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

Have you seen The Adjustment Bureau, the recent movie based on Philip K. Dick’s 1954 short story “Adjustment Team”? It’s a good movie, with a mind-bending premise and a rather touching love story, but oh boy is it different from its source material. In the movie, a politician (Matt Damon) stumbles onto a secret organization [...]

When the 2012 Oscar nominations were announced, many people noted how many of the nominess had been inspired by books and short stories—surely a feel-good testament to the power of the printed page. But the winners tell a different story: not even the magic of Harry Potter could keep the literary A-list from being largely shut out. [...]

I’ve been on the awards beat at Booklist for about 6 months now, so I’ve seen my fair share of distinguished writers take home prizes and laurels. I’ve also written my fair share of dry introductory paragraphs—hey, it’s not always easy coming up with something witty to say about the LA Times Book Prize. But [...]

Almost as soon as Harry Potter et. al. took their final ride on the Hogwarts Express in 2007, readers began to speculate what the next big project was for J.K. Rowling. Now we know. She has finished an adult novel, though the publication date is still under wraps. What was disclosed in a press release is that [...]

Tuck in your bib and flip that tie over your shoulder–you’re about to drool. Here’s a worthy toothache of a trailer for the forthcoming The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day, owners of “the best little bakery in the South” and American scratch-baking enthusiasts. With this as our guide, we [...]

The Woman in Black, the new movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as a young British solicitor who comes to a small market town to tidy up the affairs of a deceased client and gets a bit more excitement than he bargained for, is based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Susan Hill. If [...]

The finalists in each of the 10 categories for the LA Times Book Prizes were announced today. The judges (one of whom is our own Donna Seaman!) will select one winner from each category to be announced on April 20th, so mark your calendars! Here are the finalists and and links to Booklist reviews where [...]

I’ve been listening with keen interest to interviews with Charles Murray, author of Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. In the last few weeks, he’s been interviewed by Robert Siegel of All Things Considered and Tom Ashbrook of On Point, both on NPR. In Coming Apart, Murray observes that the current generation of [...]

How many times have you taken note of fleeting details in a book you’re reading? I know when I read The Girl who Played with Fire, I found myself chuckling every time Billy’s Pan Pizza was mentioned, and simply laughed out loud at the details of Liz Salander’s IKEA furnishings—at one point, I thought I [...]

Have a burning question about etiquette or literature? Ask a book! Dear Being and Nothingness, by Jean-Paul Sartre, Every Thursday night, I get together with some old high-school buddies. We play poker and have some beer and pizza and blow off some steam. My wife hates these nights. She says we’re all living in the [...]