Kansas City Star: Books

Here is a sampling of recently released books to get young readers started on their summer reading adventures. Spending time reading keeps kids' minds sharp over the summer, and several books on our list get bonus points for encouraging additional brain exercise through foreign language and math.

Relying on newly disclosed and already disclosed documents from Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald's book shows that the scope of the NSA's surveillance exceeds not only our imagination but also the agency's capacity even to store, much less analyze, it all.

In one of her final interviews, Maya Angelou talked to The Star about courage, cooking and her planned visit to Kansas City's Kauffman Center. While she proved extraordinary with words, Angelou led many professional lives, including as an actress, director, singer, dancer, activist and professor.

Paris became the city of fashion and culture partly through 400-year-old architectural breakthroughs, such as the Pont Neuf and its famous boulevards, where strolling citizens enjoyed seeing and being seen.

KC native tells the story behind his 1983 best-seller, in which he collected stories from strangers during a 13,000-mile trek across much of the U.S.

Marvel Comics selects a handful of its best writers and partners them with the editorial staff during creative retreats. Together they map the story lines and connecting themes to be tackled by the dozens of titles the company publishes over the course of the next few years.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Although suicide shows up in every tale, Antonya Nelson's short story collection "Funny Once" is no downer as it shows the resilience and warmth of those left behind.

In her book "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," Misha Defonseca wrote of her experience of being a young Jewish girl on her own during World War II, fleeing into the woods where she was adopted by wolves, and killing a Nazi soldier.

As the original lyrics of 'Like a Rolling Stone' go up for auction next month, a new book explores the fandom surrounding Bob Dylan.

The 1960s conflict in Indochina is the vetting ground for a young American diplomat who grows wise amid love and disaster.