Michiko Kakutani

On January 30th, subscribers to Publishers Weekly’s email newsletter received a special “News Alert” with a red rectangle across the top. “Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble in Dispute Over Terms” the headline declared. But the message itself was cryptic, offering no details about the terms involved or a clear explanation as to why there was a dispute to begin with. PW managed to get one quote from a B&N spokesperson:

 Reviews on Amazon are becoming attack weapons, intended to sink new books as soon as they are published.

In the biggest, most overt and most successful of these campaigns, a group of Michael Jackson fans used Facebook and Twitter to solicit negative reviews of a new biography of the singer. They bombarded Amazon with dozens of one-star takedowns, succeeded in getting several favorable notices erased and even took credit for Amazon’s briefly removing the book from sale.

As the year draws to a close, critics honor best-seller Ann Patchett, newcomer Téa Obreht, and the late David Foster Wallace Téa Obreht's debut novel, "The Tiger's Wife," is among the year's best, and follows a young doctor as she delivers medicine to orphans, while also dealing with the news of her grandfather's death. Photo: www.barnesandnoble.com SEE ALL 10 PHOTOS 1. The Tiger's Wife (Random House, $15) Téa Obreht's debut novel is "unusual in content, wise beyond its author's years, and completely engrossing," said Maya Muir in the Portland Oregonian. Set in an unspecified Balkan country in the aftermath