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It's hip to be square this weekend at the annual National School Scrabble Competition in Providence, R.I., where middle schoolers are facing off. The team that makes the highest play using the letter Q wins a signed Shaquille O'Neal basketball jersey.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse offers his annual recommendations for holiday gift-giving. This year's list includes novels of travel on Earth and in space, new versions of tales from the Bible, Africa and Mesopotamia, and collections of poetry and song.

It's amazing to complete a Ph.D., but can you dance to it? Some scientists are getting their groove on to explain their research. An online contest offers them cash prizes.

Over the past few weeks, Talk of the Nation has been asking for the books you think should be required reading for all college freshmen. Here are 10 of your suggestions.

Twelve Breaths a Minute: End-of-Life Essays captures the experiences of family members, doctors, caregivers and others who have learned valuable lessons from witnessing life's final moments.

Emily Dickinson is all over Tucson, Ariz. Reading, lectures, classroom lessons — it's all part of the Big Read Project, which is devoted to "inspiring people across the country to pick up a good book."

African-American philosopher Cornel West's new book laments the decline of "prophetic" black leadership, lifting up examples of people who were willing to risk their lives in the service of the truth.

The Vacationers is a cinematic family drama set on the picturesque island of Mallorca. While the narrative arc verges on predictable, the book's screwball charms make for a pleasant diversion.

An enormous cargo ship is stuck in the Suez Canal in Egypt, blocking one of the world's key shipping routes.

English rose from humble beginnings to become a language that's spoken by people from every corner of the Earth. In Globish, Robert McCrum tells the story of how a mongrel language slowly took the world by storm.