Odds and Ends

Regular blogging will commence next week, including a full recap of my year in books, but for now, I found a few cool things to point out to everyone:

• David Stretfield in the New York Times on how bargain-hunting readers (particularly the online variety) are killing publishing and bookselling. I would extend this argument further and say that the entire discount culture we've settled is the root of the problem. Whatever happened to a fair price for a fair day's work? (Did that sound terribly crotchety and old-fashioned? That's how I am before my afternoon coffee. I apologize.)

• I'm a week late, but The Elegant Variation ran a terrific week of coverage on 2666, of which I'll have something to say next week (130 pages left!).

• Dana Stevens, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, has her top ten films of 2008 on Slate.

• At Kottke.org, the year in cities, 2008 (That's every city Mr. Kottke spent at least one night in in 2008). Mine would look something like this: Los Angeles, CA, Oakland, CA, Oberlin, OH, Waltham, MA, Phoenix, AZ, Kauai, HI...Hmm, I need to get out more. Next year, Rome, London, Baltimore, etc.