Stuck in traffic

I am now reading the latest issue of The New Quarterly, which is quality from cover to so-far, and I am so pleased to be a part of it. Another fabulous feature they've got is "Who's Reading What" at their website, where contributors recommend books worth reading. My own suggestion is more than a bit embarrassing though, as I chose a little-known novel called Late Nights on Air. You've probably never heard of it-- a very underground sort of book for those of us in the know. Note please: I made my suggestion ages ago, before anyone had ever heard of a Giller.

In other bits, Steven W. Beattie on blurring the lines between content and advertising. (I've found the whole world a bit unnerving since I read it.) Heather Mallick on Jan Wong's new book Beijng Confidential, which I can't wait to read now. RR is fascinatingly preoccupied by readers inside books. Ira Levin, whose Rosemary's Baby my household was obsessed with earlier this year, has died at 78. And on the LRB: "a junk-free journal". May I say also that the December issue of The Walrus is excellent, and if you buy it you won't be sorry.