- The Millions Walking Tour of NYC Indie Bookstores is only a week away. Get all the details and RSVP.
- Little Dorrit is must-see-TV in the Packer household.
- For those considering undertaking Infinite Jest, we recommend Slate’s Audio Book Club discussion.
- Meanwhile, in the first installment of New York Magazine’s new “Reading Room” feature, participants get, er… wet.
- “‘I never wanted to write this book,'” [Alec Baldwin] tells us… ‘It was also a book I never wanted to read, but here we are, Alec and I, making the best of a bad situation.'”
- The influence of the late J.G. Ballard, who died this week, reached from Jonathan Lethem to Thom Yorke.
- What’s Bret Easton Ellis up to? Not much, apparently.
- An inspired blog feature collects one-star Amazon reviews of the classics (via HTMLGIANT).
- In praise of Peter Handke and A.J. Liebling.
- Senator Arlen Specter realizes that there’s no way to endear yourself to Republican primary voters like writing for The New York Review of Books.
- William H. Gass goes for baroque. (via The Complete Review)
- Some small presses are trying out a subscription model.
- The earliest known dust jacket for a book has been found. (via LitKicks)
- The Orange Prize shortlist has been announced.
- Ben Yogoda writes a defense of common English.
- Trade paperbacks thrive in tough times. (Our suggestion: make them even smaller.)
- Earth Day was this past week, and now we know: used books are “greener” than new.