Are books on the way to becoming luxury objects? At Salon, Daniel D’Addario makes a case that they are, explaining how a new aestheticism in book design points to a future in which books function mainly as art objects. (While we’re on the subject of book design, it’s a good time to look back on our U.S.-U.K. book cover battle.)
Meant to Look Pretty
Egyptian Writers on the “Unfinished Revolution”
In the run-up to the Egyptian elections, writers and booksellers discuss the military clampdown following Mubarak's fall.
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Book Coverage As Premium Content
The Chicago Tribune is rolling out a new premium books section for $99 a year. The Printers Row offering (named for a Chicago neighborhood) "will feature 24 pages of book reviews, author interviews and Chicago-focused literary news, along with a weekly bonus book of short fiction." You can either feel validated (special HBO-style "premium" section for readers!) or marginalized (so few people care about this that you have to pay extra if you want it.)
Some Links
Google put up a special Shakespeare page for easy access to all of his plays through Google Book Search. The Book Search blog has additional details.Latest literary trend story: senators writing books. "About 30 of the 100 currently serving U.S. senators have authored books at some point in their careers, and the number is growing."A literary trend story continues: Product placement in novels. Earlier instances include efforts from Ford and BMW.In the Guardian, "An American judge intervening in a long-simmering feud has ruled that the rights to John Steinbeck's most famous novels... should be seized from his publisher and handed to his descendants."And finally, there's Ed's Twenty-One More Reasons Why Litbloggers Are Evil & Unethical
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The Persistence of Memory
“How can we trust ourselves? Trust that our skills will return? Trust that this blank document—this one, right now—won’t be our undoing? The previous essay I wrote won’t save me when the blank document stares, and the deadline looms, and the editor lurks, and the readers wait.” Mensah Demary on writing and forgetting.
New Release Tuesday
One of the most anticipated novels of the year is out today: David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Also newly available, Booker shortlister The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds.
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The fate of the paper book in an electronic age was one of several cool ideas popping up in the move “Her” by Spike Jonze, recently opened. Some spoilers below, if you haven’t watched.
I think this may be the most wonderful movie I’ve ever seen, full of beautiful imagery, imagination and emotional truth. Advance warning: if you have ever gone through divorce, it will really hit home.
At one point in the movie, an advance copy of a paper book written by the lead character (from a publisher “that still prints real books”) is mailed to him. The book shows up in his P.O. box wrapped in brown craft paper and tied up with string, a beautifully homely little package! Touches like this showed up all through the film.