Bling Bling, go the Somali Pirates. After all, what, you think they do it because it's fun to be a pirate? Not necessarily. They're do it for the scrilla, the scratch, the cold, hard cash. And now they're getting spendy.

Noted Globalization advocate, flip-floppy war monger, and all around pompous blowhard know-it-all Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, has a ballin' ass house. It leaves a big carbon footprint and it's ugly as sin. But why?

Every once in a while, we read something magnificent and we feel stunned. As if someone has lit our hat on fire, or punched us between the eyes. Sure, sometimes we like a thing, but sometimes it's more serious. This is one of those times. So forget, for a second, about questions of weekend geistiness and open your hearts to a blog that transcends our moment, and achieves, who knows how, a level of unparalleled virtuosity.

Every week, the New York Times Book Review features a handful of novels. And every week, the people writing about those novels tell you what they're about and how good they are.