The link harvest is good this week

• Medieval Judeo-Persian manuscripts have been discovered
• Elizabeth Wein on what makes a novel YA
• The story of Robert Smalls
• Wharton takes on Barnes & Noble
• Justine Larbalestier on genre-bashing
• Reading a book at the right age (to which I say "yes and no")
• On digital fact-checking (and the importance of links)
• Brett Sandusky says many smart things
• On the idea of selling out (or not)

(Post pic: just because.)

Highlights of last year's reading

• Best vintage smackdown: Domestic Manners of the Americans, Fanny Trollope
• Runner-up: The Invention of Tradition (specifically, Hugh Trevor-Roper's chapter on the kilt)
• Most beat-up ARC by the time I got it: Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore
• Should have read this when it first came out: Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
• Runner-up: Holes, Louis Sachar
• Well, now I have to read the whole series: Island of Bones, Imogen Robertson
• Runner-up: Some Danger Involved, Will Thomas
• Most awesome cover design: One Came Home, Amy Timberlake
• Best dishy history: To Marry an English Lord, Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace
• Best setup for the last book in the series: Speaking from Among the Bones, Alan Bradley
• Most worth slogging through a weak beginning for: The Fire Horse Girl, Kay Honeyman
• Journalism degree between two covers: Deadline Artists
• Perfect for high-school me: Watergate, Thomas Mallon