Critical Notes

Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, whose work pioneered the “Boom” in Latin American literature in the mid-20th Century, died last week at 83. Marcela Valdes delivers an extended obituary and appreciation;

The death of celebrated children’s author Maurice Sendak inspired a flood of appreciations from the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Christian Science Monitor, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian, the Barnes & Noble

What distinguishes a book review in a newspaper or magazine from a user review on Amazon? Researchers at the Harvard Business School are studying the matter. Among the findings: “Expert

Last weekend marked the 17th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which attracted plenty of big names, including NBCC nonfiction winner Steve Lopez, fiction finalist Dana Spiotta, National Book

Last week’s news that there would be no Pulitzer Prize awarded in fiction produced an avalanche of commentary. Here’s a sampling of what people were saying last week: Laura Miller,

“It’s not a question of liking or disliking him. I’m trying to explain how political power worked in America in the second half of the 20th century, and here’s a

What impact has Amazon had on the publishing industry, from taxes to indies to employees? The Seattle Times takes a look in a four-part series. Denise Low launches a new

“The truth is, women who write literary fiction frequently find themselves in an unjust world, even as young single women are outearning men in major American cities and higher education

Are book critics too mean? Should authors at the receiving end of a negative review stop biting their tongues and respond? Arthur Krystal considers the matter in the Chronicle of

What obligations do reviewers have to self-published books? Joseph Peschel talks to a variety of critics and authors for “Another 100,000 Galleys” at the Los Angeles Review of Books. New