The Book and the Beast
September 6, 2009

For the last year, it seems to me, the pushing and pulling between those who like the move to e-readers, especially Kindles, and those who prefer books has been hardening into battle lines. The reasons why are understandable.

Those who prefer books include bookstores, especially the independents who are already facing difficult economic times, because any increase in the use of e-books means less need for them. And when the e-book’s reading device is the Kindle, whose books are available exclusively from Amazon, that is even worse. How can they compete with the Kindle or with e-readers in general? They can’t simply because digital technology does not need a physical presence. They are in a sense the candlestick makers of the twenty-first century looking at the first electric lighting. They won’t all go out, and in fact they will stay around for a long time but like candles they suspect they may go from offering the primary resource for reading—books—to filling special needs on an occasional basis.

This thought hurts me. I adore independent bookstores. I support them as much as I can, though I also buy from other places to save money. If they go out of business it is less the business owners who lose than we, the readers. Who hasn’t browsed among aisles, discovered books you had never heard of but bought and delighted in finding? My town’s sole independent new bookstore, Chaucer’s, is irreplaceable. Its numerous aisles are defined by the bookshelves so crowded that books are stacked dangerously high with stock overflow, and with even more overflow piling up in stacks on the floor in front of the shelves. And they don’t turn over their stock like chain bookstores too. It’s not uncommon to find books published three, five, even eight years ago alongside the new ones. They are all just waiting for the right reader. 

Among the proponents of books are some environmentalists, Not all for there are those who cite the “greener” aspects of the Kindle and other e-readers. But the fact is that electronic gadgets contribute not just to landfills but to toxic waste. Paper books can be read centuries after they were printed, but e-readers, like all technology are constantly being updated. The Kindle is now on its second version and it is a sure thing that the third version is in the works. What happens to the old ones—and when I say old I mean those from three years ago? Unlike a paperback books, they can’t go in the recycle bin. And it takes very little time, less than a decade, before they are simply unusable by anyone, incompatible with current technology.

This argument is one that I often make. Regardless of how many special electronic recycling days the city offers (about three a year), I cannot help but feel that paper is better in the long run. I could read the same books my great-great-great grandmother did, but I couldn’t buy a Kindle today and download books onto it a mere ten years from now. Which translates as “greener” to you?

Social activists are concerned that e-readers further separate out the “have’s” from the “have not’s” and create even larger gaps in our economic culture. It’s a valid argument because the ability to download books, even free ones from Project Gutenberg, does not provide greater access to literature. Well, it does but only to those who can afford the reader.

It should be obvious that individual economics dictate that there are large numbers of people who can’t afford them. Are those segments of the reading public who can’t afford them to left out? (For the record, I am a believer in the free market so yes, there will always be those who can’t afford things.) Here is the thing: the only free literature is that of fan fiction or books that are no longer bound by copyright. With digital books you not only have to buy the e-reader, but the text as well. You have to buy newly published books; you can't get them for free, legally. (Technically, buyers of e-books for lease the book, they don’t buy it.) If the marketplace insists that all books should be free or cheap, what is that going to do to the book industry? How will publishers make a profit? How will authors earn anything? How will agents and publicists get paid? It takes money to keep the book business going. Insist that e-books be free or absurdly low and you will begin to see publishers go out of business. How can that be good for readers?

Proponents of e-readers include those who appreciate the ability to enlarge text. This is a virtue for those with aging eyes or those who have visual disabilities that make reading even large-print books difficult.

For people who commute to work on buses, subways, trams, trains, and in carpools the ability to carry an overweight book (think Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) in one small lightweight package is a boon. And for those who travel for pleasure or business, the ability to “carry” hundreds of books or to download something forgotten while nowhere near a computer is a major plus.

People who like to read in bed at night while their spouses sleep have the ultimate nightlight and book rolled into one. Simply put, the Kindle makes the former reading-in-bed dilemma a non-issue. With the screen back-lighted, there is no need for a lamp to be on. “Turning pages” is simply a matter of silent scrolling.   

At least on the one readers’ forum to which I belong, whenever discussion arises about e-readers, especially the Kindle, sides get taken. Blood has not been drawn, but genteel discussion is giving way to rigidity. Each participant has her or his reasons for their choices, but I for one am getting fed up with the callused positions on both sides.

Why? Because (1) we cannot stop technology; (2) we cannot change the cultural changes that technology brings; and (3) in my opinion everyone who reads is a True Reader. Someone who reads graphic novels is no less a reader than someone who reads Anna Karenina. And a Kindle reader is no less or more a True Reader than someone who takes up a book.

A good friend who is an Amazon and Kindle devotee has made me if not a fan of e-readers then an open, interested party. There are advantages. Personally, since I like the book as a package as much as the story I can say I am unlikely to ever become a convert. But . . .  I could see it as part of my reading life on occasion.

