Short list, long tail.(Foreword)

It's that time of year again. No, not the pencil case--and school clothes-buying time, though of course, there's also plenty of that. It's fall--and that means lots of "big books" landing in stores.

But fall is also the season for book awards: the nominations from the National Book Foundation are due out any day, and our very own Quill Award nominations have been announced at www.thequills.org. (Consider this a plug for our corporate sibling.)

So far, so typical. Except for one thing. Last year, I must admit, the Quill nominations didn't thrill me (so much for corporate loyalty). Not that there's anything wrong with, say, Freakonomics or Harry Potter or Jon …