Today the Wall Street Journal tells us the story of Darcie Chan, an environmental lawyer who turned her writing hobby into a bestselling self-published novel (after rejections from most of the major publishing houses.)
The Times tells us why film producer Scott Rudin is keeping the film adaptation for Read More
A report on Lauren Oliver, who wrote the young adult novels Delirium and Before I Fall, and her fiction factory, Paper Lantern Lit. [BusinessWeek]
Siddhartha Mukherjee wins the Guardian‘s First Book Award for his history of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies. [Guardian]
Europeans appear less interested in e-books. The Times blames taxes. [NYT]
Abe Books sells a first edition of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital for $51,739. [Abe Books] Read More
![[Photo via McNally Jackson]](http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/xyhuz.jpg?w=112)
How did Border’s die? “When Borders declared bankruptcy in February, more than 200 of its 400 outlets were still ‘highly profitable,’ says its final chief executive officer, Mike Edwards.” [BusinessWeek]
Martin Amis’s biography might be badly written, but this review is excellent. [FT]
More thoughts on Q.R. Markham. Is it pastiche? A collage? Or plagiarism? [New Yorker]
Morris Philipson, who directed the University of Chicago Press for 30 years, has died. [Chicago Tribune] Read More
Esi Edugyan has won the Giller Prize, Canada’s top literary award. As we reported earlier this fall, her win comes after having been turned down by U.S. publishers on her first try. Her book, Half-Blood Blues, is now expected to come out early 2012 on Picador.
After 15 years at Grove/Atlantic, editor Lauren Wein has moved over to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Now she grants an interview to Publishing Perspectives. Read More
Jeffrey Eugenides had a book party at The Standard Wednesday night: “I am seldom stirred anymore by the sight of the Manhattan skyline,” said Franzen. “Tonight I was spontaneously stirred.” [Bloomberg]
And Martin Amis was there! [NY Post]
Will Self writes about living with a rare blood disease. [Guardian]
A fan of Dorothy Parker’s tries to save her childhood home from the wrecking ball. [NY Times]
A hedge fund manager wants assurances that Norman Mailer’s curious apartment in Brooklyn Heights complies with zoning codes before he buys it. Or maybe he just found out that Mailer stabbed one of his wives with a penknife there. In any case, the buyer appears to have cold feet. Occupy Norman Mailer’s apartment? [NYT]
Book Riot is a book site for 18 to 34-year-olds. As this article points out, it does not seem to have made up its mind whether it’s for adults who like to read, or for adults who hate to read (viz. “Charles Dickens is reigning king of Dead White Guys You Should Have Read in High School, But Probably Just Read the Cliff Notes or Possibly Watched the BBC Mini-series.”) Read More
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux pulls out the big guns for Jeffrey Eugenides: a billboard in Times Square, with the author purposefully striding forth in a manly vest. “Swoon-worthy.” [via @PeterLattman]
Speaking of Jeffrey Eugenides, it turns out Leonard Bankhead was supposed to be more Axl Rose than David Foster Wallace. [WSJ]
An excerpt from 50 Cent’s young adult novel Playground: The Mostly True Story of a Former Bully. “Living life on the edge has taught me a lot, like the fact that being mentally strong will get you ahead in life,” writes the rapper 50 Cent, who confesses he once was a bully himself. “But being a bully won’t get you anywhere. Some kids don’t figure that out until it’s too late. Does Butterball? You’ll have to read the book to find out.” Butterball is the main character. He’s a bully. [Shelf Life]
Don DeLillo speaks on the anniversary of “the shot heard round the world.” [Grantland]
Retracing Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 40 years later. [The Daily]
The fate of St. Mark’s Bookshop is on the table, to be decided by its landlord, Cooper Union, as soon as today. [Bloomberg]
After an investigation into poor working conditions at an Amazon distribution center by the Allentown Morning Call, the company installs air conditioners. [MarketWatch]
HarperCollins is making 5,000 titles available for print-on-demand machines in bookstores (like the Espresso machine at McNally Jackson). [WSJ]
Powell’s, the massive indie bookstore in Portland, Ore. lays off eight managers in a corporate restructure. [Oregonian] Read More
Arnold Schwarzenegger is publishing a memoir with Simon & Schuster. Scheduled for publication in October 2012, the tentative title is Total Recall (total cringe.) [NYT]
After his memoir hit bookstores in Britain this morning, Julian Assange accuses his British publisher, Canongate, of “old-fashioned opportunism and duplicity.” His American publisher, Knopf, announced the cancellation of his contract yesterday. [The Bookseller] Read More
The end of Borders, forever. [AP]
Short e-books might provide competition to full-length e-books. We wrote about this too. [NY Times]
How the White House is preparing for Ron Suskind’s book about Obama, Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President. [New York]
Edna O’Brien Read More
