Carlos Fuentes, a towering figure in Mexican and world literature, helped ignite the Latin American literary explosion known as "El Boom."

In 'Engines of Change,' Paul Ingrassia looks at history through 15 iconic cars, including the Ford Model T, Chevrolet Corvette, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Prius.

Margaret Yardley Potter's 'At Home on the Range' has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny with advice and rec ipes woven together.

Book review: John Irving's 13th novel, 'In One Person,' is a story about AIDS, sexual identity and the loss that comes with growing up. Like in 'The World According to Garp' and 'The Cider House Rules,' 'Person' stakes out a stance on a contentious politic al issue.

Book review: 'The Hunt for KSM' by Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer retraces the hunt, capture and interrogation of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

In the distinctly unglamorous memoir 'A Natural Woman,' singer-songwriter Carole King details how she juggled early fame and family and a search for normalcy.

The author first hit it big in the 1970s with a string of go-to books for kids. She recently helped turn 'Tiger Eyes' into a film and is busy on a 1950s-set novel.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: More than 400 authors are scheduled over the two days at USC. Writers as varied as Anne Rice and Jeff Kinney will hold court.

An interracial couple navigates modern life in South African in 'No Time Like the Present,' by Nadine Gordimer.

An online community for young writers, Figment aims to let users steer the conversations while connecting them to the larger world of literature.