Book News, In Brief

"Could Barnes & Noble really be threatening not to order books from writers who don't add B&N.com links to their websites?" GalleyCat says yes.


Goooooood morning fight fans! Today's book-based battle is brought to you by The Millions Book Blog. The topic: The Best Books of the Millennium! In this corner, the readers. In that corner, the pros. Ding!


The Awl courts controversy (and wins me as a fan) with their post, "That's So Gay" Is So Lame. I Mean, Dumb. I Mean, Retarded. Oh God!" If there's one thing I've learned while doing this blog, it's that words are tricky, prickly, malleable, and mangle-able buggers. I mean bastards. I mean...oh, forget I said anything.


Quick question for all you blue sky e-book boosters and fast adopting tech-heads: What happens to your digital library if your Kindle is lost or stolen? The answer, according to the podcasting people at Litopia, is that you completely lose your library, but the thieves are flush with fiction.
(For a talk-free take on this, click here.)


A week ago, The Guardian UK took Truman Capote to task for 'borrowing heavily' from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby for his Breakfast At Tiffany's. Now, having acquired a taste for blood, the British daily pounces on Raymond Carver, asking, "Was Carver's razor-sharp style created by his editor?"