Yoram Kaniuk, 83, Maverick Israeli Writer

A scion of Jewish Palestine’s high-culture aristocracy, a veteran of Israel’s war of independence, a prolific author with an innovative (not to say quirky) prose style, and a provocative commentator on his nation’s social and political issues, Kaniuk struggled for acceptance in literary circles (and a decent income) until a 2010 memoir made him into a national celebrity.

Trauma Queens: Women Who Love Law & Order: SVU

Emily Nussbaum: “The audience was two-thirds female, young women, for the most part – the same demographic that drives fan fiction, romance novels, and vampire stories. ‘Oh, you enjoy this, do you?’ an angry john says, in the SVU pilot. ‘Is this how you get your rocks off?’ He’s talking to some detectives, but he might as well have been addressing viewers, for whom the show’s pulp appeal was simultaneously addictive and faintly shameful.”

Seattle Revives The Bookmobile – For Bicycles

“A small group of Seattle Public Library (SPL) staff will be pedaling – and peddling – books on the pavement this summer, thanks to the new Books on Bikes pilot program. Librarians on bicycles are traveling to several outdoor events across the city with a custom-built book trailer that can carry 500 pounds of materials and display 75 books at a time.”

What Pussy Riot Won’t Do

Rioter Yekaterina Samutsevich: “Legal, paid music performances: We’re offered them to this day and we always turn them down. It’s just not what we’re interested in. In addition, there’s all sorts of commercial activities; we’ve been approached to make profit, and we’re against that. We’re also against any sort of public statement. What we specialize in are guerrilla performances.”