• John Banville on House of Meetings.
• Two more lists from John Freeman: the L.A. Times Books Finalists and Granta’s Best American Writers Under 35. On the latter, JSF may have been too obvious a choice, but there are some writers of interest.
• Tayari Jones: “On a few occasions, I’ve been forced to write the questions out so the interviewer can have something to say!” If this doesn’t reveal the sad state of literary journalism, I don’t know what does.
• Mike Harrison on Toby Litt’s latest: “It’s as if Lars von Trier & the young JG Ballard have been let loose in the gleaming corridors of some NHS flagship & are now being stalked by David Cronenberg.”
• More author oppression in Egypt.
• A stripper turned novelist has won £10,000 and she didn’t even have to take her clothes off.
• Louis Menand: “Is there anything that is not a quotation?”
• An Octavia E. Butler Memorial Tribute Fundraiser (via Locus)
• Silverblatt talks with Gore Vidal.
• Erin O’Brien reviews Liquid Love: The G-Spot Explosion.
• Scott Esposito on James Wood on Pynchon = a literary three-way? Well, no not exactly, but Scott raises some interesting points about “hysterical realism.”
• The New York Times discovers there are literary podcasts. About three years after the rest of us.
• W.H.Auden was a spy! (via Bookninja)
• Porn-o-matic.
• Tom Cruise will not sully the Watchmen film adaptation. (via The Beat)
• Yes, we had a minor trembler here in San Francisco last night. Since this makes two minor earthquakes in a week, I suppose the time has come to prepare an earthquake kit, which means, for the most part, restocking the bar.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this until now, but Rick Kleffel has the scoop. Ted Chiang, author of the excellent short story collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, has a new book called The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate. Kleffel reports, “So when I heard that Subterranean Press was going to publish a new anything by Ted Chiang, I made sure to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible.” Rest assured, my own efforts will be equally perfervid.

If you haven’t checked out Ted Chiang’s previous collection, you owe it to yourself to do so. And if you don’t believe Kleffel or me, why not pay heed to China Miéville?

Scientific American: “Clues to the underlying causes of boredom have come from patients who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). According to James Danckert, a neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, people with TBI often begin to indulge in riskier activities after their accidents. These activities might include taking drugs or jumping out of planes&mash;pursuits they pick up in an attempt to deal with their new and chronic boredom.”

Galway First: “A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised ‘to get out and meet people,’ the local court heard last week.” (via MeFi)

Hartford Courant: “Members of the informed group also perceived themselves as getting significantly more exercise than they had before, even though their workload and recreational exercise levels, as well as diet, remained constant.”