So bookstores are struggling, editors aren't allowed to acquire new projects or even eat a decent lunch, and it's never been a worse time for aspiring authors with dreams of literary stardom. (Unless they're Jewish comedians or former child-star drug addicts, that is.) But wait! Is it possible that Barack Obama will singlehandedly turn the tide and redeem literary culture? The President-elect was recently photographed with a copy of Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott's Collected Poems, much to the delight of Farrar, Straus and Giroux president Jonathan Galassi, who, after picking up his own poetry prize at the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction Awards last night, said: "Obama is a big reader, and he's an author, so people are paying attention to what he reads. He could have a lot of influence on books and what's read." Indeed. Now, if Michelle could just be seen reading, say, a Joan Didion novel, another angel will get its wings and a few more editorial assistants will still have their jobs come Christmas.