R. I. P. Maeve Binchy (Tara Road), Gore Vidal (The City and the Pillar), John Keegan (A History of Warfare), Robert Hughes (The Fatal Shore), David Rakoff (Half Empty and US Radio’s This American Life) and Heidi Holland (Dinner with Mugabe) all passed away in the past three weeks. What a loss of literary names to come back to work to. 
- There’s a bit of a literary mudfight going on right now between Paulo Coelho and James Joyce. I’m not a fan of the former’s books and have never read the latter (…then again, who, truly, has?), so I’ll just leave you with commentary from those who know more than I do.
- Should you be heading up to Scotland in the next two weeks, be sure to visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
- Literary fashion! HuffPo has both 10 Dresses Based on High School Required Reading (love the ones based on The Great Gatsby and Macbeth!) and 10 Back to School Backpacks.
Awards! The 2012 Man Booker Prize Longlist was announced – I’ll put the nominees in a separate post later today, but click here if you can’t contain yourself (and haven’t seen it yet in the past three weeks). 
Also, the RITA Awards (for Romance novels) were handed out at the end of July. Denise Mina won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for The End of the Wasp Season. I must admit that I’m partial to awards that come in the shape of handmade beer barrels!
- Ah yes, fanfic. Here’s a bit of a “history of fanfic” piece – not perfect (see many of the comments for further insights), but an interesting round-up of what fanfic is (and that it’s been around for centuries), and into what categories it might be divided into.
- Lists! Flavorwire showcases 10 Artifacts From Literature That We Wish Were Real. They also have 10 Essential Surrealist Books for Everyone.
- And finally: author Robert Crais found this incredible garage door in his neighborhood and posted it on his Facebook page:
Tags: awards, edinburgh international book festival, fanfic, Fiction, garage doors you want to come home to, lists, literary fashion, literary mudfights, Mysteries & Thrillers, r.i.p, Romance