February 23, 2012 Two Nashvillians, one current and one former, are among the finalists for the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. Robert K. Massie is honored in the biography category for Catherine the Great. Holly Tucker is the author of Blood Work, which is shortlisted in science and technology. The winner will be announced at a gala in Los Angeles on April 20.

February 21, 2012 If independent booksellers had anything to say about it, Ann Patchett would be canonized. Last month, when she told the story of how she came to open Parnassus Books in Nashville, the Patron Saint of Bookstores got a standing ovation from a packed audience at the Winter Institute of the American Booksellers Association.

February 20, 2012 The sudden fame of point guard Jeremy Lin, who emerged from obscurity this month to lead the New York Knicks in a winning streak, has been dubbed “Linsanity” by punsters in the sports media. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that someone would be inspired to write a “lin-erick,” or to commission one, and if a limerick is called for, the media naturally turn to Roy Blount Jr., a Vanderbilt University graduate whose facility for word play is unmatched among contemporary writers.