Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” wins Pulitzer Prize

Editor’s note: Cormac McCarthy has won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road. America’s most distinguished literary award comes on the heels of perhaps its most lucrative honor: Oprah Winfrey named the novel as her latest book club pick. In the following review, which we originally posted in January, we agree that it is a phenomenal […]

Calvin Trillin tells a love story “About Alice”

About Alice is a short book. Written by Calvin Trillin to honor is beloved wife, the eponymous Alice, who died five years ago, this slight tome is big of heart and largely a glance back at a woman with whom many readers have become acquainted through Trillin’s sizeable and entertaining body of work. Perhaps it’s […]

Philip Roth wins his third PEN/Faulkner award for “Everyman”

Portnoy isn’t complaining, and there’s no plot against this American author. Philip Roth has again proven his literary Superman status with Everyman, which won the 2007 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction this week. It’s the third time he’s won the PEN/Faulkner—this time for a 192-page novel that looks backward at the life of a 70-year-old “everyman” […]

Newbery winner “The Higher Power of Lucky” deserves readership, not censorship

All dogs must wear pants. And books like The Higher Power of Lucky should be banned. That seems to be the opinion of some regarding this Newbery Medal–winning book for young readers. The mention of a dog’s scrotum near the beginning of The Higher Power of Lucky has created a controversy and calls to remove […]

Our favorite books that inspired Oscar wins

The Academy Awards are around the corner. As usual, Oscar has been inspired this year by movies that originally were books. Little Children is up for a couple acting awards. Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, and Judi Dench respectively owe The Devil Wears Prada, The Last King of Scotland, The Pursuit of Happyness, and […]

Enjoy the best books we forgot to review

I was in a bookstore yesterday and noticed The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters sitting on a shelf—its bright-blue, evocative cover evoking a slap-the-forehead reaction in me. After all, I’d eagerly made my way through its unusual, intriguing pages last summer, and then promptly forgot it. (That’s more a reflection on my flagging memory […]

“Tenderness of Wolves” wins Costa Book of the Year award

It used to be the Whitbread Book Awards. Beginning this year, it’s under different sponsorship as the Costa Book Awards. Whatever you call it, it’s a major literary award in the United Kingdom—actually a series of awards that recognizes the top books in different categories and then names the best of those bests as the […]

Author David Eddings burns down his office

We all make stupid mistakes, right? But sometimes a simple lapse in judgment can be devastating. Would you, for instance, toss a lighted match onto a pool of gasoline inside your garage in order to see whether it’s still flammable? No? That’s ridiculous? A little crazy? You may be right, but that’s essentially what science […]

ALA presents Newbery, Caldecott, and other children’s book awards

The American Library Association (ALA) has announced its 2007 awards honoring the best of children’s literature. The full list of award winners is long and varied, and we’ve highlighted our favorites below:

Newbery Medal: The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron
Caldecott Medal: Flotsam, by David Wiesner
Carnegie Medal: Mo Willems (author/illustrator)
Geisel Medal: Zelda and Ivy: The […]

Browse the bookplates of the famous, infamous, and unknown

You’re a serious reader if you have your own bookplate. Or you’re a book collector. Or a dignitary. Or maybe you’re someone with a lot of time on your hands. But most bookplate users basically boil down to folks who love to read and want to brand their beloved books as their own. It’s pretty […]