(2009-05-01) Dewitt Unbookstores

Helen De Witt imagines a different Book Store industry structure. Suppose we imagine a system rather different from the one we have now. The sale of books is not confined to specialist outlets; if you walk into a hardware store, or a pet supplies store, or a hairdresser's, or a doctor's waiting room, if you check into a hotel, if you turn up at a restaurant, you will always find a few books on sale - books chosen, presumably, according to the taste of the proprietor. Or chosen, maybe, after urgent recommendation from the proprietor's friends. (Maybe related to the core purpose of that place?) Then she tries to call the publisher of Last Samurai to see what it would take for such a proprietor to carry her book. Unhappiness ensues...