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| Is our relationship with books changing? | Is our relationship with books changing? |
| (1 day later) | |
| Books are a pleasure on so many different levels, but is how we consume them changing, asks Lisa Jardine in her A Point of View column. | Books are a pleasure on so many different levels, but is how we consume them changing, asks Lisa Jardine in her A Point of View column. |
| It seems that almost two thirds of us did not visit a public library last year. The culture minister has suggested that numbers of book borrowers might be higher if libraries were moved from purpose-built locations staffed by qualified librarians to supermarkets and public houses, manned by volunteers. Book borrowers are understandably alarmed. | |
| Not that the prospect is necessarily quite as grim as some might think. I am old enough dimly to remember taking my parents' library card into Boots the Chemist, which ran a popular lending library when I was a child (there was a small charge for membership). | Not that the prospect is necessarily quite as grim as some might think. I am old enough dimly to remember taking my parents' library card into Boots the Chemist, which ran a popular lending library when I was a child (there was a small charge for membership). |
| In fact, I can remember an occasion when I stood for some time at the counter while two assistants whispered together to decide whether the large tome with a picture of two bosomy ladies of the 16th Century French court, in low-cut dresses, on the cover, was suitable for a child to borrow. | In fact, I can remember an occasion when I stood for some time at the counter while two assistants whispered together to decide whether the large tome with a picture of two bosomy ladies of the 16th Century French court, in low-cut dresses, on the cover, was suitable for a child to borrow. |
| And passing through Paris at the end of August, I stood watching drinkers and readers rubbing shoulders in La Belle Hortense - an obviously extremely popular bar in the Marais district, whose shop-front advertises it to be a combined cafe, bar and bookshop. | And passing through Paris at the end of August, I stood watching drinkers and readers rubbing shoulders in La Belle Hortense - an obviously extremely popular bar in the Marais district, whose shop-front advertises it to be a combined cafe, bar and bookshop. |
| The sign in the window says you are welcome to read the books in stock while you drink, with no obligation to purchase. If public libraries fall victim to this autumn's government austerity measures, as some are warning, perhaps we will have to reconsider these other kinds of model for bringing books to readers. | The sign in the window says you are welcome to read the books in stock while you drink, with no obligation to purchase. If public libraries fall victim to this autumn's government austerity measures, as some are warning, perhaps we will have to reconsider these other kinds of model for bringing books to readers. |
| Because there certainly still are lots of enthusiastic consumers of serious books among us. In spite of press scepticism in advance of the launch, large numbers of us have bought a copy of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's autobiography, A Journey, which was published last week (I confess I am one of them). | |
| Heavily discounted by bookshops and online retailers, the book could be yours for little more than the price of two gallons of petrol. Blair's Journey has already sold more than 100,000 copies, and gone through six reprintings. It is likely to stay at the top of the best-seller list for weeks. | |
| Phenomenon | Phenomenon |
| Might it be that those who love to read, and who used to make the weekly trip to their local public library, nowadays prefer to hold on to what they have read? Book buying has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the past 20 years, and new kinds of booksellers, including online retailers and supermarkets, have successfully brought serious books to the attention of new kinds of readers. | Might it be that those who love to read, and who used to make the weekly trip to their local public library, nowadays prefer to hold on to what they have read? Book buying has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the past 20 years, and new kinds of booksellers, including online retailers and supermarkets, have successfully brought serious books to the attention of new kinds of readers. |
| The extraordinary success of the Harry Potter stories with adults and children alike is a much-cited example, but there have been other initiatives to extend the reach of hardback fiction in particular, both in Britain and the United States. | The extraordinary success of the Harry Potter stories with adults and children alike is a much-cited example, but there have been other initiatives to extend the reach of hardback fiction in particular, both in Britain and the United States. |
| In the course of a discussion on her TV show in the late 1990s, the American daytime talk-show host Oprah Winfrey happened to mention the title of a novel she was enjoying reading. Unexpectedly large numbers of her audience immediately rushed out and bought it. | |
| The book, The Deep End of the Ocean, by Jacqueline Mitchard, an almost unknown fiction writer, told the intense, emotional story of a woman whose three-year-old child disappears from a hotel lobby while her back is turned. Within days The Deep End of the Ocean had gone to the top of the American best-seller list, where it remained for six consecutive weeks, eventually selling more than eight million copies. | The book, The Deep End of the Ocean, by Jacqueline Mitchard, an almost unknown fiction writer, told the intense, emotional story of a woman whose three-year-old child disappears from a hotel lobby while her back is turned. Within days The Deep End of the Ocean had gone to the top of the American best-seller list, where it remained for six consecutive weeks, eventually selling more than eight million copies. |
| Oprah was hailed as a marketing phenomenon by the American publishing industry. That was the start of her long-running and much imitated Book Club, which for 15 years has guided the book-buying habits of a previously untapped section of the American reading public. | Oprah was hailed as a marketing phenomenon by the American publishing industry. That was the start of her long-running and much imitated Book Club, which for 15 years has guided the book-buying habits of a previously untapped section of the American reading public. |
