*This post comes from Guest Contributor Kerry Skemp* Beyond a vague yet fascinating physical resemblance (no, really), George W. Bush and Norman Mailer have little in common. The former represents all that is evil in the world (or all that is good, depending on who you talk to), and the latter represents the fact that our country used to offer journalistic investigations of a type that didn’t begin and end at Gawker.com. If you want... more ›

The only thing we enjoy more than giving our own opinion is picking the nits in others’ opinions. So imagine our delight when The New York Times published the results of its survey of “prominent writers, critics, editors, and other literary sages” to select the best work of American fiction from the past 25 years. Oh, so many plump, juicy nits to pick! From what constitutes a “work” to how to define “best.” more ›