Unabashedly Bookish

[#1]

Sometimes I think book lovers have been placed in a corner by the media. Having just returned from Book Expo America, the publishing industry's annual trade show and educational conference, I've spent this morning alternating between sending out tweets about the conference and reading articles about it. The tweets (sometimes including links to the articles!) are generally positive -- mainly because the people who are mugwumps about the state of books and publishing don't particularly care for tools like Twitter, preferring to spend their Last Days muttering pessimistically to each other over lunch at Michael's.

The articles are informative, but also carry a deadly stench of sic transit gloria mundi about them: Quite accurately, Motoko Rich's post-BEA piece noted that "Anxiety over digital publishing was heightened by the recession that has dampened book sales, and belt tightening was in evidence throughout the convention." In the Washington Post, Bob Thompson wrote about the tension between the survival of reading versus the survival of books, quoting one bookseller as saying that the publishing industry is still viable, but bookselling isn't.

I do not want to insult anyone who loves books as physical objects, mainly because I do not want to insult myself. My home is filled with books: Inscribed books, signed first editions, trade paperbacks, slipcased hardcovers, antique books, children's books in many different shapes and sizes, cookbooks, and so on and so on and Scooby Dooby Doo (I think there might even be a book about the Scoob in there, somewhere). One of the reasons I've been going to Book Expo (formerely the ABA Convention) for years is for the sheer mass of books gathered under one convention-center roof. It's intoxicating to see the covers, the trim sizes, the piles of ARCs and the booths filled with bookish things for bookish people.

To me, the messages, ideas, stories, and art contained in books are what must survive, and what we should be fighting for over the next few years -- not the container. There are many counterarguments, and I'm writing this entry so that I can hear them from some of you. For example, one could quote McLuhan and say that printed books and their elements are the message. 

What's not acceptable to me is not to talk about this -- to allow the publishing industry to become as irrelevant as video stores. Because nobody puts book lovers in a corner.

What do you think: Are the covers and the pages the important things, or are the words and images between and on them the important things?

[#2]

I have been a reader all my life, starting with Easy Readers that my nanny used to buy for me every week at the local supermarket.  I am still an avid reader and part of the joy is not only in the story but in holding that book, turning the pages, looking at the cover.  I love the feel of the book, the scent of the print and the paper.  I would never be able to replace that with an electronic reading device.  Call me crazy, but why would I want to hold a cold plastic machine in my hands when I can hold an actual book??  The publishing industry may be worried that the recession and technology is harming them but for the real readers and booklovers out there, there is no replacement for the scent and feel of a book.

[#3]

I'm one of those who doesn't hold a piece of machinery in my hands.  You can't say that covers and pages are more important than words and images between and on them.  And vice versa.   It's like saying your leg is more important than your arm.  Of course the story, itself, is the meat....but the meat, for me, has to sit on a plate.

I like art.  Actually, I more than like art, I love it.  I make it.  A book is not a story, unless it says it all to me, speaking from cover to cover.  From beginning to end.  That's just the way I see a finished product.   It's a creation.  It's a production.  It's theater in a condensed form. 

[#4]

Emma,

I couldn't agree more - particularly your description of how a book looks, feels, smells.  For me it's an aphrodisiac.

To answer your question, Bethanne, the entire book as a whole is important.  As a life-long lover of books, I've never made a distinction between the cover, pages, text, and images.  I want to feel it; smell it; read it; be inspired; titillated; and infused with its story.  Technology will not come between me and my book(s) - never.

[#5]

If you read this blog often, you know I usually write about collectible books; an area of the book market that , for obvious reasons, won't be effected by ereaders. That said, to me,  the ideal format is the paperback. Simply stated, I like to beat on my books. Sacrilege, I know, but I love the utility of the paperback. I can chuck it in my bag, my back pocket, or at a cantankerous commuter (kidding). I can bend the pages and write in it and I do.

I love the look of a well worn book. It gives it character and the book itself -- your very own copy -- takes on a story all of its own! 

