Books—staid and intellectual cultural artifacts that they so often are—were not all just staid or intellectual this year. Not nearly. There were, in fact, scandals, at least a few of them surrounding books and their authors and publishers, and there were times in which discussions of books and the business grew dramatic and tension-filled. Near-scandals! Other times, these conversations were simply very, very interesting, full of twists and turns, much like a good book. Remember when Philip Roth took on Wikipedia to clear up what he described as false perceptions of The Human Stain? (It was a big year for Philip Roth news altogether, really.) Or...