It is, as they say, a crazy week. Amazingly, no monkeys are involved. So blog participation must be scarce. Trust me on this: prolificity is in the works like you wouldn’t believe. In fact, I can’t really believe it. For the moment, however, here’s a roundup:

• It is unknown whether John Freeman is either remarkably charismatic or he signed a contract with a demon sometime early in his career, but, only a month after talking with DFW, he’s nabbed a sit-down interview with Don DeLillo. (via Mr. Esposito)
• Wait a minute, bloggers still have literary potential? Am I in the wrong bidness? Riverhead just signed on “D-Nasty” Dana Vachon for a two-book deal worth $650,000. All I have to say is if you throw this cat that kind of payola, I’ll give you a lot more than two books. [UPDATE: A reader notes that the Vachon deal is old news, which begs the question: Why is blogging literary potential still a major news story?]
• Counterbalance promises to unveil a detailed account of jury duty.
• The Tournament of Books is all fine and dandy, but when writers as good as Mary Gaitskill and Zadie Smith gets cut from the loop early on, I’m inclined to look elsewhere, even with Kevin Guilfoile’s witty commentary. Fortunately, Mr. Sarvas has entered the arena with possibly the best literary smackdown one could fathom: n+1 vs. The Believer. Please do pass the popcorn. I foresee a lot of carnage.
• Mr. Barlow points to this phonetics blog from Professor John “I’m too old for this University College London shit” Wells.
• V.S. Naipaul’s a bitchy sort, ain’t he?
• Over at Laila’s, Katrina Denza takes a look at a whole lotta lit mags.
• It looks like this guy’s tackling Neil Gaiman’s entire oeuvre. (via Jeff)
• What next?. A 500 word post on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
• Bud Parr vs. Rat.
• The Secret Life of Patricia Highsmith.
• Flaubert: “The Monk of Literary Realism.”
• Levi’s not sure why he likes reading McInerney. Believe me, I’m not entirely sure either. But hopefully I’ll try to flesh out my thoughts in an upcoming 75 Books post.
• A few positive (and apparently contrarian) reviews of Apex Hides the Hurt: The Denver Post, dug up by the Rake, and Esquire. Is Whitehead’s new novel misunderstood or a shaggy dog? Apex recently hit my bookpile. We shall see.
• Is “gravitas” a chauvinistic word or is Connie Chung a nutcase? You make the call.