It has been such a busy week that I completely skipped over two fairly important days: World Book Day (23rd) and Earth Day (22nd). It appears that the former is actually the UNESCO-sanctioned version of one that occurs on March 6. Personally, I think it makes much more sense to celebrate it on April 23rd since this is believed to be the day that Shakespeare was born (and died)—not to mention Nabokov. A quick search of the news wire shows that most of the World Book Day celebrations yesterday were held in such literary Mecca’s as Bahrain. I guess anything with the UN seal of approval will meet with a reception similar to someone arriving from a trip to China these days. But I did my part. I decided to start my Amazon Wish List and even pre-order a novel that won't be available for another couple of months. If you want to find out what you can do (after the fact, of course), visit Bookslut for a list.
In book related news, it appears that the cover, spine, and pages that we have all grown to love over the past half-millennium may be going the way of the typewriter. According to an article in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, a new device will soon be available to make ready-made "books." For instance, you walk in to your corner Starbucks to grab a mocha-something and spot this rather odd looking machine where the creamers used to be. You walk over to discover that this device is, in fact, an all-in-one bookstore/library, compositor, and typesetter. You do a quick search for War and Peace because it's a book that you've been meaning to read since high school and you're told that it is available for $14.99 plus a $4.00 paper and printing fee (plus taxes). With nothing but time to kill while Skye finishes her barista duties, you decide to spring for it. Half-an-hour later as you are a third of the way through your mocha-thing, your personally designed copy of War and Peace comes out of the machine, stapled along the edges, and you are on your way.
This may all sound innocuous enough and it probably is (though I do have a problem with this technology being controlled by corporate publishers). I prefer this over the e-book pabulum that publishers were declaring as the future a few years ago. Did anyone actually give the e-book a try? About two years ago, I downloaded a copy of a Kerouac novel that was going to be available only electronically. To this day, it is the only Kerouac book that I haven't read. I can't get through an entire novel delivered to me via a computer screen. I'm not wired that way. I like to be comfortable, usually supine, while I read. And then there's the whole matter of fried retinas. After all, our monitors have screen savers so that images aren't permanently burned onto them, but what do we do for our eyes if we are supposed to read a Norman Mailer novel. Thankfully this "book" of the future will still be about paper, will still appeal to the tactile-inclined, and will hopefully make hard-to-find and out-of-print books as accessible as a Steven King retread. And while the pundits still have hope for booksellers, I’m not as optimistic. This could ultimately seal their fate.
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Remember thirteen years ago when the entire world seemed to be on the Earth Day bandwagon? In 1990, all of the major networks spent quality time discussing environmental matters; a young Rosie O’Donnell hosted a weekend-long Earth Day celebration; and a young, wide-eyed, long-haired activist helped organize his University’s first Environmental Club. It seems that, like the young activist, Earth Day has seen its more physically active days. Now it’s not so much a cause d’ jour, it’s another cause d’corporation. One shouldn’t be surprised in these days of beer-maker sponsored drunk driving commercials that Exxon might be the sponsor of the Valdez Earth Day Festival.
