Aaaannnddd… finally a bit of time and space for another Bookbits!  Sorry they are so irregular, folks, but things are a bit hectic at the Blog offices at the moment (and have been for a few weeks).  It’s all Hayley’s fault of course; the woman simply shouldn’t be allowed to go on holiday!

• First off, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is getting the HBO treatment!  Let the great guessing game of who should be cast as Shadow begin…

• Emily Dickinson loved to… bake cakes? Writers and their surprising hobbies.  Thanks Simone for the link!

• Going to Paris before Dec. 30th? Then be sure to take in the Maus exhibition at Mémorial de la SHOAH.  Thank you Jitse for the link!

• A month ago I told you who the Nobel Prize for Literature laureate was, but my colleague Femke also pointed out that one of the three amazing women that shared the Nobel Peace Prize has written a book that just came out, Mighty Be Our Powers.  Serendipitous, or clever marketing? (Pick your dominant character trait of the day and cross out what isn’t applicable.)

• Awards! Keith Richards won the Norman Mailer Prize (for biographies) for Life.  Alice LaPlante won the Wellcome Trust Book Prize (for fiction/nonfiction books on health and medicine) for her debut thriller Turn of Mind.  The 2011 Dylan Thomas Prize (for young writers) was given to Lucy Caldwell for The Meeting Point.  The Roald Dahl Funny Prize (for humorous children’s books) was given to Cats Ahoy! written by Peter Bently and illustrated by Jim Field (6 and under category) and The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pynchon (7 – 14 category) this year.  Well, she didn’t win the Booker, but Esi Edugyan was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize for Half Blood Blues (the one I didn’t manage to finish).

• And another reason why sometimes you shouldn’t over-analyze children’s books. Especially ones almost a century old.

• Interviews! The Guardian has a podcast in which David Nicholls talks about his fabulous book One Day.  Their “A Life in Writing” series features grande dame of detective novels P. D. James.  The New York Times blog features a very lengthy interview with Stephen King about his latest, 11/22/63.

• Lists! Liz Pinchon (see Awards! above) lists her Top 10 Funny Books with Pictures (in case you are looking for a Sinterklaas gift ).

• Calling all NaNo Romance novelists: Harlequin is looking for new writers – check out their contest So You Think You Can Write!