The Death of the Book
When I was in college, I majored briefly in English before I switched to theatre. What would possess someone to make such an impractical move? Could it be the stench of a decaying profession calling to me? Because, as you may have heard, theatre is dead, and it was certainly already dying when I was 19.
Now it would seem that books –that is, the physical incarnation of text on pages with a bound cover, not text itself — are going the way of the dinosaur. What is it about me and a love for the impractical, the unfashionable, the hopelessly out of date? Could this be linked to my interest in the gothic, in tales of the undead and ghostly?
Today (instead of writing the aforementioned book that is supposed to come out of my dissertation), I read this article on the BookExpo America publishing convention, where books were essentially lamented as dead — or dying, at least. I also read a Chronicle article called “Reading Dickens Four Ways,” in which the author reads Little Dorrit in book form, as an audiobook, from her Kindle, and from her iPhone.
The Chronicle writer is really interesting in how open-minded she is to all these experiences. She documents others’ heated opinions about each way of reading, but only dislikes one of those ways (the Kindle, but mostly because it’s just not as good as the iPhone).
She also asks this question: “do I like reading, or do I like books?” She concludes that she “love[s] books as much as anybody. But [she] love[s] reading more.”
I like that sentiment. It’s so optimistic and practical. And I suppose it explains why I am able to read so much online, even though I pretend to hate reading on screens. However, I think I am just more dedicated to the idea of books than she is. Who knows — I’ll probably be proven wrong. I have been known to deride quite a few technological trends or breakthroughs and then come to like them. Maybe I’ll be reading Little Dorrit on my (currently nonexistent) iPhone someday too.
But dammit, I really love books. I love the way they smell, and how they look, and how they feel in my hands. I can read online every day, but the things I read aren’t novels. Novels need to be held. It’s part of the full experience.
I will be really sad if they die.
Please don’t tell my books are dying. I also have a love of books. I remember as a child going to the library and walking the rows of books. I remember thinking at the time that the selves went to the ceiling. I remember checking out a book and then sitting on the stairs and reading before I started to walk home. I love having books around me.
| Posted 5 months agoSo many things I remember from being a child are gone, I hope I don’t live to see the time when the only way I can read a book is it plug something in and charge it up.