Some intrepid Tumblrbloggr has begun documenting all the blurbs Gary Shteyngart has written over the years, thus picking up the gauntlet Shteyngart himself threw down in my own very revealing* interview with him last month.

When I looked at NPR's gender bias in its coverage of adult fiction in this week's Phoenix, I sparked a discussion about sexism in literature. Over in the comments, there's a thoughtful debate going on about potential avenues of further research. On Twitter, a bunch of sypmathetic people have spread the word, including Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner (!!!!!!).

 Can a book critic transform herself into a human algorithm?

When my story about gender bias on NPR ricocheted through Twitter, I received a tweet from @HashHags letting me know that they didn't fit the bill. Hash Hags, a weekly NPR radio show hosted by authors Julie Klam, Ann Leary and Laura Zigman, is broadcast in New York and Connecticut and has a healthy online following

Last week, we introduced the Book Rat Project, a sustained experiment in which a book critic (me) will attempt to act as a human algorithm for a willing subject (my Phoenix colleague Will Delman) who, for the duration of the project, will read everything I tell him to. After submitting the subject to a brief, worthy questionnaire, I allowed him to select a title for himself and asked him to review it.

Game of Thrones fans, rejoice! Artist Chris Bishop has created a series of V-Day cards sure to warm the cockles of any meade-swilling mercenary you might know. He's even created a printable version so you can clip out individual cards for tonight's D & D tourney. (My favorite is Varys, the cutest lil' eunuch evar.)