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All Those Book Boxes

7/28/2011

 
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Down the stairs, onto the porch, into the truck, up a different set of stairs...are all those book boxes we've lugged from college to first apartment, from first apartment to our first home, from city to city, becoming a thing of the past? The debate about e-books is one thing, but when we start talking about whether to simply get rid of all the books - as some of us have done with records, and then CDs and DVDs - it feels like the distant drummer is right outside on that porch. In today's New York Times, Nick Bilton, a converted e-book reader, struggles with what to do with his print book collection before he moves from NYC to San Francisco, and readers respond in the comments.

I've thought about the same thing, of course. When we moved from Vermont to Montreal two summers ago, we culled a third to a half of our large book collection, but brought the rest. They were one of the first things we unpacked, because filled bookshelves are one of the things that make us both feel at home; arranging a bookshelf has to be one of the most satisfying acts in establishing a new place, and rearranging it can be cathartic and symbolic. Dismantling the library of someone we've loved is like taking a final walk with them, and almost always contains revelations. Like some of the commenters on Bilton's article, I can't imagine a home without books; to me they are the soul of a home, a collection that is open to be "read" not only by their owners but by visitors who stand and browse the titles: a short course in the characters of the book collectors themselves.

But the last four books I've read have been e-books (read on both my PC and my android) and I can feel myself sliding into greater acceptance of the new media. I buy books more selectively now than I ever did, partly because I don't want to acquire a lot more things and partly because English-language books are more difficult to get here in Quebec. But I do still buy them -- the ones I know I'll want to keep, poetry and certain novels especially -- and can't imagine a time when I won't.

Music? I haven't bought a physical CD in a very long time, and we moved our entire music collection to mp3s. Are the two media parallel? Will print books go the way of CDs eventually? Or will we continue to have bookshelves - perhaps housing smaller collections -- for the comfort they give, and because, like art, they are objects that we like to see every day, both for their beauty, and for the way they chart our path through life?

Loretta link
7/29/2011 10:52:25 am



More symbolic for me than the book box (cause I still have plenty) is the ubiquitous egg crate filled with heavy record albums. I had about ten of them - dayglo orange, dairy brown, etc, and it always involved a strong boyfriend to get them moved into a dorm room. How incredible is it now that I have probably five times as much music in a storage player smaller than a pack of cigarettes?

carolee link
7/29/2011 01:58:45 pm

Maybe they won't make books obsolete, but the need for strong boyfriends to carry them. :)

I have 15 or 20 book boxes right awaiting relocation. And you're right: they are one of the things I know I'll need to unpack first.

I buy both ebooks and books-books right now, but limit print to poetry & art.

marly youmans link
7/30/2011 03:28:18 pm

I still buy a lot of physical books, but I tend to buy novels less often than I once did (well, that's a complete lie, I have a stack of new ones by friends--mostly unread as yet.) What's definitely true is that I'm quicker to buy a book of poetry than anything else, and after that a collection of stories. Art.

There is a difference between music and books in terms of vehicle. The more invisible the means of receiving music is, the more like music the means is--that is, invisible. But books, hmm. I get a lot of pleasure from the book as object--beautiful paper, impression of type face, design (something that is not completely translatable to a single-size machine), etc. Those things are part of an experience.

I still think that what will happen is that a lot of junky books won't be printed in such huge numbers, while fine press books will become more collectible. I can't imagine that poetry books, say, and art books won't still be bound books.

But what happens with the mid-list? Multiple forms? Or disappearing forms? If the book tour vanishes, that will impact the whole idea of "signings." And it does seem to be declining.

Of course, when we start down the path of fewer books, eventually we get to a point where the crafts of making paper and binding and so forth may decline. And that will make a difference. I have an artist friend who is distressed about the quality of his previously-good Japanese paper... Crafts decline like anything else.


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