Links at the End of the Day

A few bits and pieces from the engine we call the Internet:

• Edan Lepucki at The Millions on what a novel needs.

• Speaking of The Millions, The Year in Reading series has begun, with posts from notables Nam Le, Benjamin Kunkel, Rosecrans Baldwin, Amanda Petrusich and Hamilton Leithauser writing about they enjoyed reading this year. What I love about The Year in Reading is that it isn't The Year in Publishing. It's timely, but it's also immune to trends. It's just what they liked, regardless of when it was published. By far, the best year end series on the web.

• Anne Truby, at Good on why publishers should "think artistically when packaging novels."

• Via The Morning News comes this list at the Village Voice of authors' favorite obscure books. Good stuff.

• Some of you may have already stumbled onto this on your own. If not: the Vroman's tumblr blog. Just because. Oh, and we changed our outfit over at the main site. We're web 2.0 compatible now, so feel free to login and comment. And free shipping in December (Continental US orders only).