| The success of the book club encouraged Oprah to be characteristically ambitious on behalf of her readers. Within months she had progressed from recommending books whose stories readers could straightforwardly identify with, to high-quality fiction by established contemporary writers, like Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, as well as great classic novels like Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. She picked Maya Angelou's The Heart of a Woman and Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. | |
| When her choice of the month was Paradise, a brand new, rather difficult novel by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, Oprah's show featured an extended seminar with the author, conducted from her study at Princeton University with members of her TV audience, chosen by ballot, as the participants. | When her choice of the month was Paradise, a brand new, rather difficult novel by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, Oprah's show featured an extended seminar with the author, conducted from her study at Princeton University with members of her TV audience, chosen by ballot, as the participants. |
| Crowning glory | Crowning glory |
| Oprah took care to enlist the expert advice of specialist critics to shape her book choices and inform the dialogue she conducted with her audience - her readers - on her show. | Oprah took care to enlist the expert advice of specialist critics to shape her book choices and inform the dialogue she conducted with her audience - her readers - on her show. |
| I am convinced that her guided course in reading really did help produce a new cohort of self-educated American readers, who had the confidence and enthusiasm to tackle both classics and critically acclaimed high-brow modern fiction. | I am convinced that her guided course in reading really did help produce a new cohort of self-educated American readers, who had the confidence and enthusiasm to tackle both classics and critically acclaimed high-brow modern fiction. |
| In the course of Oprah's animated dialogue on - and off - screen with her audience, as she promoted the reading of serious and challenging books by those who were not accustomed to reading for pleasure at all, she discovered that they not only wanted to own the books they read, they wanted to keep them, and sometimes to pass them to others as treasured gifts. | In the course of Oprah's animated dialogue on - and off - screen with her audience, as she promoted the reading of serious and challenging books by those who were not accustomed to reading for pleasure at all, she discovered that they not only wanted to own the books they read, they wanted to keep them, and sometimes to pass them to others as treasured gifts. |
| And if books were to take pride of place in their living room, they really wanted them to be properly bound, in good-looking hard covers. | And if books were to take pride of place in their living room, they really wanted them to be properly bound, in good-looking hard covers. |
| One of the early titles she recommended, from the back list of a well-known author, was only available in paperback. Oprah expressed the view strongly on her show that the work ought to be made available in an inexpensive hardback, since that was what her audience wanted - a book to keep. | One of the early titles she recommended, from the back list of a well-known author, was only available in paperback. Oprah expressed the view strongly on her show that the work ought to be made available in an inexpensive hardback, since that was what her audience wanted - a book to keep. |
| The publisher responded with an entire new hardback printing, at an affordable, heavily subsidised cover price (by then it was clear that here was a guaranteed sale of millions of copies). | The publisher responded with an entire new hardback printing, at an affordable, heavily subsidised cover price (by then it was clear that here was a guaranteed sale of millions of copies). |
| The preference of Oprah's audience for books in hardback harks back to earlier days in the history of reading. A book's binding used to be its crowning glory. The dust-jacket on which modern publishers lavish such pains was originally designed to protect the leather binding, with its stamped and tooled decoration and gilded lettering. | The preference of Oprah's audience for books in hardback harks back to earlier days in the history of reading. A book's binding used to be its crowning glory. The dust-jacket on which modern publishers lavish such pains was originally designed to protect the leather binding, with its stamped and tooled decoration and gilded lettering. |
| Handsome | Handsome |
| In the 15th Century Islamic bindings were particularly elaborate and gorgeous, and some of the patterns used on European bindings down to the 20th Century still carry echoes of designs first used on the covers of early Korans. | In the 15th Century Islamic bindings were particularly elaborate and gorgeous, and some of the patterns used on European bindings down to the 20th Century still carry echoes of designs first used on the covers of early Korans. |
| As a child, the texture of the covers of the volumes of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia gave me almost as much pleasure as the content. Today, publishers still produce attractive special editions of important books, in their own elegant slip-covers - as indeed have the publishers of the Blair autobiography. | As a child, the texture of the covers of the volumes of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia gave me almost as much pleasure as the content. Today, publishers still produce attractive special editions of important books, in their own elegant slip-covers - as indeed have the publishers of the Blair autobiography. |
| But if the cover has been an intrinsic part of serious books for so long, and readers find paperbacks less satisfying, what does that tell us about the enjoyment we will find in e-books? Is it bound to be less satisfying for the reader if what they read is delivered in uniform text format, without cover or illustrations? | But if the cover has been an intrinsic part of serious books for so long, and readers find paperbacks less satisfying, what does that tell us about the enjoyment we will find in e-books? Is it bound to be less satisfying for the reader if what they read is delivered in uniform text format, without cover or illustrations? |
