A few things:

• In the Guardian, Leonie Frieda lists her Top Ten biographies of historical figures. A bit heavy on the British monarchy, but fascinating nonetheless.

• Mark your calendars for these British literary anniversaries of 2005.

• Also at the Guardian, Blake Morrison finds Marcel Proust and P. Diddy to be kindred spirits of a sort, upholders of an esteemed literary tradition: the long overdue manuscript. Morrison, himself eleven years overdue on a book, laments (understandably) that the lawsuit against the Puffster could set a bad precedent and suggests a return to gentler times.

• Moby points to this story on exiled, banned Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen whose books have earned her a sentence in absentia for making derogatory comments about Islam. She’s trying to move to India’s West Bengal, which shares her native Bengali language, since she’s not welcome back home.

• Also at Moby, Steve Almond’s guest column tells us “How I Managed to Galvanize the Right-Wing Hate Machine Without Really Trying” after his choco-road trip book Candyfreak was reviewed by the National Review.