Wednesday Whatsits

The semifinals of the Tournament of Books has begun. First up, 2666 vs. City of Refuge. Second up, A Mercy vs. Shadow Country. After that comes the zombies.

Philosophy is cool again.

Matthew Cheney discusses the links between Philip K. Dick and poet Jack Spicer at Strange Horizons. Included: a brief scene of strong sexual content, "Beatrice/Shimmering in infinite space," and an imagined goodbye.

The first volume of Samuel Beckett's letters discussed by Nicholas Lezard at the Guardian and Anthony Lane at the New Yorker.

Over at a mysterious place called The Stranger, there's a write-up of a showdown "to determine, once and for all, which popular young-adult fantasy series--Harry Potter or Twilight--is the best." The showdown consisted of a debate between two teams of three girls apiece. The whole thing reminds me of another great battle, that of David and Goliath, except in this case David is a "stereotypically weak girl" with "low self-esteem" and Goliath is an orphan with a chip on his shoulder and a lightning bolt on his forehead. Also, in this case, Goliath wins. [via Omnivoracious]

And in MacArthur Park, tamales and books have joined forces to survive in the face of economic woefulness.