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This is an exceptionally cool series from Public Radio International's Studio 360. Host Kurt Andersen conducts wide-ranging—and often surprising—surveys into the books, movies, art, and architecture that have come to represent American culture and character. In the episode on "Moby-Dick," listen to Laurie Anderson compare Melville's literary masterwork to "Star Trek." In a segment on "The Great Gatsby," hear the only known recording of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Salman Rushdie cites "The Wizard of Oz" as his first literary influence, and Bobby McFerrin performs snippets from his eight-minute medley condensing the entire movie. Other shows take on Superman, Barbie, "Gone With the Wind," Emily Dickinson, Andy Warhol's homage to the Campbell's soup can, and "Kind of Blue" by the truly iconic Miles Davis. So listen up. You might even be inspired to dive in to that book about Captain Ahab and the whale.

One of the most recent sites to sail forth from the Gray Lady is Paper Cuts, an "almost daily round-up of news and opinions about books and printed matter" from the Book Review. The site's young still, but already senior editor-now-blogger Dwight Garner has won us over. From his description of infighting among Cormac McCarthy fans ("the fighting Cormackians") to his lovingly compiled slideshow of vintage book ads, we're hooked. The writing's good, the twice daily posts are fresh but manageable, and the potential of literary gossip runs high. That last part might be wishful thinking, but he did call Maud Newton's blog "winsome." A recent take on a new biography of John Updike included this line: "If you're like me, you'll find this strange book a blissful snort of unfiltered catnip." Sneeze! We wish we'd written that.