The Awl talked with a New York City bookseller about their most-stolen books. Here's a list:

* Paul Auster, “New York Trilogy” and others.
* Bukowski, “Tales of Ordinary Madness,” “Ham on Rye.”
* Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail,” “Hell’s Angels.”
* Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist.”
* F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” and all the others.
* Various Hemingway, including “A Moveable Feast” and “The Sun Also Rises.”
* David Sedaris, “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day.”
* Jack Kerouac, “On The Road.”


The bookseller commentary
on those shoplifted books is very interesting. This list has a lot in common with the list that I discovered back when I was a bookseller. I'm kind of surprised by the Fitzgerald and the Hemingway, though; those are available at just about any used bookstore, and generally when a book is that common, it makes the title less shoplifter-friendly.