Meg Wolitzer presents stories celebrating a quarter century of clever, funny, playful, weird, and literary writing, in print and online, showcased by the powerhouse indie publisher McSweeney’s. These include a comic fantasy, “Poor Little Egg-Boy Hatched in a Shul, by Nathan Englander, performed by Ophira Eisenberg; an unusual mother/son story, “Crumb Cake,” by Etgar Keret, performed by Andy Richter; and unlikely heroism at the amusement park in “Stay Brave, My Hercules,” by Ernie Wang, performed by BD Wong.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents perfect mismatches. In “The Man and the Moose” by Ben Loory, performed by Michael Cerveris, a man’s best bud has antlers. In “Red Dirt Don't Wash” by Roger Mais, performed by Brandon J. Dirden, a young man’s courtship is at risk—she doesn’t like his shoes. And a piano lesson is out of tune in “The Piano Teacher’s Pupil” by William Trevor, performed by Kathryn Erbe.

Meg Wolitzer presents three works about squabbles between people who love one another most. Jenny Allen’s “In the Car” chronicles the European road trip of a long married couple—and he won’t ask for directions. The reader is Alysia Reiner. In Jade Jones’ “Your Aunt Thinks She Ramona Africa,” a close family doesn’t know what to do with a nonconformist. Crystal Dickinson reads. And in “CobRa,” by Katherine Heiny, the methods of uncluttering guru Marie Kondo almost tidy away a marriage. Peter Grosz reads.

This story was read as a part of a live show hosted by the great Judy Blume, on the subject of banned books, something she personally knows about. This story hasn't been banned on its own, but many of Roxane Gay's works have, including Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture and Hunger: A Memoir of My Body. Because these bans are so prevalent, and so pernicious, we wanted to talk about that cultural argument, too. Surprising to absolutely no one, we at Too Hot are free speech boosters; so after the reading, we feature a fascinating talk with Amanda Jones, the author of That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, who is on the frontline of this culture war in Louisiana. The story was read by actress Jessica Hecht. Our host is Aparna Nancherla.

Meg Wolitzerpresents three stories featured in the anthology A Century of Fiction in the New Yorker.The magazine celebrates its 100th birthday, and this is the second of two programs this season in which we join the party. Robert Coover’s “Going for a Beer” begins with a date and a drink, but you’ll be surprised where it ends up. The reader is SELECTED SHORTS’ late founder and host, Isaiah Sheffer. Cynthia Ozick’s moving story “The Shawl” pulls grace from the worst of circumstances in a powerful reading by Lois Smith. And V.S. Pritchett turns a ladder into a sly symbol of marital discord in our third tale. “The Ladder” is performed by Cynthia Nixon.

Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about the things she loves most: books and words and why they matter. In Ben Loory’s “The Book,” a contrarian volume becomes a literary sensation, and alters one woman’s life. The reader is Jane Kaczmarek. In “Things I Know to be True” by Kendra Fortmeyer, originally published in One Story, a damaged veteran uses words to hold his life together. The reader is Calvin Leon Smith. And in a special feature, Wolitzer visits a favorite indie bookstore, Three Lives & Company: http://threelives.com/who.html The Greenwich Village icon, which was founded in the 1980s, is a haven for readers, writers, and book lovers of all kinds. Michael Cunningham calls it “One of the greatest bookstores on the face of the Earth. Every single person who works there is incredibly knowledgeable and well read and full of soul.” And you’ll meet some of them—and the books they treasure--on this show.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents a quartet of summer stories. Umberto Eco endures trial by mini bar in “How to Travel with a Salmon,” read by Jin Hah. A scenic getaway turns eerie in Elizabeth Spencer’s “The Weekend Travelers,” read by Campbell Scott. Life looks up—way up—for an overworked restaurant owner in “The Man, The Restaurant, and the Eiffel Tower,” by Ben Loory, read by Stana Katic. And upper-class “frenemies” have a reckoning in Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” read by Maria Tucci.

Meg Wolitzer presents stories that take the idea of “the magic of fiction” literally—or literarily. The British writer Penelope Lively offers up a tricky combination of love and real estate in “The Third Wife,” performed by real-life husband and wife Patricia Kalember and Daniel Gerroll. The only “trick” in our next story, “Tempo,” by R.O. Kwon, is the trick the mind plays when it wishes the present would restore a lost bit of the past. The reader is Hettienne Park. And Dave Eggers’ “The Alaska of Giants and Gods” includes a real magic act, but also the longing for some other kind of magic, misplaced on a rocky road, to be restored. Kate Burton reads.