for The New Yorker: Lauren Collins' Talk on Scooter Libby's titillating hoot, his icky-sounding 1996 novel The Apprentice. Here's Libby talking to Diane Rehm about the book. The Kerouacian story of its composition, according to the WaPo: "'I went out to Colorado, drank tequila and wrote,' Libby told CNN's Larry King in 2002 in a rare television interview, the bulk of which he spent discussing the 1996 novel, which had just been issued in paperback."

But enough with the media elite. Let's listen to the fans. On the MacMinute forums, a poster called lanovami writes:

I started reading up on Lewis Libby a while back, and found out that in his spare time he wrote a novel (just the one) published in 1996 about intrigue at a small Japanese inn that lies in the snow country of northern Japan. Having lived in Japan's snow country for 6 years, I was intrigued myself, and ordered the book used.

Just finished reading it and it was pretty darn good! The atmosphere felt quite real to me as someone who has lived up there, and the story itself was very readable. The book is called the Apprentice. I liked it so much I am hoping Libby will write another. He may have some spare time coming up here pretty soon...

We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle