And not just e-books, but good old hardcovers are doing well this holiday season. Barnes & Noble reports that store sales are up 10.9% from this period last year, and the American Book Sellers Association, a trade group for independents, said that sales were up 16% from this period last year.
These figures are from a NYT story on the book business, and the reporter speculates that the jump might reflect the closing of Borders, which has sent those customers to other shops. Book sellers are also concerned about all the folks opening their Kindles, Nooks and other e-readers this Christmas, and wonder what January will look like in the stores.
Still, it's happy news that business is good. Meanwhile, I'm glad I'm not in Ann Beattie's shoes this week, after reading NYT reviewer Michiko Kakutani's review of Beattie's new book, "Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life." I've never read a harsher review. She calls the book "preposterous" and says it "manages the reductive feat of turning a human being into a paper doll, dressed up in the author's own condescending imagings." Ouch.
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