Best bits

Maud remembers Iris Murdoch (who died on this day in 1999), and tells us of her love for The Sea, The Sea and other interesting tidbits. (Meanwhile, Existentialists & Mystics: Writings on Philosophy & Literature is still on my wish list...)

Ron at Beatrix shares his "guarded enthusiasm" for Christopher Hitchens' new collection of essays.

Scott at Conversational Reading reacts to the news of Hemingway's "new novel" that exposes his "ligher side":

For God's sake, someone stop the presses! Don't you think there's a reason Hemingway, who wrote this while on safari in 1953-4, never let this manuscript see the light of day? He wrote it while he was on safari, putting bullets between the eyes of elephants and lions. Of course he was happy. Of course he was light. The guy was probably frigging dopey on all that animal blood and all those carcasses hanging around his tent. He was out killing things! Could you expect Hemingway to have written a morbid, depressing book while the man was out ravaging the Serengeti?

And at the fierce First Annual TMN Tournament of Books, Boyle trounces Tuck to join Roth, and Maud has her work cut out for her in Round Two.