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Adam Ross describes his darkly compelling collection of stories about brothers, loners, lovers, and lives full of good intentions, misunderstandings, and obscured motives, Ladies and Gentlemen, the follow-up to his celebrated debut novel, Mr. Peanut.

Rebecca Wolff tells us about her new novel, The Beginners, a chilling story of a girl whose coming of age is darkened by the secret history of her small New England town. She's drawn to a sophisticated, dashing couple new to town, but they may be more than they seem.

Jennifer Egan joins us to talk about her novel, Look at Me, the Leonard Lopate Show Book Club’s July selection. Look at Me, published in 2001, was a National Book Award finalist, and it explores the American obsession with image and self-invention. A fashion model named Charlotte Swenson suffers injuries in a car accident that leave her face so badly shattered that it takes 80 titanium screws to reassemble it. She is still beautiful but is oddly unrecognizable. Egan intertwines Charlotte’s narrative with the stories of other casualties of our infatuation with image—a teenaged girl starting a dangerous secret life, an alcoholic private eye, and an enigmatic stranger preparing a staggering blow against American society.

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Courtney Sullivan discusses her second novel, Maine, about four women who have nothing in common except for the fact that, like it or not, they’re related. Three generations of Kelleher women descend on the family’s beachfront property in Maine one summer, each grappling with their own hopes and fears.

Glen Duncan discusses his new novel, The Last Werewolf. It tells the story of Jake, a 201-year-old werewolf, who is the last of his species and has become deeply distraught and lonely.

The idea for the new novel "The Tragedy of Arthur" came to author Arthur Phillips when he was walking down the street and thought to himself: "I wonder if I could write a Shakespeare play." His book is in the form of a memoir that serves as the introduction to an undiscovered play by William Shakespeare.

Sapphire, author of the novel Push, which became the screenplay for "Precious," talks about her latest novel, The Kid. It tells the story of Abdul Jones, the son of Precious, the heroine of Push, orphaned at 9 and left alone to navigate a violent world in which love and hate sometimes intertwine.

The coming-of-age story is a summer book standard. So many of us remember spending our lazy summer days with Francie from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," the March sisters of "Little Women" or Holden Caulfield of "Catcher in the Rye." The next pick for our Summer Book Club furthers this tradition through a uniquely accurate adolescent voice. Jo Ann Beard's "In Zanesville" follows a teenage narrator and her best friend through high school life in 1970s small-town Illinois. The novel is so transfixing, Celeste claimed she couldn't put it down. John finished it and immediately passed it along to his daughters.

Songwriter Josh Ritter talks about his first novel, Bright’s Passage, and how he made the transition from writing music to writing a book. The novel tells the story of a journey taken by a father and his infant son, guided by a cantankerous goat and an angel.

Over our nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, we've become accustomed to hearing stories of death and destruction—loss of life has become the price of this war. Former Foreign Service officer Patricia McArdle has written a story of re-birth and a second chance at life, based on her time in Afghanistan. Her new novel, "Farishta," tells the story of Angela Morgan, whose husband died in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983. After mourning for 20 years, Angela is sent to an isolated British Army compound in Afghanistan, and it's there that she is reborn.

Dive into the creepy-crawly side of literature with author Goldie Goldbloom's recommendations of chilling and disturbed lit. She suggests three gruesomely enchanting books that feature freakish oddities, bizarre love and talking corpses.

All summer long we’re celebrating the season of relaxing and reading with our book club here at The Takeaway. Some of the novels we'll talk about this summer are escapist in a fantastical way. They’re easy to read and enjoy. Other books are escapist because they are deeply engrossing. They draw us in to a difficult story, making it impossible to look away from the problems the book brings to the surface. Today's book club pick does just that. It’s called "Oil On Water" by Helon Habila. "Oil On Water" tells the story of two journalists who are in pursuit of a scoop in the oil-rich, poverty-stricken Niger Delta.

Jaimy Gordon discusses her novel, Lord of Misrule, which was the recipient of the 2011 National Book Award. It’s set in the ruthless and often violent world of cheap horse racing, where trainers, jockeys, grooms, hotwalkers, loan sharks and touts all struggle to take an edge, prove their luck, or just survive. It follows five characters throughout a year and four races at Indian Mound Downs, downriver from Wheeling, West Virginia.

Eleanor Henderson discusses her novel, Ten Thousand Saints. It tells the story of a boy named Jude, who was adopted by hippies and spends much of his youth getting high with his best friend, Teddy. But when Teddy dies of an overdose, Jude's relationship with drugs and with his parents sinks to new extremes.

Bob Graham has accomplished a lot in his career. He served as governor, then senator of Florida, and on the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry Commission. Former Sen. Graham can now add “novelist” to his long list of achievements. His new book is called "Keys to the Kingdom: A Novel of Suspense." And while it’s fiction, some of the events and characters in the book bear a striking resemblance to former Graham’s real life. 

Senator Bob Graham, former two-term Governor of Florida who served eighteen years in the United States Senate, talks about his career in politics and his new novel, Keys to the Kingdom, a political thriller about a former Senator and co-chair of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry Commission who is murdered near his Florida home. Enter Tony Ramos, ex-Special Forces operative and currently a State Department intelligence analyst, who investigates his murder and uncovers a shocking international conspiracy linking the Saudi Kingdom to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

Ann Patchett talks about her new novel, State of Wonder, set deep in the Amazon jungle. It tells the story of Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist who is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on a possibly very valuable new drug.

Austen scholar William Deresiewicz reveals the remarkable life lessons hidden within Jane Austen's work. In A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter, he tells how Austen's devotion to the everyday, and her belief in the value of ordinary lives, can teach us important lessons about friendship and feeling, staying young and being good, and, of course, love.

Based on The Count of Monte Cristo, Alfred Bester's saga The Stars My Destination will transport you off the couch and into a roiling world of futuristic teleportation. Author John Baxter says the book injects new life and energy into a classic tale.

Writer, actor, and director Albert Brooks talks about his career and his new novel. Twenty Thirty: The Real Story of What Happens to America is set in the future, when America’s population is rapidly ageing and sucking up dwindling resources.