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Encyclopedias, dictionaries and directories take on a life of their own in Jack Lynch's new book — a history of reference systems that becomes an examination of the nature of lexicography itself.

In Petina Gappah's new novel, an albino Zimbabwean woman named Memory is charged with murdering her adoptive father. She narrates the tale from inside a maximum security prison in Harare.

Patrick Dacey's debut story collection follows the people of a fictional Massachusetts town hit hard by war, weather and economic turmoil. Critic Michael Schaub praises Dacey's emotional honesty.

The Indecisive Chicken combines the recipes and life stories of eight women from communities across India who now make their home in Dharavi, a teeming slum featured in Slumdog Millionaire.

Carlos Giménez's graphic novel Paracuellos is an unflinching memoir of his time in the orphanages of Franco's Spain; it makes the experiences of a few boys in the 1950s inescapably universal.

Writer Helen Oyeyemi's new collection features nine stories all linked through the idea of keys that open rooms, doors, even hearts. She says she felt haunted by keys while working on the book.

Kate Mosse's new gothic thriller uses the concept of taxidermy as a clever skeleton on which to hang its scares. It's a dark and tangled tale that's definitely not for the squeamish.

Helen Fielding's memorable comic creation started as a series of columns in the Independent some 20 years ago; as the paper goes digital-only, Fielding says the next Bridget could come from a blog.

The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict is the earliest known prison memoir by an African-American writer. Written by Austin Reed in the 1850s, it was discovered at an estate sale in 2009.

Steve Inskeep talks with former NPR foreign correspondent Anne Garrels about her new book Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia.