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Okay, I’ve completely missed the latest development in this nearly two-century-old controversy. Fortunately for me, Dan Kraus trolls for book news in the unlikeliest places. To be fair, I’m sure it was a saved keyword search that alerted him. Or maybe he found it on Salon first. Long story short: there’s long been suspicion that [...]

The culprit? A self-published author. Who claims he’s a lawyer. From Publishers Weekly (“Mystery Bookstores Solve Scam,” by Kevin Howell): Dickey swallowed the feeling of being duped and launched a warning on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association listserv, saying, “I hate like hell committing my buffoonery to the world-at-large, but if it stops someone else from [...]

Now, I love Andre Agassi as much as anyone — well, not as much as Steffi Graf, though probably more than Brooke Shields – but this has got to stop. From the New York Post (“Agassi Book Aces $5M,” by Keith J. Kelly): Although terms were not disclosed, the $5 million that insiders say Agassi scored catapults [...]

So I’m almost done reading the new Jason Starr novel, The Follower. I liked his last one, Lights Out, but The Follower is testing my patience. Billed as a thriller, it’s not very thrilling. I suppose if I were invested in the characters I might find it suspenseful, but Starr doesn’t really write characters we care [...]

Oprah’s latest book club choice? Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever chosen as a book club selection before because it’s post-apocalyptic. (It is) Very unusual for me to select this book, but it’s fascinating,” Winfrey said. I can’t wait for the interview.

It has come to my attention that Likely Stories is competing for “Best of the Blogs on Writing” – and I’m in last place. However, voting has been somewhat slow, so if even two satisfied readers are kind enough to cast their ballots for me, I will be catapulted into first place. I can practically taste the glory.

Wordsworth Editions is tarting up Jane Austen. From The Guardian (“Jane too plain for publishers“): Helen Trayler, the publisher’s managing director, said: “She was not much of a looker. Very, very plain. Jane Austen wasn’t very good looking. She’s the most inspiring, readable author, but to put her on the cover wouldn’t be very inspiring [...]

David Nasaw has won the New-York Historical Society American Book Prize for his book Andrew Carnegie (Penguin). They’re giving him $50,000 even though he’s not a poet. From the New York Times (“Carnegie Biography Wins History Prize“): David Nasaw has been named the winner of the $50,000 New-York Historical Society American Book Prize for his biography, [...]

If she thinks this review was mean, what does she think of this one? And what purpose would it serve – other than making Walter Mosley feel better about himself (and we’ve actually done quite a bit of that) — if we only wrote nice reviews? From the Booklist Selection Policy: Booklist operates under policies established [...]

Be sure to read Bill Ott’s review of 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel, by Peter Golenbock, today’s Review of the Day. He didn’t like it very much. Another sports-related, quasifictional book, O. J. Simpson’s If I Did It, got more publicity for its role in the downfall of Judith Regan and Regan Books — but [...]