Topic: Kurt Vonnegut

Reader recommendation: And So It Goes

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

Kurt Vonnegut: unpublished work released through Kindle

A Vonnegut novella titled 'Basic Training,' about a young man visiting an eccentric relative, is available through Kindle only.

And So It Goes

The first serious biography of counterculture hero Kurt Vonnegut reveals a man wounded by his childhood and full of contradictions as an adult.

"Slaughterhouse Five" ban is reversed – sort of – at a Missouri school

"Slaughterhouse Five" and another banned book are now back in the Republic High School library – but must stay in a restricted area.

Still no great 9/11 novel?

Not yet, says our critic. But while we wait for the standout still to come, here are a few near misses.

Kurt Vonnegut gets the boot in a Missouri school

A high school in Republic, Mo. bans two books, including Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five," after a parent complains about material incompatible with the Bible.

Write stuff: The workshop that shapes American literature

The Iowa Writers' Workshop, on its 75th anniversary, offers a window into the state of American letters.

Those Guys Have All the Fun

It's big and it's bloated but – like the sports empire that it covers – this is a book that you don't want to miss.

10 novels in translation you should know

The finalists for the 2011 Best Translated Book Award – sponsored by the Three Percent weblog – were announced last week. The winning works of fiction selected were translated from German, Spanish, Afrikaans, Czech, French and Swedish. To read these books is to travel the globe in extraordinary style.

Bestselling books the week of 2/24/11, according to IndieBound*

What's selling best in independent bookstores across America.

Bestselling books the week of 2/17/11, according to IndieBound*

What's selling best in independent bookstores across America.

Bestselling books the week of Feb. 10, 2011, according to IndieBound*

What's selling best in independent bookstores across America.

Bestselling books the week of Feb. 3, 2011, according to IndieBound*

What's selling best in independent bookstores across America.

The Making of a Writer, Volume 2

The second installment of Gail Godwin’s journals traces her life and career from London to Iowa.

Top 10 time travelers

Strictly speaking, we're all one-way time travelers: plodding forward through the progress of existence second-by-second. And thanks to special relativity, you could, in principle, skip ahead into the future by traveling at a very high speed relative to your contemporaries. But that, too, would be a one-way trip.

As for travel back in time? Some physicists cautiously speculate that it is possible, but only time will tell. In the meantime, here are our top ten favorite fictional time travelers.

Banned Books Week: Why these 10 classics got kicked out of class

Is this is a roundup of objectionable literature – or a Great Books roster? The same titles that some call great literature others find to be filthy, bad, or dangerous. Here are a handful of the often surprising – and sometimes downright baffling – reasons that objectors around the world wanted to ban these books.

Channeling my inner Hemingway – or not

'I Write Like,' a hot new website, purports to tell visitors which bestselling authors' work their prose most resembles.

Last Night in Twisted River

A life on the lam leads to a career as a novelist in John Irving’s new novel.

Classic review: Lamentations of the Father

Ian Frazier – winner of the 2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor – turns his dry wit on everything from parenthood to global warming.

Strength in What Remains

Tracy Kidder’s true story about a Tutsi medical student who fled to the US illustrates the power of forgiveness.

IndieBound paperback bestseller list

The Match King

A biography of Ivar Kreuger – audacious con man and the Bernard Madoff of his era.

From Japanese blogger to global novelist

Mieko Kawakami: From blogger to global novelist

Her latest novel won Japan's top prize for new fiction writers. Kawakami is one of an emerging group of young Japanese women writers.

Snicker you not at this prose

Ian Frazier turns his dry and sometimes dark wit on everything from parenthood to global warming.