The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

We have a fine Spring weekend to look forward to in our little town, with sun, mild temps. After a winters long rain, SeattleTammy and I are anxious to get out into the garden, plant some stuff, and bicycling around the town. Not to mention the big house projects. We may even get around to doing some reading.

The big book news this week was the purchase of Goodreads by Amazondotcom. I do have a Goodreads account, but I have never bothered with it much. And many of my learned friends have deleted theirs, once they heard the news. Wired had this rather acerbic view of the matter.

And I have heard this alternative site may be the place to turn to, if that is the way your literary soul leads you.

Publishers Weekly recently concluded its poll on The Great American Novel. As these things go, I guess I am not surprised that Mockingbird headed the list, although I didn’t vote for it. The PW blog had these reflections.

Meanwhile, over at the Atlantic Monthly, there are some authors who actually liked the film adaptations of their books. I liked this article, in part because that except for Cloud Atlas, I have both read and seen these movies, and enjoyed them all in varying degrees. (I can certainly recommend both Orchid Thief and Adaptation, with its very quriky screenplay by Charlie Kaufmann).

I can’t recommend breaking the law, but Buzzfeed found some great graffiti examples of literary worth to share.

The folks at Buzzfeed had a busy week. They also found some very cool bookplates of celebrities past for our enjoyment.

It is always interesting to see famous writers correspondence and it is even more interesting to see the fan letters they can write to other authors. Emily Tempe at Flavorwire culled these examples. Nine fan letters and one not so fawining.

Not often do I see works of fiction in newspapers. The Guardian, the best paper on American politcs, as someone noted ironically, ran this short story by Neill Gaiman. Take the time to read it. Gaiman is always worth it.

I’ll sadly note the passing of writer and journalist Anthony Lewis this week. His book Gideon’s Trumpet is still used in law schools and will be for years to come. Another voice we shall miss.

Finally, the good folks at Maria’s Bookshop in Colorado explain why we love bookselling. Hat tip to my old friend and colleague, Michael Coy for finding this YouTube:

A Happy Easter to everyone celebrating and a great weekend for us all. Tell us what’s on your nightstand.