Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

Speaking of Banned Books Week–you were just speaking of it, weren’t you? It’s possible that I’ve turned my listening device to the wrong channel, but we here at the Agency rarely make mistakes. (And when we do, we rarely admit it.) So, since I’ve caught you discussing books of questionable moral character, I know that [...]

The Booker shortlist has been announced: Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger), Sebastian Barry (The Secret Scripture), Amitav Ghosh (Sea of Poppies), Linda Grant (The Clothes on Their Backs), Philip Hensher (The Northern Clemency), Steve Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole)–but no Salman Rushdie (The Enchantress of Florence). Why not? The book wasn’t good enough (”Rushdie [...]

According to Publishers Weekly, Sherry Jones’ Jewel of Medina will be published in the U.S. by Beaufort Books (”Beaufort to Publish ‘Jewel of Medina’,” by Jim Milliot). You may remember Beaufort as the house that picked up O. J. Simpson’s If I Did It. So clearly, it’s a matter of principle with them.

For authors and would-be authors, a valuable reminder that, when basing your characters on real-life people, you should change more than just the names. Like their gender, for instance. Or your mean-spirited worldview. (”Director: Library Diaries Author Invaded Patrons’ Privacy,” American Libraries)
Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina will be published after all, in Britain (”Controversial [...]

In Time (”Mayor Palin: A Rough Record“), Nathan Thornburgh’s examination of Sarah Palin’s political past turns up a noteworthy allegation:
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in [...]

Sir Salman Rushdie has received an apology from Ronald Evans, author of On Her Majesty’s Service (”Rushdie Shoots Down Book’s False Claims,” by Mary Jordan, Washington Post). (It’s not immediately evident whether the nickname “Scruffy” was one of Evan’s 11 falsehoods.) Said Rushdie:
“Instead of going for the megabucks, you simply go to court for the [...]

“Should Mein Kampf Be Un-Banned?” (by Ursula Sautter, Time):
It’s long-winded and badly written, a tirade against all things non-German that would have disappeared if its author had never managed to turn many of his vile words into action. Adolf Hitler’s notorious Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a manifesto posing as autobiography, has long been banned from [...]

Sir Salman “Scruffy” Rushdie (sorry, I just can’t help myself, it’s too cute), whose name is frequently evoked in the Jewel of Medina affair (note to the Ian Fleming estate: great title for a Bond film), has weighed in (”Rushdie condemns cancellation of Muhammad novel,” by Hillel Italie, AP)
“I am very disappointed to hear that [...]

Defending her role in the unpublishing of Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina, Denise Spellberg writes “I do not espouse censorship” in The Wall Street Journal (”I Didn’t Kill ‘The Jewel of Medina’“). Nevertheless:
. . . I felt it my duty to warn the press of the novel’s potential to provoke anger among some Muslims. 
There [...]

Citing fear for the safety of its author and its employees, Random House has canceled publication of Sherry Jones’s The Jewel of Medina, a historical novel about Aisha, a young wife of the prophet Muhammad. A glance at this news undoubtedly causes many of us to ask: have the terrorists won? But this is a more nuanced [...]