Editor and Publisher: “You won’t find the new politics bestseller tally in the print edition of Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. The line-up is only being posted on the Web site’s book section, along with the paper’s other bestseller lists. ‘The more best-seller lists, the better,’ Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the Book Review, told E&P. He said he had not known about the new listing, but supported it. ‘We have talked a long time about different categories for books.'”

Return of the Reluctant has uncovered a secret BlogSpot blog belonging to Dwight Garner. Unfortunately, the blog was taken down shortly after we discovered it, but we were able to uncover the following keywords from Dwight’s page:

book editor, greatest book editor ever, nothing but the New York Times Book Review, nothing else matters, Kiss Sam’s ass, Kiss Sam’s ass, Kiss Sam’s ass, I hate brownies, hate bloggers, hate bloggers, bloggers must die, Mark Childress must die

Jason Pinter has an amusing list of “Great Moments in Literary Feuds.” To my considerable surprise, Sammy Boy and I made the list, although since no blows were ever exchanged between us, I’m wondering how offering a plate of brownies is pugilistic. Perhaps in Tanenhaus’s moribund eyes, it is. So I guess that makes this a feud. Come on down!

Re: Liesl Schillinger (hereinafter referred to as “Floozyl”), what Mark said, but with one major difference. The blogger who allegedly “grumbled” actually had a more dimensional take than what Floozyl imputed. Observe the final paragraph from Sarah’s post:

(Btw, for the humor-impaired, it’s not that I am mocking Ms. Pessl’s appearance or writing ability, just the publishing world’s almost masochistic desire to let attractive packages, so to speak, dictate their buying guidelines — even if the prospect of earning out is rather limited, to say the least.)

Further, Jessa Crispin penned her piece not on her blog, but in an article for the Book Standard. Meaning that it was a bona-fide piece of journalism that just happened to be available online, but that it was not part of the Bookslut empire. It’s idiotic enough to paraphrase an opinion based on a headline, but in this case it does a disservice to the blogger in question, who was functioning as a journalist. Further, it is quite likely that a copy editor penned the headline, not Jessa.

So beyond Floozyl being inaccurate, bafflingly combative towards litbloggers, and as perspicacious in her thinking as Dick Cheney handling a shotgun, Floozyl’s reading comprehension skills and ability to contextualize are more amateurish than a raccoon-eyed undergraduate with a bad case of the munchies trying to figure out how to divagate through the stacks.* If an entire team of fact-checkers and copy editors at the world’s allegedly foremost newspaper is this lazy, this petty, and this rushed, then Sammy T and the team are truly silly individuals who don’t even have the basic bonhomie to realize that the relationship between litbloggers and mainstream sources is two-way and symbiotic, that we have much to learn from each other, and that there is no autocratic cultural gatekeeper here, there, or anywhere. Particularly when Tanenhaus fails on a weekly basis to realize that there are books that go beyond bloated biographies of ponderous intellectuals and the collected works of John Updike.

Here are some questions to Sammy T and Floozyl: Are you really that oversensitive? Are you really having sleepless nights thinking about literary enthusiasts who have the temerity to express their passions in their spare time?

Sammy, Floozyl: Grow a spine, for fuck’s sake. Hell, maybe some humility on your end might help. After all, there’s room in the literary world for everyone.

* Hey, if Floozyl’s going to give us unpardonable run-ons, I’m going to mix my fucking metaphors.

[UPDATE: Ron has more.]

[UPDATE 2: More from Levi and a hilarious response from Scott.]