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NPR's Susan Stamberg asked three of our go-to independent booksellers to help fill our beach bags with good books. The result is a reading list that's all about youth and ritual.

Jell-O launched an ad campaign last week called Fun My Life, which piggybacks off the profane Twitter hashtag #FML. Advertising consultants are divided over whether the campaign is brilliant or crosses the line of good taste.

The sportswear company was forced to recall the pants two months ago for being too sheer. Lululemon blamed the see-through blunder on a style change and production problems.

Having a thick ribbon tied around your neck in the sweltering heat is, by all accounts, a revolting experience. We discovered that only 8 percent of men in our newsroom wear ties on any given summer day. We wondered, are we on the brink of a major fashion trend?

Lionel Shriver has never shied away from contentious topics. Her latest novel, Big Brother, tackles the hot-button issue of obesity as doll-maker Pandora deals with her brother — washed-up jazz pianist Edison — and his massive weight gain.

German spelling bees are about to get easier: The longest word in German has been retired. It has 63 letters.

The American combat mission in Afghanistan will end in 2014. One concern for U.S. officials is the possibility that Afghan security forces will splinter along ethnic lines. The worry then is that those troops will start taking orders from warlords.

For a film built almost completely from rehearsals on a bare stage, there's a surprising amount of drama — especially between a stage director and his charismatic star, French soprano Natalie Dessay.

Also: An American woman is reportedly gang-raped in India; wildfires continue to test firefighters in Southern California; the president is expected to fill some key court vacancies; and Turkey braces for more protests.

Prices were up 12.1 percent in April from a year earlier, according to the data trackers at CoreLogic. It's the latest sign of the housing sector's recovery.