It’s either ironic or perfectly apropos that on the day the royal baby was born, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie teamed up for a rare joint reading.
Triple Threat
Best Book Covers of 2009
Amazon has 60 books in 10 categories up for a vote for "Best Book Covers of 2009." There's plenty of literary eye candy in the mix.
The Vollmann Wears Prada
Just in time for the publication of Kissing the Mask, it's...Wilhelmina T. Vollmann! If this were a TLC album, it would be called Scarysexyapposite. (via)
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The Worst Thing About Owning a Bookstore
The worst thing about owning your own bookstore? According to Garrison Keillor, it's that "you do not get a 10 percent discount when you buy books. I don’t know why. It was explained to me once, and I didn’t understand. I mean, I’m the owner, right? But no, that’s not how it’s done."
A Necessary Evil
Is the system rigged? Aaron Bady at The New Inquiry discusses the inherent evil of the canon and the general problem with lists. For more on why we care about literary awards in the first place, here is Mark O’Connell from The Millions.
Bring Me That Book, STAT
See you later, creepy Amazon drones -- delivery dudes on mopeds are the future! There is a new service called NearSt. which is offering book delivery within the hour. So far the service is only available in London, but with over forty London bookshops already utilizing the service, it seems poised to take over at least a small corner of the market.
Type Wars
For everyone who likes typography and arguments, New York Magazine has a story up that covers the type designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones and follows the pair through their success to their ultimate rift. For those who prefer debates with more immediate impact, Mental Floss has a breakdown of the best shots fired in the fight over the Oxford Comma.
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