The shortlist for the 2014 Booker Prize has been announced; it's particularly significant because this is the first year the prize is open to non-Commonwealth writers (i.e., it used to be exclusive to Britain, Ireland, Canada, and a few other former British colonies, like India). The books still must be written in English and published in the UK, but it's possible for Americans (Karen Joy Fowler and Joshua Ferris made the cut) to win now, which actually seems kinda lame.

Flavorwire has a nice interview with the ladies behind Women in Clothes, which I'm still obsessed with.

After the initial flurry of interest in the YA genre bashing back in early summer, I was very over it, and I don't even really read YA books anyway. But Emily Nussbaum and A.O. Scott, two of my absolute favorite cultural critics (neither of whom writes about books) got into the mix this week, and I enjoyed the results. Plus, Nussbaum gives some attention to Outlander, which only further secures her place in my heart.

Finally, some frustratingly awesome news out of Canada. Margaret Atwood is the first author to participate in the Future Library project; a forest in Norway has been planted with the intention of one day supplying paper to publish a Margaret Atwood book that has been written but will not be read and distributed for 100 years. That's pretty cool, but also kind of non-news.