I just finished listening to Dwight Garner from the New York Times Book Review (and author of Paper Cuts) and Ron Charles from the Washington Post Book World on Kerri Miller’s Mid-Morning show on Minnesota Public Radio.  The subject of the show was their reaction to Amazon’s new product Kindle, the best books from 2007, and the NEA’s report that half of 18-24 year olds no longer read books for pleasure. 

The show started with their reaction to Kindle. If you haven’t heard about Kindle yet — here is a link.  Basically, Amazon just released an electronic book that would allow people to download books, posts, etc… on a battery-operated 10 ounce sharp screen device that readers could bring anywhere. The idea is that we could have 1000′s of books at our disposal, any time. With regard to Kindle, Charles summed it up pretty well:  Kindle is “a solution to a problem nobody has.”  And, as Charles also noted, unlike music, who needs 1000 books on vacation? A few callers responded with interesting benefits that might be inherent in Kindle’s design — including the ability to adjust font size and the possibility that electronic books might appeal to younger readers.  However, both Garner and Charles seemed to believe we would miss the physical presence of books and those aspects that make books unique and special (cover art, etc.). 

I think I agree with them, but I wonder if there are some advantages to paring a book down to what is most important: diction and syntax.  Might Kindle place all books on a level playing field with regard to marketing, etc. and allow us to truly focus on the craft of the writing?  Just a thought…  Of course, this is coming from a woman who just bought a new purse large enough to tote hard-cover books (and I have been knocking items off shelves as I Christmas shop around town ever since…).

The second focus of the show really got the lion’s share of the discussion:  the best books of 2007.  In an earlier blog, I mentioned the NYT’s top 10, but Garner recommended a couple of other titles, including Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch, and Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.  Charles recommended The Last Cavalier by Alexander Dumas (yes, from the Three Muskateers fame).  This manuscript was recently discovered in Paris and I’m hoping it may be appropriate for one of my Worldly Wonders kits.  He also recommended The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts and The Zoo-keeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman.

The show really didn’t have time to delve into why young people seem to be reading less and less, unfortunately.  As a high school English teacher, I would hear this fear constantly, but I for one didn’t see a sharp decrease during the fifteen years I taught.  Now for eight of those years, I taught A.P. Literature so my students tended to be readers.  But it seems to me that the demographic identified by the NEA (18 to 24 year olds) really aren’t in a place in their lives when reading would be attractive.  Figuring out one’s identity is a full-time job during those years, and it’s no surprise to me that reading for pleasure isn’t a priority.  Honestly, walk through any airport on any given day and your faith in books and reading will quickly be restored.  In fact, on my most recent flight during the Thanksgiving weekend, I did my usual surreptitious review of what the other fliers were reading and two people were even reading poetry!?! 

So, I do not worry too much about the demise of reading.  It’s just too inherently valuable to die off…  This morning’s show reminded me why we love lists so much…  great discussions!! 

Welcome back!