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NPR's Melissa Block talks with Mark Bittman, author of "How to Cook Everything" and The New York Times food column "The Minimalist," about alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. His suggestions range from leg of lamb to salmon.

Lily Tuck's novel of 19th century Paraguay wins the National Book Award for fiction. Tuck, awarded the prize for her novel The News From Paraguay, was one of five New York women authors nominated for the fiction award. Kevin Boyle won the nonfiction prize for Arc of Justice and Jean Valentine's Door in the Mountain won in the poetry category. Hear NPR's Lynn Neary.

Fathers, mothers and wives share the poignant final letters of troops killed in Iraq in the documentary, Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq.

I Am Charlotte Simmons, the latest novel from Tom Wolfe, depicts college as a hedonistic playground of non-stop drinking and rampant casual sex. The author traveled to universities across the country to research contemporary campus life. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Wolfe.

In a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, scientists unearth the bones of a new species of human... a find that could rewrite the history of human evolution. About three feet tall when fully grown, Homo floresiensis resembles our most primitive ancestors, but lived as recently as 13,000 years ago.

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's Snow is an admittedly political novel. But while its subject matter touches upon everything from the European Union to Islamic fundamentalism, Snow has been praised for its indelible characters, its insistence on a basic humanity. NPR's Steve Inskeep spoke with Pamuk about his latest novel.

The 20 finalists for the 2004 National Book Awards were announced today, and for the first time in the awards' 55-year history, all five of the fiction finalists are women. Greta Cunningham of Minnesota Public Radio reports.

Bob Dylan says that being labeled the voice of his generation actually got in the way of what he really wanted to do: write songs and play them. Hear his interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Tom Terrell has a review of Soul on Top, a re-release of a James Brown recording from 1970. On it, Brown sings jazz tunes such as "September Song" and "What kind of Fool am I?"

A few months back, we asked NPR listeners to submit their tales of how communities come together through food. From chickens roasted in a shipyard welding-rod oven, to pralines made in a prison cell, we air your stories to mark the start of the new series Hidden Kitchens.