Afternoon links.

• Daniel Handler (as Lemony Snicket) on Fresh Air: "I had a very, very strict and traditional musical upbringing, and then I had puberty, which wrecked my career as a boy soprano. My parents like to say they considered castration in order that I could continue to be a soprano, but in the long run having secondary sex characteristics has really paid off for me, so I don't regret it."
• Bilbo Baggins v. Thorin Oakenshield, et. al.: Is the Hobbit's contract enforceable?
• David Almond at the Telegraph: "Children’s literature is a place of great experimentation. Like children themselves, it can be hilariously playful and deeply serious. It isn’t content to sit on shelves and behave. It is inquisitive, exploratory – and difficult to categorise. It tells tales of rabbits and ducks, of vampires and zombies, of ordinary kids in ordinary homes, of love and death, and explores the most profound, joyful and troubling aspects of human experience. It experiments with narrative and form, with the shape of the page and the shape of the book. It is where literary culture is constantly renewed. We overlook this world at our peril. It is, and always will be, at the heart of our cultural life."
• Some (grown-up) readers are apparently of the GIRLS, COOTIES, EWWWWWWWWWW school of thought.
• At boingboing: The Meteorology of Little House on the Prairie.
• At the Guardian: Writers' favorite book illustrations.
• At 100 Scope Notes: 2012 Librarian Lump of Coal Gift Guide.
• Bennett Madison's Somethingest Books of the Year: 2012 Edition. ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL FTW!