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Desire can have a profound effect on young adults during their formative years. Novelist John Irving turns 70 this year, and his latest novel is a coming-of-age story about loss, identity and AIDS — told by a bisexual narrator named Billy Abbott.

In 1919, Chicago was called the "youngest great city in the world." World War I had just come to a close, troops were coming home, industry was booming and crime was down. But in mid-July, just about everything that could go wrong in Chicago did.

In his new book, journalist Jack Hitt says America's amateur spirit goes back to the nation's origins — and it's nothing to be ashamed of. The Europeans viewed the Americans as an "unfinished people," Hitt says. "We were amateur everything." And it's only made the nation better.

China's newest five-year plan aims to make the country an aerospace powerhouse — and indirectly, a more modern, prosperous, sophisticated industrial nation. The plan would help Chinese companies expand outside national borders and grab a chunk of the aerospace market — but will it succeed?

The invention of Henry Ford's Model T in 1908 sparked the birth of the automobile industry. Since then, cars have played a monumental role in defining American culture. Paul Ingrassia's new book, Engines of Change, highlights 15 cars that have shaped the way Americans live.

You'd think spying on the Russians would require some training, but Naveed Jamali had none. "Probably some Magnum P.I. episodes and a few movies here and there," he says. "That was about it."

Bipartisan negotiators like Romney are rare, and his departure could lead to a more divisive Senate. He's the only Senate Republican to twice vote to convict ex-president Trump in impeachment trials.

Debbie Macomber's books don't get a lot of critical attention, but they've sold in the hundreds of millions. Her fans feel like they know and love the woman behind the words, so her publisher threw a party for them.

Despite being a big city paper, The New York Times has featured Verlyn Klinkenborg's editorials about life on his farm for years. A new collection of his essays, More Scenes from the Rural Life, offers even the city slickers a chance to daydream about cows.

Jennifer Lin-Liu's On the Noodle Road takes readers on a journey along the former Silk Road, looking for the origins of the noodle. But reviewer T. Susan Chang says that the book gets tied into knots when the quest turns cold.