The New York Times Book Review interviewed author and professional provocative person Ayaan Hirsi Ali for its "By the Book" column this week. Here is part of the Q&A:

More than one person has told me that they've become physically affected while reading a Roberto Bolano novel. The symptoms are always the same: agitation, irritability, a sense of dread or impending doom, and, finally, exhilaration. His prose has a haunting magic—even in the mundane—leaving the reader unmoored and set adrift.

If it feels like forever ago that Real Man of Genius Jonathan Franzen was extolling the virtues of obscure German pessimists, bitching about Teutonic women who wouldn't sleep with him, and picking lit fights with happy-endings cognoscente Jennifer Weiner, there is good news: Franzen has more thoughts on Weiner.