Young love

The New Yorker's fiction isn't as uneven as its poetry, and I should read it more often. Tessa Hadley's recent "She's the One" is a fine, low-key tale of buried sorrow, sharply and straightforwardly written. Well worth a read. Plus, that photo!

John Updike teaches from beyond the grave

Reading The New Yorker's artful collection of excerpts from the late author's oeuvre is like taking a tiny master class. From a droll poem about neutrinos (which in 1960 were a hot topic) to the sensuality and unnerving suspense of "Elsie by Starlight" (2004), the magazine's tribute effectively demonstrates to Updike neophytes why he's so widely celebrated.

As a writer, I appreciate the way this assortment hopscotches from fiction to poetry, then to memoir, and back to fiction, with a few book reviews tossed in for good measure. It's an impressive display of Updike's versatility, but it's also inspiring, since he makes genre-hopping look tremendously fun and rewarding. Also well worth a look: Adam Gopnik's lovely obituary, and Roger Angell's even lovelier one. The first makes me want to read Updike; the second makes me want to write fiction.

On an equally vital cultural note: the stories behind various Muppets, courtesy of CNN.com (by way of Kelly).