Canadian songster Leonard Cohen has been making his sensually melancholic brand of music with a growl since the 1960s. Today a Sylvie Simmons-penned tale of his life was released. The music journalist (with a Serge Gainsbourg bio already under her belt) has treated this cheerfully moody man with a sympathetic hand, giving us a loving tome that leads us deep into his psyche with words as pleasurable as his uniquely touching songs. From his writer roots (Cohen was once a poet and novelist complimented by the likes of Michael Ondaatje) to his role here as biographical subject, Cohen continues to wield his special ability to move us by way of language. [via the New York Times]

Sounds like Bob Dylan is currently working on his memoir, part two. His 2004 "Chronicles" spent nineteen weeks on the New York Times’ bestseller list and came packaged with a promise of two subsequent installments -- which have swung between on-again, off-again in the years since. But the Bard now says he’s been working on the second volume based upon his decades’ worth of records, which will include sections sent to the cutting floor eight years ago. [via Rolling Stone]

Roald Dahl (of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach" fame) fans of every age can now read all about their favorite author. Released last week, "The Fantastic Mr Dahl" was written by children’s books writer Michael Rosen, who composed the part-memoir, part-writer-guide especially for young readers. To hook them, he’s relied on his subject’s own childlike charms: a love of words, absolute belief in even the most fantastic of stories, and being firmly on the side of his young audience -- and partnered with Dahl’s illustrator Quentin Blake. [via The Telegraph]

Greg Smith, who became a name in certain households after he resigned from Goldman Sachs by way of an earnestly scathing op-ed in the New York Times in March, has written a book-length inside scoop for Hachette Book Group -- for an advance closing in on $1.5 million. Dismissed by some as nonsense and by others as obvious, Smith’s public letter nevertheless boasted more than three million views in one day. On October 22, we’ll see if his memoir can keep up that pace. [via Business Insider]

In 2014, Carlos Santana will publish his memoir with Little Brown -- publishers of several other rock-greats’ lives, including Keith Richards’ already legendary "Life" -- in both Spanish and English editions. The musician’s contemporaries and influences are numerous; Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu will all make appearances in this book, which he promises will have an inspirational bent. [via the L.A. Times]