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With the holidays fast approaching, it's time to put the finishing touches on yuletide decorations and last-minute prep for those year-end parties. Host Liane Hansen speaks with style maven Martha Stewart about holiday traditions, cooking, health and wellness.

While many people hunt for the best bargains at Christmastime, others just want to be sure their spending reflects well upon their values and political beliefs. Daryl Herrschaft, of the Human Rights Campaign, and environmental blogger Wendy Koch, of USA Today discuss the popularity of conscientious shopping guides, such as Herrschaft's Buyers Guide for Equality.

Southern California's Pasadena Playhouse, a training ground for actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, brings down the curtain for the last time this weekend. The theater is deep in debt and, barring a last-minute reprieve from supporters, will close after Sunday's performance of Camelot.

Through a striking art installation, actress Emma Thompson chronicles a naive 18-year-old from a small Eastern Europe republic who was caught up in London's sex trade. Her name is Elena, and her story makes its debut in New York on Nov. 10.

Best-selling author Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol, draws on the lore and mystique of the Freemasons. Once the object of fear and suspicion, the group is now a social organization with spiritual leanings.

A painting by the late pop artist Andy Warhol of 200 $1 bills, recently sold for $44 million. That's one of the highest prices ever paid for one of his paintings. Art writer Sarah Thornton has been exploring why works by Warhol maintain such high prices — his continued fame is one reason. She talks to Steve Inskeep about her article in The Economist.

Writer Aravind Adiga won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his novel The White Tiger. Now, he has a book of 14 short stories set between the assassinations of two Indian leaders — one in 1984 and the other in 1991. Alan Cheuse says that in Between the Assassinations, Adiga reveals great breadth and depth in the hearts of his characters.

Nearly 40 years ago, Charles Manson and his commune of followers embarked on a gruesome killing spree in California. Now, director John Waters argues for one of the murderers' release from prison.

Remember that scene where Dorothy and Toto realize they're not in Kansas anymore? That same combined sensation of awe, homesickness and hallucination probably described the people in the crowd at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976, as they stood before William Eggleston's color photography exhibit for the first time.

London cabbie, Will Grozier, offers some book recommendations. Included are: The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane; Sepulchre, by Kate Mosse (due out in April); and Drop City by T.C. Boyle.