Get your brass knuckles ready, they’re giving away books!

If you buy a copy of the Slovenian national paper Delo today, you get a free copy of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose.” The details of the giveaway are here. If you buy a copy of Delo next week, you get a different classic book (ranging from Hemingway to Andric) for just 1000 SIT. (That’s about five euros.)

It’s a big deal in a place where books are extremely expensive.

As Draxblog recently reported, the Croatian daily Jutarnji list did the same thing last Tuesday and it was an astonishing success. He writes:

The results of this promotional actions were spectacular. Newspaper, which is normally available until evening hours, has vanished from newsstands in the earliest hours of morning. There were even reports of fistfights between those who wanted to buy the last copy on the newsstand.

In short, it’s probably going to be chaotic today, so slip on those brass knuckles and go get that book!

UPDATE: According to Draxblog, Belgrade’s Vecernje Novosti and Sarajevo’s Dani are doing similar things. And it seems that a small book war has broken out in Croatia. More updates will follow.

UPDATE 2: Ten minutes. That’s how long copies of Delo lasted in some stores today. So far no reports of any casualties, although I’m sure plenty of obscenities were exchanged .