Brooklyn Books It
There are people in Brooklyn who write books, according to an article in this week’s Observer, a phenomenon that has resulted in a “literary community.” The piece, which is actually thoughtful, includes a “somewhat arbitrary” “Brooklyn Literary 100” broken down by neighborhood. According to the list, the most literary neighborhood is the Slope, which boasts…
There are people in Brooklyn who write books, according to an article in this week’s Observer, a phenomenon that has resulted in a “literary community.” The piece, which is actually thoughtful, includes a “somewhat arbitrary” “Brooklyn Literary 100” broken down by neighborhood. According to the list, the most literary neighborhood is the Slope, which boasts 20 writers/editors/assorted other literary types, followed by Fort Greene (19 bookish folks named, including Jhumpa Lahiri, Jennifer Egan and Colson Whitehead), and Boerum Hill, where 13 men/women of letters, including Jonathan Lethem, reside. We find it ironic that the most literary neighborhood in Brooklyn, by this account, is also the one that’s seen the shuttering of two independent bookstores over the past year.
The Brooklyn Literary 100 [NY Observer]
Photo by mdash
The Observer needs to fact-check.
Lara Vapnyar certainly doesn’t live in Brighton Beach. Oh, but wait – she’s Russian, so she MUST live in Brighton Beach, right? Dorks.
(A) Including agents on this list is lame.
(B) Where is Susanna Moore? She’s major and she lives on Clinton Avenue, according to the NY Times. Come on, people!
(C) Their list of literary locations is Whitey McWhiterson. Brownstone Books on Lewis Ave. in Bed-Stuy is everything that an independent bookstore should be.
Yeh, this is hilarious. Noses are gonna be out of joint big time. I mean, where’s Cobble Hill res Jonathan Galassi (head of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)? For everyone included, there’s at least 5 prominent types left out.
The two bookstores on 7th Ave in the Slope that closed recently were mostly used bookstores. The Internet has made it very hard to run a used bookstore these days, cuz whatever you are looking for, you are more likely to find it on the net than schlepping around looking in stores. I did grab a book worth $200 for $7 in one of those stores tho…
Also since Slopers claim to be intellects and not collectors, (according to the store owners) they had way to many paperbacks and not enuf hardcovers to appeal to those who buy books for a personal library.
There’s another store on 7th that has survived B&N, altho they haven’t prospered, I heard.
The indie vs. chain thing doesn’t really hold here. It’s not like Starbucks, where an indie coffee shop can provide you the same java. Bookselling is an inventory game; the more space and inventory you have, the more likely it will be that I’ll find what I am looking for. Coupla of the independents didn’t get that when they decided to add a cafe to compete.
B&N is not immune to high rents either; in the last year they closed Astor Place and Chelsea (while opening in TriBeca).
BTW I thought Foer paid 6.5mil for that house, not 3.5 mil (?)
I can name at least 4 more people in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens alone – one of whom is the head of one of the most renowned literary agencies in NY and happens to be married to a well-reviewed author, memoirist and travel/food writer. Two magazine editors spring to mind as well — also married. Maybe CG/CH is where the marrieds live.
I know of at least two other published authors in Ft. Greene not on that list.
yawn, more “class warfare” … this time:
doctors vs. senior editors at major literary publishing houses
Round 1
Editor hits Doctor with a conceited jab and a self-righteous left hook.
Doctor slices through Editor’s mock-Daniel-Libeskind-glasses with scalpel and severs jugular.
12:52 Do you write the same article 3X. Then be patient grasshopper and it will appear.
Ok, 12:39, here again, and how about this: I’m a senior editor at a major literary publishing house. And anyone who knows anything about the salaries in publishing and the advances that the lion’s share of authors get will tell you that white collar professions like, say, lawyers, doctors, and bankers, make at least three times what the average person working in publishing does. It is not a profession known to be particularly lucrative. But 12:46 your language seems to indicate that somehow you know better–what’s your connection to publishing?