new book.

As the presidential campaign has unfolded, the candidates have traded polemics about wealth, class warfare, taxes, dependency and the role of government.