HTMLGiant asks if New York for writers is The Place to Be, or whether it’s just too damn expensive.

Lit.

• Should bookstores shelve by publisher rather than author? (Thanks, The Rumpus)

• How East of Eden became a performance piece.

• A surprisingly interesting picture essay of the last 10 years of Nobel Prize winners in literature.

• The “slow death of the man of letters”? Hm.

• Shakespeare’s endless Answers: Why it’s smart to be a Shakespearean fool.

• Books as art. Very cool.

Obama as Peacemaker

• Besides “top conservative media personalities and Republican National Committee Chairman Micheal Steele,” the Right has been surprisingly silent since Obama’s Nobel win. (Politico)

• For his noble words, Obama deserves the prize. (LA Times)

• A Prize That’s Also For Us. (Boston Globe)

• Obama’s Obligation to Afghanistan.(WSJ)

Music

• The Boss does the entire Born in the USA album live

Food

• A new book on How Cooking Made Us Human

• The Smart Set’s Stefany Anne Golbert writes about Gourmet Magazine’s life after death, and why “the revolution is still going strong.”

Misc.

• The Morning News will help you detect–and rid–your town (or shop or cafe) of its Hipster infestation. (Thanks, The Millions)

• Princeton closed computer labs, Harvard is cutting cookies and eggs.

• Cornfields!  In Boerum Hill!