Monday, December 21, 2009

The Most Shoplifted Book

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3670336/Jeffrey-Eugenides-Enduring-love.html

The Daily Telegraph [UK]
5 January 2008

Jeffrey Eugenides: Enduring love

By Mick Brown

[...] Jeffrey Eugenides has written just two books in the past 15 years. The first, The Virgin Suicides, a darkly comic fable of five suburban sisters who kill themselves, published in 1993, has sold more than a million copies, but also is said to hold the distinction of being the most shoplifted book of modern times. 'It's my most famous accolade,' Eugenides laughs, 'although Paul Auster claims one of his books is the most shoplifted. It's one of those things authors argue about.' [...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/books/review/Rabb-t.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

New York Times
16 December 2009

Steal These Books

By MARGO RABB

[...] Although there’s no hard statistical evidence on most-stolen titles, The Telegraph of London reported last year that Jeffrey Eugenides’s novel “The Virgin Suicides” was said to be “the most shoplifted book of modern times.” Eugenides had heard this for many years. “I just assumed that the book appealed to the young and sticky-fingered to a certain extent,” he told me, with some amusement. Years ago, Eugenides was at a literary conference with Paul Auster, another top choice among literary thieves. “Paul and I argued about whose book was stolen more,” Eugenides said. “He claimed he was stolen a lot, I claimed I was stolen a lot. Back and forth. It was one of those deep intellectual conversations.” [...]

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