I was listening to an interview with Jonathan Gold and was thinking, “Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone who hates Jonathan Gold and his writing.” (I could be wrong. There are probably chefs in LA who hate Jonathan Gold and his writing.) I was wondering, then, if Jonathan Gold sort of untouchable. Or if anyone is untouchable. I thought I’d ask you. Readers: Writing-wise, is anyone untouchable?

Richard Russo offered an opinion  on Amazon’s ill-advised price comparison promotion.  Farhard Manjoo thinks bookstores are difficult to use (?) and just hates having to get book recommendations from a human being instead of an algorithm. He simply cannot understand why everything is so much cheaper at Amazon. I am not anti-Amazon but this guy is being willfully ignorant. Amazon is pretty open about their willingness to operate at staggering losses to undercut competitors. By Manjoo’s thinking, booksellers should probably just give books away for free to compete, to benefit the greater good of affordability and convenience.

Poetry of Unemployment?

“The law has long been clear that stores do not invite the public in for all purposes. A retailer is not expected to serve as a warming station for the homeless or a site for band practice. So it’s worth wondering whether it’s lawful for Amazon to encourage people to enter a store for the purpose of gathering pricing information for Amazon and buying from the Internet giant, rather than the retailer. Lawful or not, it’s an example of Amazon’s bare-knuckles approach.”

-And with this quote from a NYTimes article, Scott Turow is finally tagged at HTMLGiant.

You ever walked out of a film?

“Best of” lists should be reconsidered as “In club” lists. Unless you can read all of the books, you’re going to pick the cool kids. Especially small press listers. So predictable it hurts.

The newest edition of Brad Listi’s Other People podcast features an hourlong & particularly wonderfully personal interview with Dennis Cooper.

Booksellers, concerned about the prevalence of eBooks, are making their print books look better, says this article in the NYTimes. The paperback of Jay-Z’s book has shiny embossing and costs $25.

“Novels Are Fantasies of Powerlessness and Power” — Great interview with Adam Novy & his novel The Avian Gospels up at Biblioklept.

Can anyone name some writing that is sexy without containing any actual sex?