So I say there is no right or wrong here. We are in an era of drastic change in the same way that the Industrial Revolution brought about drastic change. What will happen? I certainly can’t say. No one can. But I do believe that what must stay the same in the twenty-first century as in the nineteenth is the passion for reading good books. If we lose that then the world loses something it can never recover. And it hurts me to think that all of us as readers can’t get past our preferred choices for a reading format to come together to save that.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
Several book festivals are coming up next weekend—and aren’t of you fortunate!

Starting off this week’s listing is the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, which takes place in Burnsville from September 11-12. They are different from most book fairs in that their purpose is to bring together authors, readers, novice writers, listeners and learners in small, intimate settings. They focus on works of “literary significance from smaller presses” and, to an extent, regional authors, thereby creating an intimate literary community which is “in dialog with readers, aspiring writers, and established authors about craft and ideas of sustaining merit.” Events happen all over, authors are encouraged to wander and participate outside their own appearances, signings by authors are done as a group, and there is considerable interaction. This is a unique approach, and if you are anywhere near it I recommend trying it.

In New York, the 37th Annual Rochester Antiquarian Book Fair will take place on Saturday, September 12 at the Monroe County Fairgrounds from 10:00 am to 5:00 p.m. It’s an opportunity meet other bibliophiles and ephemera fetishists, and to buy a book, sell a book, or just meet the people who have them. 

Also in North Carolina on Saturday, September 12 is the Bookmarks Book Festival. This free event is held in Winston-Salem from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. More than forty authors, illustrators, storytellers and chefs will interact with attendees through readings, workshops, panel discussion, cooking demonstrations at the Culinary Venue, and creative and interactive activities for both children and teens at Young Readers Central. There will also be live entertainment and exhibitors and food vendors. The night before, a special Meet the Authors party will take place from 7:30-9:00 pm where guests can mingle, enjoy a glass of wine and hors d'ouvres the night before the festival. The cost is $30 per person, and proceeds help keep the festival free.

On that same Saturday, September 12, Jamaica, New York will be hosting the Queens Book and Health Fair from their farmers’ market. The keynote speaker is Tonya Blount, but nearly twenty other authors will also be appearing.

On the other side the country, the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California will host the Santa Monica Book Fair, an antiquarian show for book and paper lovers next weekend, September 12-13.  Despite the fact it is only days away, the page linked above says “Details coming soon …” All I can say is to e-mail them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Finally, on Sunday, September 13, the Brooklyn Book Festival runs from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza. Among the authors appearing are Cristina Garcia, and Hart Crane. All events are free, but you do need tickets for the readings, discussions, panel presentations, and more at the eleven different venues. Among those venues are a Children’s Area, a Youth Stoop (ages 10-18), and Comic Con. More than 250 authors will be appearing as will nearly 150 vendors.  The Gala Opening Night Party on Saturday night will also be the venue for the announcement of the winner of the inaugural St. Francis College Literary Prize, a $50,000 award.

The Pub House:
Dzanc Books was created, as their website notes, “to advance great writing and champion those writers who don’t fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses.” So what do they publish? Literary fiction. Among their current titles are Roy Kesey’s All Over, a collection of his short stories many of which were published in respected literary journals; Louella Bryant’s While in Darkness There is Light, the true story of  a group of young Americans who, during the Vietnam War, traveled to Australia and set up a commune with unforeseen consequences resulting from their choices; and How to Hold a Woman by Billy Lombardo, a sensitive novel about the impact of a devastating loss on a marriage and family.

Of Interest:
One Poet’s Notes, written by Edward Byrne, is an elegant blog that “presents ongoing personal commentary . . . about contemporary poetics or notable recent books of poetry, as well as other issues relating to poetry or the literary arts . . .”  It’s quite a lovely thing, and almost a shame to call it a blog because that seems such an inadequate word to describe the lovely essays, review-discussions, commentary, and reminiscences that you’ll find here.  

This Week . . .
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin is sharing one of their online exhibitions, this one titled Sanora Babb: Stories from the American High Plains. Do you know who Sanora Babb is, and what she accomplished? Until now, neither did I.  Babb, born in Oklahoma Territory, apprenticed as a journalist, then in Los Angeles found work as a scriptwriter for a radio station. Her first published works were in experimental and small activist magazines from where to jumped to mainstream publications. But she never lost her concern for social justice.

In 1939 she won a publishing contract for her novel, Whose Names Are Unknown. Unfortunately for her, The Grapes of Wrath appeared in that same year, and the publisher, concerned that there were not enough readers for two novels on a similar topic—the Dust Bowl exodus toward California—cancelled her contract. (The hardcover version was finally released in 2004, and the paperback in 2006, by the University of Oklahoma Press.) This exhibition celebrates the manuscript collection of Sanora, and that of her sister, the photographer, Dorothy Babb. It’s a shame, really, that the brilliant work of these sisters has gone unnoticed and unheralded under the weight of Steinbeck. Now, thanks to this exhibition, you have a chance to remedy that. 

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren