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Women and children are the main victims in the Israel-Hamas war, with some 16,000 killed, according to the United Nations agency promoting gender equality.

Our go-to librarian says there are plenty of readers who find that "fiction gives you the truth of history and nonfiction gives you the facts." With that in mind, she shares some new titles.

Millions of people worldwide are leaving rural areas for urban ones. NPR Cities Project editor Franklyn Cater highlights five books that examine and celebrate 21st century life in the metropolis.

In softcover fiction, Laurent Binet plots an escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and Hanna Pylvainen explores the fundamentalist religion of her youth. In nonfiction, Seth Rosenfeld explains the FBI's involvement with the 1964 University of California, Berkeley, student protest movement.

In softcover nonfiction, Elizabeth Cline explores the high costs of cheap clothing, D.T. Max sheds light on the life and death of author David Foster Wallace, and Marco Roth reflects on his intellectual upbringing on New York's Upper West Side.

Novelist Bernard Cornwell returns to Saxon England while Libyan writer Hisham Matar delivers a tale of loss and Madeline Miller's debut reimagines The Iliad. In nonfiction, Sally Jacobs examines Obama's father, and Jim Steinmeyer recalls a magician who rivaled Houdini.

This week, there's fresh fiction from Pulitzer finalist Denis Johnson, novelist Tom Perrotta and newspaperman Pete Hamill; plus, travel editor Mark Adams explores Machu Picchu; Melissa Coleman reminisces about growing up off the grid; and Howard Means looks at the life of Johnny Appleseed.

In real life, having a pet is hard work — they're messy, hard to train, and losing them can be heartbreaking. But in literature, as author Julia Stuart writes, animals are delightful. Is there a literary animal that you love? Tell us in the comments.

It was a strange and wonderful year for young adult fiction, says critic Maggie Stiefvater. This list rounds up five magical books for young adults and grown-ups alike.

This week brings mystery writer P.D. James' homage to Jane Austen, a comic novel from Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel, a mountain climbing disaster story from Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan, and Mimi Alford's tale of her affair with President John F. Kennedy.