The Pulitzer-winning book critic for the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani, has been in the news this week: she was called "the stupidest person in New York City," by author Jonathan Franzen, presumably because of her negative review of his memoir. (Norman Mailer called her a "one-woman kamikaze" who "disdains white male authors," but he was afraid of intimacy.) The Guardian's book blog offers a field guide to this "reclusive," mysterious critic:

In her early 50s, she has worked at the New York Times since 1979, and despite being described as "reclusive"—avoiding literary parties and interviews—her prominence is such that she once featured as a plot device in an episode of Sex and the City. Little is known about her other than that she is a Yale graduate, her father was a mathematician, she likes the New York Yankees and may well be friends with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.

That SATC plot point is a tad unrealistic: Kakutani would never review something as fluffy as Carrie Bradshaw's book of collected dating columns!
Don't Mess With Michiko Kakutani [Guardian]