Book News, In Brief

Via AP: This holiday season, publishers are hoping to bleed 401ks dry with a barrage of books about 'the good old days,' 'when music was better.' The Inkwell recommends that any of our older readers planning on living to see the Spring of 2008 (knock on Wood) hold off on buying these books until then. It is our educated guesstimate that all of these titles will be available at significantly Slash-ed prices once this season's influenza has (literally) killed off much of their intended audience.

I had never heard of The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild by Craig Childs until I happened across this snippet of Sarah Rose's review in the AP: "A packed subway train crawls toward Manhattan from Brooklyn. I'm pushed on all sides, smashed against the door reading Craig Childs' newest set of essays, The Animal Dialogues. Tears well in my eyes as I read about a perfect blue shark dying on a desolate beach." Now, I've gotta be honest. I'm not sure if that review qualifies as a success or a failure. On the one hand, I have no interest in reading The Animal Dialogues. But on the other, I'm fiending to read a million more melodramatic reviews by Ms. Rose. Her writing reminds me of 'Dwight' from The Office.

This is the way the bookstores end. Not with a bang or a Kindle.