The National Book Critic Circle lifetime achievement award was given on Friday to Louis D. Rubin, Jr., a prolific author and founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a North Carolina-based publisher known for such Southern writers as Jill McCorkle, Clyde Edgerton and Kaye Gibbons. Also, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead won the fiction award. (AP Wire)

I turn to Jon Carroll when my heart can be consoled by nothing less than a good cat column. No cat columns this week, but Carroll has been reading good stuff: Cloud Atlas and Terry Pratchett and a book about birding, The Big Year.

Dooce reads Good Dog Carl.

Whimsy Speaks reads a joke book obtained from an airport bookshop.

Art Garfunkel reads a lot. This link takes you directly to all his favorites since 1968, but you can view his comprehensive reading list as well.

Woodge provides a vocabulary page on his site--which words have sent him in search of a dictionary. I've not seen such a page on anyone else's site before.

J.M. Coetzee reviews Jay Pareni's One Matchless Time. I've wanted to read this Faulkner bio since it came out last fall.

And both Stefanie and Jeannette have taken the time to describe their bookshelves. And MFS at Mental Multivitamin has featured photos of her library in the past. One of these days I'm going to do the same.