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The term "Rube Goldberg machine" has become shorthand for a convoluted contraption made up of a series of chain reactions. But Goldberg was also a real person, whose ideas for whimsical devices have captivated imaginations for decades.

Anya von Bremzen's new memoir is a delicious narrative of memory and cuisine in 20th century Soviet Union. She writes about her family's own history and contemplates the nation's "complicated, even tortured, relationship with food."

Patrick Flanery's taut new novel, Fallen Land, delves into the housing crisis, creeping corporate surveillance and a "crisis of neighborliness" in American life. The backdrop: a half-built and crumbling subdivision outside of an unnamed American city.

Author Jesse Walker argues that believing in shadowy cabals and ominous secrets isn't just for people on the margins — it's as American as apple pie. He says that our nation's paranoia stretches back to the colonial era, and that some conspiracy theories are believed by a majority of Americans.

Iain Banks' last novel, The Quarry, follows awkward teen Kit, his dying father Guy, and a group of Guy's former friends as they search for a possibly incriminating videotape. Reviewer Ellah Allfrey says The Quarry isn't Banks' best work, but "it doesn't disappoint."

Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan was inspired by a real-life gorilla who lived in a mall in Tacoma, Wash. The author says humans have "a real obligation" to care responsibly for animals in captivity.

Susan Choi's new novel, My Education, is a study of relationships and how they end. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the book is a triumph for academic novels, portraying youth, love and naivete with exceptional style.

One of the biggest actresses of MGM's Golden Age, also lived a quiet life as an inventor. During World War II, Hedy Lamarr invented a form of wireless communication that led to Bluetooth, GPS and more.

Cartoonist Art Spiegelman's epic Holocaust graphic novel, Maus, was published 25 years ago. Spiegelman's new book, MetaMaus, explores that signature work through interviews, answers to persistent questions and examples of his early drawings.

Molly Antopol's short stories are set in many different times and places. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says each one will make you nostalgic for another era in short fiction, a time when writer like Bernard Malamud, and Issac Bashevis Singer and Grace Paley roamed the earth.