An outpouring of love for independent bookstores has erupted in the New York press lately. This love is prompted, alas, by the mass extinction of bookstores across the country. It’s unclear whether the love will translate into steady sales for the stores, but it’s given us some nice reading.Here is a round-up:
Today the Times Style section profiles Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books, whom the newspaper depicts as both a Canadian Amazon and a frail Victorian suffering from consumption.
The Daily Beast has a slideshow of the country’s best independent bookstores.
Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review (and soundbite provider for any Times story about literature, including profiles of McNally Jackson), writes a love letter to St. Mark’s Bookstore, which is currently in a dispute with its landlord.
At Entertainment Weekly, Stephan Lee remembers Heights Books, a casualty in Brooklyn Heights of the mass bookstore die-off.
Meanwhile, Techdirt wonders whether Amazon intends to monopolize all of publishing. We doubt that — they have to have something to put on their hardware, no? (Besides Tim Ferriss and Penny Marshall, who will surely put out great books with Amazon Publishing but… Let’s put it this way: we’re pretty sure that if Amazon was the only publisher it would be pretty easy for someone else to produce a breakout hit.)
