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Saxophone legend John Coltrane's 1964 recording A Love Supreme is one of the masterworks in the canon of jazz. A new edition includes the only live performance of the complete work. Writer Ashley Kahn, whose new book goes behind the scenes of the landmark album, has an essay on the project.

Novelist Lee Smith says she has based her new work of fiction, The Last Girls, on a personal experience: a 1966 boating adventure along the mighty Mississippi River. Smith says it's a story about "aging, among other things." Smith talks with NPR's Bob Edwards.

Friday the 13th is the perfect opening day for a movie about luck. And that describes Intacto, a psychological thriller from Spain. NPR film critic Bob Mondello offers a review.

Lawrance Bernabo holds a doctorate in rhetoric and teaches online courses at the community college in Duluth, Minn. In his spare time, he writes product reviews for Amazon.com. Lots of them. Chris Julin reports.

In 1937, Bradford Washburn and partner Robert Bates climbed Mt. Lucania, a 17,000-foot peak in the Yukon Territory. They very nearly failed to return. The book Escape from Lucania chronicles the expedition. NPR's John Ydstie speaks with Washburn, 92, and author David Roberts.

Allison Pearson's novel I Don't Know How She Does It tracks the struggles of a fictional mom balancing the stress of work and home. Pearson speaks with NPR's Madeleine Brand.

The new Star Trek movie Nemesis is out -- the tenth in a series of films derived from the various 'Trekkie' TV shows. John Ordover, executive editor of Star Trek Books, offers a brief history of the movies and discusses the newest offering with NPR's John Ydstie.

The State Department has collected essays of 15 top authors on what it means to be an American writer. The anthology, aimed at promoting American values abroad, will be distributed free at U.S. embassies worldwide. An anti-propaganda law makes it illegal to disseminate the works in the United States, but they are available on a government Web site aimed at foreign audiences. NPR's Susan Stamberg interviews novelists Bharati Mukherjee and Charles Johnson about their participation in the project.

Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce hit it big in the United States directing such action thrillers as Clear and Present Danger. Now he's returned to Australia to make two quieter and more serious films. Both Rabbit Proof Fence and The Quiet American deal with race and colonialism. Howie Movshovitz reports.

Neither a shaky economy nor industry scandals deterred collectors from New York's art auctions this week. Contemporary work sold for several million dollars. But the future of the market remains cloudy. David D'Arcy reports.