Best-known for her 1962 novel The Golden Notebooks, Doris Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. Some considered it a victory for science-fiction writers. Her response: "Oh Christ! I couldn't care less."

With five books in six years, including the brand-new final chapter of the Nathan Zuckerman saga, Exit Ghost , Philip Roth is picking up the pace. In Roth's words, the Library of America "already owe[s] me another volume."

The 99 is the Middle East's top-selling comic book, and its author is Tufts-educated Kuwaiti writer Al-Mutawa. Based on the 99 positive attributes of Allah, the book's titular gang of superheroes hails from 99 countries. The monthly series hits the US on October 16.

Despite British bookies' predictions that Ian McEwan or Lloyd Jones would take home the prize, the lesser-known Irish novelist Anne Enright won this year's Booker for her uncompromisingly bleak, family-centered novel The Gathering .

It's no surprise that Wilde — whose last words were "Either those curtains go or I do" — was voted the UK's top funny-man. But just below Margaret Thatcher and William Shakespeare was Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, who took the tenth spot for his brutal put-downs of fellow celebs.

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling confessed that she "always" thought of the beloved wizard and educator Dumbledore as gay. Much commentary ensued.

Competing English translations of Tolstoy's mega-novel are based on different versions of the original manuscript. It's easy to decide which one is for you — just read 'em both!

In a new book by the author, filmaker, and one-time candidate for mayor of New York, Norman Mailer expounds on his personal theology with an intimate portrait of the great Creator.

Writing under the pseudonym Robert Jordan, author James Oliver Rigney Jr. penned the 11-part best-selling series Wheel of Time . The series' first book, starring the warrior-prophet Rand al'Thor, was released in 1990; the final installment of this good-versus-evil epic remains incomplete.

The popular Japanese manga comic-book style has found a global audience, but in the UK, it's no longer just an import. English-language stories, the Bible, and Shakespeare are all getting the graphic treatment.

After receiving a hefty advance for his memoir, Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court's most conservative justice, stirs controversy among his fellow justices for his "breach of decorum."

O.J. Simpson's hypothetical memoir — which led to Judith Reagan's ouster from HarperCollins, a lawsuit by the Goldman family, and pledges and then retractions by a major bookseller not to stock it — has now hit the top of the best-seller list.

The ever-dismissive Gawker gets a sneak preview of the Inside the Actor's Studio host's new book. The site remains deeply (and hilariously) skeptical.