- Bookninja pointed out this great article on the success of Sam Savage’s novel Firmin in Europe. “In a quite unsuspected outbreak of literary cultdom, Firmin, the first novel by a retiring 67-year-old from South Carolina about the adventures of an erratic, paper-gobbling, self-pitying rodent, has spent the summer knocking Ken Follett and Stephen King from bestseller spots in Spain and Italy.” Back in the day, Firmin was an LBC pick (I say this to point out how great our taste was).
- I love this Observer story on Sarah McNally and her fabulous NYC independent McNally Robinson, now renamed McNally Jackson. “Ms. McNally’s distaste for Barnes & Noble is aesthetic, in other words, not political: What bothers her is the artlessness with which they go about sellling books, not the mere fact of their corporate status.”
- Speaking of Barnes & Noble, have you heard about the Chelsea Green brouhaha? They’re publishing a book by Robert Cuttner called Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. Chelsea Green, traditionally a lefty, pro-local, pro-sustainable living publisher, has partnered with Amazon who will be using their Booksurge print on demand arm to publish the book quickly. The kicker is that Amazon has exclusive selling rights for two weeks. Oh, and they’re passing out coupons at the Democratic convention in Denver that will give people a 25% discount in addition to the discount Amazon is already giving. Barnes & Noble is outraged. They’ve canceled their 10,000 copy preorder. Other independent bookstores are pissed too. It’s odd to be on the side of Barnes & Noble, but Amazon has become the bully in the school yard. Read president Margo Baldwin’s open letter to the bookselling community. I don’t buy it.
Bookdwarf
Come fall into a book hole!
Bookdwarf 
Firmin is doing well in Latin America as well:
http://outofthewoodsnow.blogspot.com/2008/03/little-rat-that-could.html
Yes, you guys had marvelous taste (and still do!).
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I think a lot of people’s distaste for “corporate” is a taste thing… I’m a confessed Starbucks-hater, but I also confess that I have no reason to dislike them other than preferring Diesel and Sherman on a sheer friendliness basis.
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Good post today…interesting links all the way around. Keep up the good work.
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I think both Amazon and Chelsea Green are way out of line here.
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