[URBAN NOTE] "There's a black market for stolen books in Toronto, apparently"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC News' Ali Chiasson reports on Toronto's trade in stolen books.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami may be known worldwide for novels that straddle the border between the dreamworld and reality.

But in Toronto he's better known as the most popular author among literary thieves, at least according to the city's bookstore owners.

An entire shelf dedicated to Murakami books disappeared in December at the Roncesvalles store A Good Read.

"I lost $800 the last two times this guy hit me," owner Gary Kir told CBC Toronto. "They're very easily converted into cash, because they're very high in demand and they don't turn up that often used."

[. . .]

Derek McCormack has worked at bookstores in Toronto for 25 years and says the most shoplifted names come and go in waves.

"It used to be all the beats," said McCormack, of Type Books on Queen Street West. "Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Then it became [Vladimir] Nabokov by far — you couldn't keep Lolita on the shelf."

Comments

[dewline]

There is something both disgusting and reaffirming about all of this. It's great that books - actual, physical books - still have value in the real worlds. But to do this to get them?

Interesting coincidence: I am listening to Cross-Country Checkup as I answer this, and today's topic?

Recommended Winter Reading.