Saïd Sayrafiezadeh and Hanya Yanagihara are two of the PEN American Center's finalists for its debut fiction prize this year. Expect Janet Malcolm, David Sedaris, Rebecca Solnit and James Wolcott to duke it out in the very competitive essay category, while biography is anyone's guess. 

Dear library

This book has been "in transit" since November. Where is it? Did it take a detour to Max's Kansas City to skip out on the check with Patti Smith?

Stuff I recommend that you read

• James Wolcott, "Norman Mailer Sent Me," Vanity Fair; 1970s New York, rubbing shoulders in corduroy blazers, young people in the big city 
• Heather Horn, "Dickens In Love," The Atlantic; Pip, Nancy, Fagin
• Megan Abbott, "Twilight of the Boosters," L.A. Review of Books; THE LEFTOVERS, BABBITT, "It's A Wonderful Life"
• Adam Gopnik, "Broken Kingdom," The New Yorker; Dictionopolis, Sea of Knowledge, Conclusions
• Zach Baron, "Fear and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas," The Daily;"I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon."