Linda Holmes

The best read of the day is likely to be the A.V. Club's conversation with Mike Schur, the showrunner of Parks And Recreation, who begins a walkthrough of the show's fourth season. [The A.V. Club]

It's a question that kicks around endlessly without resolution: Can men and women really be just friends? On Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Faith Salie and Mario Correa, hosts of WNYC's RelationShow, about this very topic.

Most of the time, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court. She's been doing that for the last 13 years. But recently, you may have seen her name floating around in connection with the piece she recently wrote that she discusses with Scott Simon on Saturday's Weekend Edition.

Meryl Streep asks an interesting question about the fact that movies aimed at women often make a lot of money and still lose out to big-budget summer tentpoles when it comes to actually getting made: "Don't they want the money?" [The Guardian]

If you're into the pastime of lamenting the state of publishing and bookstores, it's very important that you read this post from The Atlantic about the tiny number of bookstores that existed in the United States in 1931 and what that meant for publishing and reading. It's a great reminder. [The Atlantic]

There is a certain honesty with which I believe critics must exist — a willingness to look yourself in the eye. A willingness to say, "This is the absolute truth as I experienced it."

I come not to praise the Burger King bacon sundae, nor to bury it. I come merely to point out that sometimes, the particular flavor of contempt with which you choose to address something is as important as the contempt itself.