Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002548, Mon, 10 Nov 1997 15:42:47 -0800

Subject
Shoplifting Nabokov (fwd)
Date
Body
From: taji@cris.com
Here's an item that people on this list might find interesting (incorrect
spelling and all).
Aaron Hinkhouse

> _The Most Stolen Books_
> _Oct 27, 1997_
>
>During a recent trip to my local Barnes & Noble to buy Patrick O'Brian's
>books for my father, I noticed a strange phenomenon on the shelves.
>Burroughs was missing. And in his place was a plastic placard that read:
>"William S. Burroughs: For books by this author, please see a bookseller."
>I could only imagine what they had done with him. I continued down the
>aisles and saw that Burroughs wasn't the only author missing from the
>shelves. Martin Amis, Paul Auster, J.G. Ballard, Jack Keroauc, Milan
>Kundera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Henry Miller, and Vladimir Nabakov--to
>name a few--were all missing. My initial response? "Aha! Censorship rears
>its ugly head once again!" So being the crackerjack reporter I am, I
>decided to get to the bottom of the situation.
>
>I approached Tom, the 4th floor supervisor and asked, "Why the placards?"
>It turns out the M.I.A. authors are all common targets for book thieves.
>_Lolita_, _100 Years of Solitude_, _On the Road_, and _American Psycho_
>are three of the most-stolen. When asked why he thought those particular
>titles are targets, Tom equated their theft to their often-controversial
>content. "It's the nature of what's written," said Tom.
>
>[snip]
>
>From: http://www.bookwire.com/insider/flap.article%243781