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(5) Book lovers: Anne Tyler's new novel, "Redhead by the Side of the Road," has some of the strongest reviews of her career.

Something strange happens when a novelist is prolific and getting old. Many critics decide that she ought to write about something else. "Maybe Anne Tyler's Baltimore should resemble the world of THE WIRE more." I find this tiresome, and I'm glad most reviewers stayed away from that trap, this go 'round.

(4) Curtis Sittenfeld's "Rodham" will be a big event this spring.

Sittenfeld hasn't written a novel since "Eligible," a Jane Austen update beloved by many, but famously savaged by both Ursula Le Guin and Michiko Kakutani. (Sittenfeld on Twitter: "Is it weird that Le Guin trashed my book and I'm sort of flattered?")

(3) Also: a new book by Ottessa Moshfegh. I'm not hearing much about this. Moshfegh last appeared with the audacious experiment "My Year of Rest and Relaxation," in which a character basically shuts herself off from the world for a year. (That's the plot, more or less.)

It will be tricky to deliver a follow-up.

(2) Did you notice there's a new sequel to "Sideways Stories from Wayside School"--? The first volume appeared around forty years ago. I'm not a kid, but I will (probably) read this.

(1) I very much look forward to Amy Bloom's upcoming projects--a novel about Occupied France, and a memoir. At some point, we were going to get a Marie Curie novel, but maybe this has been side-lined. Gay intrigue in Vichy France is what I need right now. Drum roll.....please.....
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