Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting colder…could it be awards season? Gilles Leroy has won the Goncourt for his novel about Zelda Fitzgerald, Alabama Song (“French awards deliver twin surprise,” Guardian): According to Leroy, the prize is also an honour for Zelda. “This prize is also for her,” he said, “who was sacrificed, and [...]

[Spoiler alert: If you don't want to know what happens to Easy Rawlins at the end of Walter Mosley's Blonde Faith, stop reading now.] My review of Walter Mosley’s Blonde Faith was due on June 15 (and was published in the July 2007 issue of Booklist; the book was published in October). It was a hectic time, [...]

Anita Thompson doesn’t like Jann Wenner’s book about her late husband, Hunter S. Thompson. (Booklist‘s Donna Seaman did like the book, quite a bit.) From The New York Daily News (“Widow’s fear & loathing over Hunter S. Thompson bio,” Rush & Molloy): “There are beautiful parts in [Wenner's] book, but it sensationalizes Hunter unecessarily. It’s [...]

Gordon Lish may have been a ruthless editor, but he was also a ruthless writer, according to Gerald Howard: the man who took an axe to Raymond Carver’s prose allowed no whittling of his own. At least, that’s what would have happened had Howard tried. From Slate (“I Was Gordon Lish’s Editor“): However, I can [...]