- There's a wide-ranging discussion over in Justine's comments section, leaping off from a recent NPR piece about the writing quality in Twilight and whether that should matter since it's for teens (paraphrasing). Tansy weighs in with a long post of her own, well worth your time, about the importance of reading bad books.
- Sarah Prineas considers fairy tale retellings and what makes them work (or not); comments excellent here too. See also: Deva Fagan's post.
- Speaking of fairy tales, there's a fascinating piece in the NYT on Bluebeard in light of a new film version. My own favorite version of Bluebeard is probably Greg Frost's brilliant, woefully underappreciated Fitcher's Brides.
- Sarah Weinman looks at authors developing new–and successful–strategies around e-books and other publishing models at Daily Finance.
- Oh, and the Washington Post really did the best version of the Obama at Prairie Lights story.
- Jim Hines surveyed first-time authors about their experiences breaking in; here are the results.
- Richard on I Spy, following Robert Culp's death. (I must admit to missing the boat on this one; but there's always DVD.)
- Salon's definitive 10 time travel movies. Good list overall, but THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE? And when director Brad Anderson's Happy Accidents, one of my own favorite movies OF ALL TIME and one of the best modern examples of the screwball sensibility around, is tragically omitted? For SHAME.
- Monica watched Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (with a title like that…) so we never have to.
- Make sure you check out Alan Gratz's blog this week for fantastic posts full of excellent pics from his trip to Japan.
- Finally, a list of 50 outrageously successful people who initially failed.