Message Edited by PaulH on 06-02-2009 01:52 PM

[#6]

I'm a bookaholic, pure and simple. My husband and i have both collected books for years, although we read and collect completely different genres. We have separate bookcases for religion, philosophy, music and humor (his) and mystery, romance, history, genealogy, gardening, poetry, writing craft and old books on travel and etiquette (mine). 

I occasionally read an e-book, but I want to hold a book in my hands. I prefer paperbacks, but will buy hardcover because I'm impatient to wait for certain books to come out in paperback.

I have autographed books, but I don't collect them. I like to pass on books I love and recruit new readers. My husband and I have a rule that any gift we give has to include a book in it, or a bookstore gift certificate.

Despite the fact that when we moved back from England in the early 1980s we had 50 cartons of books, and when we moved into this house 16 years ago that number had nearly doubled, we still go to book stores (new and used), library sales, etc. all the time. I love antiquarian books but I'm not a true collector because I don't care about the condition. I kind of like it when books are well-worn, annotated with someone's thoughts, or even colored in.

If the publishing business goes south, it won't be for a lack of trying on our part. My husband describes our budget as: shelter, books, tuition, food and everything else. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[#7]

Text, or content, will always survive.  I'm interested in how electronic publishing devices will affect that content as earlier online publishing formats influenced Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, but if the book goes a certain pleasure will also go. I can’t see an electronic reading device offering any kind of pleasure in and of itself, and though I have taken to using PDFs of old books--the availability of which are killing the facsimile market--for professional purposes, I'll do my best never to read from an electronic device for the sake of enjoying a text.

[#8]

I'm bookish and proud of it, too.  When I last moved 6 years ago, my father stated he was through helping me move because there were too many boxes of books (about 30 at that time and I've acquired another bookshelf since then and the others are all double-shelved).  So I've got quite a few for a solitary human.  I love how books feel, the weight, and I beat mine up to no end.

I think the ideas and stories inside the books will survive regardless of format.  An e-book isn't quite as cozy as a real book, but there should be room in the publishing industry for both (but people shouldn't think that new e-books will be super cheap because people still need to pay the bills).  The tech industry hasn't yet come up with an e-reader that will convert my paper-and-paste books into a pdf so I'm not really that into buying an electronic device that doesn't play nicely with my current technology (I'm totally into my iPod on the other hand because I can load my CDs onto my computer).

[#9]

I have no problem with ebooks - my sister-in-law loves them because she's a computer geek and finds them convenient when she travels - but I don't use them.   Still getting the hang of this laptop, for goodness sake. 

However, my concern is with my 4th grade students.  If there is not a book that they can hold in their hands, with an interesting and eye-catching cover, and a bunch of illustrations inside (and sometimes the goofier the better)...then how do I get them to read?  Yes, they'll check out text messages and look things up on Google, but that's not real reading.  The only way to get a child interested in reading is in having the gen-u-ine real article for them to hold in their hands. 

My classroom is full of books in all conditions.  If a child brings a book to me with a torn cover or page, we tape it up.  If the pages are falling out, we use some good old school glue on the binding.  When it's finally seen it's last days, I buy a new copy.  Yes, I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, but it's worth every penny.

[#10]

Here, P4C -  Book glue: 

1 packet (1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin
3 tbls. boiling water
1 tbls. vinegar
1 tsp. glycerin

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a pan, add gelatin to boiling water. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.
2. Add vinegar and glycerin. Stir until well mixed.

YIELD:
Makes about 1/3 cup. For larger projects, double the recipe.

HOW TO USE:
While the glue is still warm, apply a thin layer with a brush. This waterproof glue is excellent for binding leather to leather. It also makes a good flexible glue for use on paper, or for gluing cloth to cardboard for making notebook binders or scrapbooks. Stored in a tightly capped plastic or glass jar, this glue will keep for several months. It will gel in the bottle after a few days. Warm bottle in hot water to reuse glue

[#11]

Thanks, KathyS - will definitely try that.