The Best of NPR Books for February 26, 2015

This week: Ruby, all-female Avengers, poet Richard Blanco, Kim Gordon and "anti-fantasy" comics.

This week, how Oprah's Book Club changed a struggling writer's life, the American dream of poet Richard Blanco, and the new all-female Avengers. Plus the memoirs of Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, and rundown of grownup new graphic novels about the difficulties of wish fulfillment. CODE SWITCH Struggling Writer's Debut Novel Gets Coveted Oprah Winfrey Nod Oprah Winfrey has named Ruby, a novel about a beautiful, abused woman in Texas, as her March book club selection. That could make first-time novelist Cynthia Bond into a literary star. Read this story MICHEL MARTIN, GOING THERE An American Dream, A Cuban Soul: Poet Richard Blanco Finds 'Home' While immigration is a subject of some of the most intense political debates in this country, inaugural poet Richard Blanco says it also drives his art. He shares his journey of becoming an American. Read this story AUTHOR INTERVIEWS The Woman Behind Marvel's Newest Team Of Heroines G. Willow Wilson says it's been a blast creating a team of all-female Avengers for the new Marvel Universe coming in May. "We really got no directives besides 'Pick your team and go nuts,' " she says. Read this story AUTHOR INTERVIEWS Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon On Marriage, Music And Moving On Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore were indie rock's power couple — until their marriage, and their band, ended in 2011. Gordon looks back on the experience in a new memoir called Girl in a Band. Read this story BOOK NEWS & FEATURES In These New Comics, Getting Your Wish Isn't Always Great Mainstream superhero comics have a streak of teenage wish-fulfillment: Great power and great responsibility. But a new wave of comics is exploring how complicated it can be when wishes are granted. Read this story