by Jann S. Wenner & Corey Seymour
Little, Brown and Company, 2007, 467 pages

“Hunter was born different—very different,” begins “Gonzo,” the new oral biography of famed author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

The comment comes from his former wife, Sandy Thompson, who provides one of the most consistent voices in the book. The text that follows her opening statement colorfully and vividly illustrates the fact that not only was Thompson born different, but he lived and died different. Throughout his bizarre and incendiary career, Thompson invented new ways of writing, reporting and behaving that have made him an icon—albeit a mad and savage icon—for generations of authors and journalists. All the glory, energy, hypocrisy and general weirdness that characterizes America was contained within Thompson’s drug-fueled ambling figure, and it was reflected to the world in his writing.

J. M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for literature, has written a fascinating new novel, “Diary of a Bad Year.” When I first saw the form of the book, I groaned. The page is divided into two (later three) parts, each separated by a horizontal line. The top portion consists of a series of connected brief essays by the novel’s narrator, a fictional famous writer. The essays, readers learn, are to be released by a German publisher in a book titled “Strong Opinions,” which will include contributions from five well-known authors.

by Stephen King
611 pages, Scribner

It is possible, after more than 50 books and 200 short stories, that there is not an adjective left in the English language that hasn’t been used to describe Stephen King at one time or another. (Liquified, perhaps. Or maybe orange.) In the world of books, King is Elvis-sized, inarguably the biggest star literature has today. He is a whole sub-category of pop culture. But the reason for all the attention—the fact that he is the subject of countless articles and reviews and Web sites—can still be summed up by the simplest adjective: He’s good.

Anyone who is familiar with literature in this country has heard the rumors behind the writing of “On the Road.” Supposedly crafted in a Benzedrine-fueled whirlwind of typing that lasted all of three weeks, the book was considered a masterpiece of improvisation, a stream-of-consciousness outpouring as intense and emotional as a Charlie Parker saxophone solo.