James Franco, whose Faulkner adaptation for the big-screen, “As I Lay Dying,” is playing at Cannes, discusses his love of Faulkner and his ability to handle multiple projects at once.    

“And the Mountains Echoed,” a multigenerational novel by Khaled Hosseini, explores how characters define themselves through the choices they make.    

“What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American G.I. in World War II France,” a book by the historian Mary Louise Roberts, documents rape and other misconduct among the greatest generation.    

In a new anthology of essays, 21 nurses describe the often quiet work of keeping patients alive.    

The playwright Nicky Silver has adjusted Kurt Vonnegut’s 1993 play “Make Up Your Mind” so it can be staged in Boston.    

In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book, “Americanah,” the main characters find that race matters wherever they go.    

Visitors from mainland China turn to Hong Kong bookstores for forbidden delights: shelves of scandal-packed exposés about their Communist Party masters.