Here, in alphabetical order, are a few sites I check regularly, or that may be of particular interest to readers of The Magician's Book.
Bitten. If you're going to be a writer, it helps to know how to cook. (It's cheaper and healthier than eating out, and it's good for people who work in their heads to spend a little time on the purely sensual every day.) This blog, mostly written by New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, is for home cooks, not chefs or restaurant buffs, with daily recipes and ruminations on the experience of everyday meal preparation.
Caleb Crain's Steam Thing. Crain writes about the future of publishing and literature as well as American history (his era is the 19th century). He's also a great book reviewer and essayist.
Diary Junction blog. Diary Junction maintains an online archive of diaries by people famous and obscure. The blog offers a sample from one of them every day or so. Wide-ranging and full of delights and surprises.
Disapproving Rabbits. You know how cats and crocodiles always seem to be smiling? Well, seen from the right angle, most rabbits look disdainful. From this peculiar fact, the bird expert, bee keeper and wit Sharon Stiteler has spun a consistently hilarious photo blog and a book of the same title. An excellent short break.
James Hynes' Cultwriter. Sporadically updated blog maintained by the author of the ridiculously entertaining novels, Kings of Infinite Space and The Lecturer's Tale. We don't scold him for the sporadic part because we're waiting for the next book.
John Crowley. A LiveJournal blog, often a bit cryptic, by the author of Little, Big and the Aegypt Cycle, novels that will enthrall anyone who responds in particular to the Medieval/Renaissance themes touched on in The Magician's Book.
Maud Newton. I'm not a great reader of literary blogs, mostly because I have to read so much already for work, but if I were only going to read one, it would be this, the journal of a curious, sensitive and imaginative reader (and a few of her friends). And while they aren't usually about literature, I especially like the little snippets of memoir and family history (complete with photos) that Newton drops in now and then.
NarniaFans. True-believerish fan site, but a very comprehensive source of news about C.S. Lewis and especially the most recent Narnia films.
Neil Gaiman's Journal. One of the most venerable and popular author blogs out there, a great mixture of news updates, fan questions, travelogue, literary and musical recommendations and glimpses of the life of this endlessly creative writer.
NerdWorld. This blog, written by Time Magazine's Lev Grossman and TV writer/producer Matt Selman, follows a cluster of topics including science fiction, fantasy, technology, comics, movies and TV. Very funny and smartly written.
Golden Age of Children's Books Illustrations. The blogger Nocloo scans and posts galleries of illustrations from children's book published during the late 19th and early 20th-century, really gorgeous stuff.
Readerville. The best readers' discussion forum around.
The Rumpus. A group blog offering leftish takes on culture and politics, run by the novelist Stephen Elliot.
Scott Rosenberg's Word Yard. I used to work with Scott (author of Dreaming in Code and Say Everything, a new book on the history of blogging), and know from experience that he's really good at discerning the direction in which our culture is heading, so I keep listening to him, even though we're not in the same office anymore.
Scrivener Users Forum. I wrote The Magician's Book in Scrivener, a Mac-based writing application that I can't praise enthusiastically enough. One particularly nice thing about it is the community of writers that has congregated in the developer's user forums. They trade tips on the software, yes, but also moral support, commiseration, writerly advice and banter.
Shaken and Stirred. I don't know much about Gwenda Bond, the author of this blog, except that she has the coolest name in the world. And she has excellent taste in children's, YA and fantasy books. The gold standard in recommendations for contemporary stuff, as far as I can see.
The Vulture. New York Magazine's culture blog, with postings on TV, movies, music, books, etc. from a team of wickedly clever contributors.