Mark Kurlansky's new book The Core of an Onion is part cookbook, part culinary history. Kurlansky gives readers dozens of facts about this rich vegetable that is able to grow in nearly every climate. In today's episode, Kurlansky gives Here and Now's Scott Tong a few onion fun facts and context about the onion's rich history.

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Chef and Food Network personality Marcela Valladolid combines her joy of cooking, appreciation of community, and love of Mexican cuisine in her new cookbook Familia: 125 Foolproof Mexican Recipes to Feed Your People. In today's episode, Valladolid speaks with Here and Now's Deepa Fernandes about the online cooking class she and her sister started during the pandemic. This pandemic cooking class offered a way to connect with others and a way to show appreciation of her Mexican roots, which inspired Valladolid to write Familia.

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The new cookbook The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z shows home chefs how to transform their forgotten leftovers into beloved meals. In today's episode, chef Tamar Adler talks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about how replenishing leftovers helps reduce food waste – and she shows her how to use an empty nut butter jar to create a delectable noodle dish.

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The Cookie That Changed My Life is a new cookbook by world-renowned baker Nancy Silverton (written with Carolynn Carreño). Silverton is the founder of LaBrea Bakery and has been a professional baker for more than 50 years; now she's sharing some recipes of baking perfection. In today's episode, Silverton talks with Here and Now's Robin Young about how to perfect not only peanut butter cookie recipes but also pies and cakes.

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It's the most wonderful time of the year: Books We Love season! In today's episode, Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes and our own Andrew Limbong sit down to chat about some of the best books they read in 2023. From Ringmaster — a biography of former WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon — to Prom Mom, a thriller about teenage exes looking back on their very dangerous past, Linda and Andrew find unexpected common ground in the bigger themes behind their respective selections.

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In the new book Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education, author Stephanie Land juggles single parenthood and going to college. Land is the author of the Netflix miniseries hit Maid, a story where a single mother cleans homes to make ends meet. In today's episode, Land speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about this next challenge of going to college as a single parent to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer.

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Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America re-tells American history from the experiences of Black people. In today's episode, political commentator and author Michael Harriot speaks with Here & Now's Celeste Headlee about how revisiting American history in the context of the Black perspective shows the country's story as one of triumph and survival.

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When author Caitlin Shetterly saw an influx of license plates from Massachusetts and New York arrive in her home state of Maine during the pandemic, inspiration struck for her debut novel. Pete and Alice in Maine follows a couple that moves the family out of New York City during the initial COVID-19 scare — but finds the baggage from Pete's affair and Alice's questions about her purpose follow them. In today's episode, Shetterly speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the very complicated idea of forgiveness, and how it eludes both of her characters.

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Vauhini Vara started writing some of the stories in This Is Salvaged when she was still in her 20s, two decades ago. From the complicated tension between two sisters to the way one mother chooses to selectively share information with her daughter, the stories in the book focus on the way people — primarily women — can struggle to connect with one another despite their best efforts. In today's episode, Vara tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes how time away provided perspective on her characters, and how she uses awkward or uncomfortable situations as jumping off points for her writing.

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The novel The Rachel Incident is rooted around a wonderful, messy friendship. Rachel and James live together, party, and get themselves into a peculiar situation with an older married couple. In today's episode, author Caroline O'Donoghue speaks with NPR's Miles Parks about how abortion and sexual repression in Irish society play a large role in Rachel's early adulthood. O'Donoghue also shares why it was important to her that the novel be told from an older Rachel's perspective, reflecting on her youth.

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