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When Rhoda Janzen was 9, her mother busted her for reading the thriller 666 during an incredibly dull sermon at their Mennonite church. To this day, Janzen revels in the terribly written prose about the Antichrist, cannibalism, global famine and apocalyptic doom.

Danish director Lone Scherfig is making a name for herself as a female director whose movies tend to focus on human relationships. "I like to see losers win," she says. Her latest film, One Day, chronicles a day in the life of two characters over the course of 20 years.

Shelby Rowe, a Chickasaw woman in Oklahoma City, describes how her connection to culture helped her heal from life challenges. She became a mom at 18 — followed by three difficult marriages.

In its first weekend, The Help grossed $2.5 million. But author W. Ralph Eubanks recommends Eudora Welty's "Where Is the Voice Coming From?", featured in The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty to show the full picture of a racially charged decade.

The author spent more than five years writing and researching her book, Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion. It gives a detailed account of the lives of founder L. Ron Hubbard and the man who succeeded him, David Miscavige.

Neal Thompson's new biography traces the life of the newspaper cartoonist who became an international celebrity and media superstar. Ripley's pioneering mix of the strange, the shocking and the barely believable shaped the way Americans saw the world.

Claire of the Sea Light is award-winning author Edwidge Danticat's newest work of fiction. She spoke to host Rachel Martin about how experiences of her own childhood in Haiti are reflected in her young protagonist.

In The Faithful Scribe, Shahan Mufti examines the history of Pakistan and that nation's relationship to the U.S. He interweaves the story of his own family with the tumultuous story of the nation. Mufti talks with NPR's Arun Rath about the future of the world's first Islamic democracy.

The Cuckoo's Calling, a debut mystery supposedly by a former British military man, was in fact written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, working under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel received positive reviews when it came out earlier this year.

Murder, corruption and political intrigue all feature heavily in A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel, by Pin Ho and Wenguang Huang. It chronicles an episode that's still reverberating through China's Communist Party.