This Week in Books the Apotheosis of Joan Didion

Huraki Murakami's publisher has announced that the until now reclusive and shy author has deicded to answer questions from readers on his site "Mr. Murakami's Place." Naturally, questions will be answered in multiple languages and fans can submit questions on any subject, including solicitations for advice.

Mark Zuckerberg crowdsourced his 2015 New Years Resolution and has committed to reading a new book selected by someone else every two weeks. He even made a Facebook community page to track his progress and encourage other to join. Sounds like a lot of basic bullshit, but that's just me.

Notorious RBG is getting a biography, which is as it should be.

Finally, and most profoundly and importantly, Beacon of Human Perfection Phoebe Philo secured Joan Didion as the model for Celine's newest ad campaign. The results are everything, and my latest computer screen background.

This Week in Books: Patti Smith Woke Up Like This.

First of all, this happened and it's everything.

I've stated before that I'm not really doing YA coverage, but if I were, I'd start with Francesca Lia Block, probably the most influential writer of my teen years. I read all her books, and I hope they're still in a box somewhere (Mom?) so I can revisit them someday. This interview she did with The Rumpus was excellent, but also made me feel out of touch because she has published so many new titles since I stopped paying attention.

Flavorwire is one of my favorite sources for literary coverage on the web, and no one understands my love is reading lists more than they do, which is why the new "50 Novels by Women Under 50" list made my week. Besides the obvious cross-over appeal between the list and what I cover on the blog, it also had everything I want from a reading list-- I got to feel smug and proud about the books I've already read; I got affirmation on a lot of books that are on my radar, waiting to be read; and I got to discover so many new books that I trust I'll enjoy, because their other recommendations are so spot on.

Patti Smith reviewed the new Haruki Murakami novel for the NYT. Nothing else to say.

This Week in Books: Aronofsky and Atwood, BEA 2014

HBO has been on a long adaptation rights tear, and the latest addition to their stable of literary source material is Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy. Unlike so many of their other exciting literary adaptation projects that are currently languishing in HBO purgatory, this one has a director attached: Darren Aronofsky.

The annual literary issue of the New Yorker is out, and includes some really stellar fiction, with contributions by the likes of Alison Bechdel, Rachel Kushner, Karen Russell, Miranda July, and Haruki Murakami, along with a great Talk of the Town piece on the #YesAllWomen movement by Rebecca Mead. Interestingly, it looks like the fiction this year is dominated by female contributors. There is also a long profile on John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, for those of you who, like me, don't keep up on YA fiction.

Finally, BookExpo America was last week. The biggest news story to come out of the event was widespread criticism of the lack of diversity among panelists. For anyone interested in everything else that happened at BEA, here is a very nice round-up of summaries and blog posts, mostly written by librarians and book bloggers.