A Writer's Edge

An article about San Francisco book stores closing mentions that Powell's Books is the "world's largest indie bookstore" and "also does about 40 percent of its sales online, according to a store representative." I knew of Powell's but hadn't shopped there until a little bonus fell in my lap--a gift certificate to that store. I was so taken with the amusing text that appears on the Powell's website that I signed up for the company's newsletter. It is equally hilarious. Take this excerpt:

Hello folks, Brockman here. I'm the guy who writes the Book News feature on the Powells.com blog, bringing you the most important, up-to-the-minute news and salacious gossip in the book world. And sometimes I just make stuff up, like this:

DeLillo Challenges Pynchon to Most Confusing Sentence Ever:
The semi-reclusive authors will publicly duel to determine which one can write the longest single sentence that makes the least sense and wins the most book awards. Critics have called the contest "a tour-de-force," "laugh-out-loud hilarious," "unputdownable," and "one of the great contests in all of literature."[from PowellsBooks.blog Book News for Wednesday, September 6]