Bookmarks: Moore on Barthelme, Updike on Cheever, plus more shakeups in the U.S. retail sector

Sundry links from around the Web:

• Lorrie Moore reviews the new Donald Barthelme biography (you can hear her thoughts here).
• The late John Updike had an early look at the John Cheever biography.
• Apparently, one of the century’s great correspondents was Samuel Beckett, “the man who said ‘every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.’”
• More layoffs at Borders. This time, the retailing giant cuts 742 jobs (nearly 3% of its workforce), most of them managerial positions at its superstores.
• Meanwhile, competitor Barnes & Noble buys e-book retailer Fictionwise.com for $15.7-million.
• A surefire pick-me-up: Author Tobias Wolff, onstage with John Darnielle (aka The Mountain Goats) in New York City. Wait for the chorus, when the grandfatherly Wolff chimes in.

Bookmarks: closing libraries, rewarding booksellers, and filming Chabon

Some book-related (but not Valentine’s Day-themed, alas) links:

• Victoria library locks out workers, shuts down all branches (Victoria Times Colonist)
• California bookseller gets $500k MacArthur grant (MSNBC)
• The Coen Brothers to filmify Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (Variety)
• Toronto, according to Michael Redhill’s Consolation – with spoilers! (Spacing)
• James Wolcott on Donald Barthelme (Bookforum)
• Borders unveils its first shiny new-style store* (Reuters)

* and it has its own Long Pen booth! (MLive.com)

Bookmarks – hello Barthelme, goodbye Richard & Judy, and more

Some book-related links:

• 45 posthumous stories from Donald Barthelme (New York magazine)
• Richard & Judy to call it quits (CBC.ca)
• For nerds who love words: new virtual hangout for Star Wars poets (Paul Vermeersch)
• Settlement reached in James Frey kerfuffle (Yahoo)
• Biographizing living authors can be tricky (The New York Times)