In 2003, Stephen King was awarded the National Book Foundation’s medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and got the same kind of blowback for daring to suggest that maybe critics should give popular fiction its due. It’s the same stuff, recycled, only this time the criticism comes coated with a lovely layer of sexism, a delightfully dismissive tone of, "Oh, you girls. What will you think you deserve next?"

--In the wake of That Which Was Franzenfreude, Jennifer Weiner is starting her own book club to highlight books she thinks are overlooked by the mainstream press. First up: Emma Donoghue's ROOM, of which I hear great things (though never got my requested review copy). Awesome!