Kim Gordon's Girl in a Band came out on February 24 to some excellent reviews and mild controversy re: Lana Del Rey. But if you want to read it, good luck. It appears to have sold out at many independent stores. When I checked in with Powell's on Friday, none of the store's locations had any copies on hand (it's now on backorder). There was allegedly one copy on the shelf at the City of Books, but when I investigated the stacks, I was met by a dissatisfied customer pointing out the exact spot on the shelf where it should've been. I have emails into some other area bookstores to see if they have better news to offer. Even LA's Skylight Books is out of Gordon's book (Yes, I actually checked—I thought her hometown might have planned for the onslaught. I was wrong.)

So if you've been trying to get your hands on a copy of Gordon's book, and failing, its sheer popularity may just be why. You have my condolences. Don't be sad, though, because you can hear Gordon herself read from the book right now, and this is the most delightful discussion of the book I've encountered so far. There are many, many others out there. Ours is forthcoming.

As for the Lana Del Rey scandal? If you know anything about publishing, it isn't actually much of one. Apparently Gordon rewrote a harshly worded section about LDR in between the release of the book's uncorrected proofs and its final publication. So, this is only scandalous in that—scandal!—books get edited!

UPDATE: Reading Frenzy and Broadway Books both got back to me. They've both sold out of the book, and have ordered more copies (a rep from Broadway Books told me even their distributors had sold out). A beam of sunshine, though—Chloe Eudaly of Reading Frenzy estimates it'll be back in stock later this week. And another—it's always a good thing when this many people buy this many books from local independent bookstores.