| At the beginning of this year I expressed the view here that I would always consider an electronic book a poor substitute for the real thing. Handling a book, enjoying the design, the binding and the illustrations, perhaps annotating its pages with my own responses to what I am reading, are, for me, and always will be, I said, a crucial part of the enjoyment of a good book. | At the beginning of this year I expressed the view here that I would always consider an electronic book a poor substitute for the real thing. Handling a book, enjoying the design, the binding and the illustrations, perhaps annotating its pages with my own responses to what I am reading, are, for me, and always will be, I said, a crucial part of the enjoyment of a good book. |
| Well, as so often in my life, I have had to reconsider. For everyday purposes I now find my electronic reader allows me to pursue a book I am enjoying wherever I go. I have to confess that I am reading Tony Blair's autobiography, purchased from my favourite online bookseller, on my iPad. Having spent much of the past week in airports and on planes, there is little doubt in my mind that this is far and away the most convenient way to read. | Well, as so often in my life, I have had to reconsider. For everyday purposes I now find my electronic reader allows me to pursue a book I am enjoying wherever I go. I have to confess that I am reading Tony Blair's autobiography, purchased from my favourite online bookseller, on my iPad. Having spent much of the past week in airports and on planes, there is little doubt in my mind that this is far and away the most convenient way to read. |
| And even now that I am settled back at home after my wanderings, I won't, I am afraid, be purchasing a conventional copy, even though I know that in addition to there being no glossy cover, my copy is missing the accompanying, never seen before, Blair family photographs (as I noted when I looked over the shoulder of my neighbour, reading more conventionally, on a plane from Berlin to Rome). | And even now that I am settled back at home after my wanderings, I won't, I am afraid, be purchasing a conventional copy, even though I know that in addition to there being no glossy cover, my copy is missing the accompanying, never seen before, Blair family photographs (as I noted when I looked over the shoulder of my neighbour, reading more conventionally, on a plane from Berlin to Rome). |
| I won't even be tempted by a special copy, in a red cloth slip cover, with handsome gold lettering, signed by the author. | I won't even be tempted by a special copy, in a red cloth slip cover, with handsome gold lettering, signed by the author. |
| Below is a selection of your comments. | |
| An interesting article. One of the things I like about a printed book is the smell. The sense of smell is a powerful one, and the slightly musty scent of paper transports me back to my childhood, my parents bookcases, the local library, the libraries at my primary and secondary schools, all those book tokens given to me by my grandparents... Another is that when I open a book's cover I am opening the door to a different world. Turning the pages reinforces this physical connection and makes me feel part of the story. Finishing the last page of a 1000 page epic and closing the book is immensely satisfying. I just don't have this connection with digital media. There is no smell, the physical connection is totally different, opening a digital file doesn't feel the same as opening a book. I work in IT and recognise the significance of digital media, but for me the printed page and it's associated attributes are integral to the pleasures of reading. | |
| John, Tokyo | |
| I've still yet to understand how e-books are any more convenient than a regular book. Are people really so lazy to actually carry a book? Because, as far as I know, you can bring a book anywhere. It saves paper, yes, but the experience is not close to the same. So, with the fact that you can still bring books everywhere and the experience of reading an actual book is probably better, why are e-readers so popular? | |
| Brad Matthews, West Lafayette, Indiana, US | |
| Having spent the last 4 months reading e-books from my iPad, I decided to take a test, and read a real book again (paperback) and see how I feel about it. I must admit Kings' Under the Dome wasn't a particularly light-weight choice, however, I have to agree with your conclusion. Reading from a mobile device is just so much more convenient - and you can annotate, plus much more. My only regret is not having the originals lining my bookshelves, but my wife is happy about that. Now how do I convert my existing book collection into e-books? | |
| Matthew, Tokyo | |
| E-Books have a place for convenience but do not fit the way all folks read. I read a fair amount but have not purchased a book in over a year. My reading is sustained by books given as gifts and borrowing. Neither is possible with e-Books. Nor can you loan your e-Book to someone else. | |
| Adrian, Australia | |
| Don't belittle paperbacks. They keep if carefully looked after. I still have a collection of Enid Blyton's novels from the time I was seven, in 1975. They are yellowing with time and their spines are becoming brittle, but they are intact, readable treasures from my childhood that I will never let go of. And I recently read a Dan Dare paperback from the same period to my son. | |
| Kevin McKenzie, Powder Springs, Georgia, USA | |
| Isn't there a very simple distinction here? You say that you thought that an electronic book might be a poor substitute for "the real thing" but seem surprised that an electronic reader worked perfectly for "everyday purposes". Surely that's like saying that (shock, horror!) you might as well read this column on screen (as I just did) as listen to it or read it in a newspaper. Discovering that the holiday blockbuster works just as well if you buy it as an e-book isn't much of a leap from there. Aren't you just discovering that while most books help to pass the time, convey useful (if often ephemeral) information or formulate an immediate thought, there are a few "keepers" that warrant being read, reread and enjoyed in depth? Unfortunately, the quality of the binding doesn't guarantee which is which. Some of the most rightly revered works of the past were published in pulp form (elegantly parodied by - of all things - Star Trek, which held up Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susann as "literary giants" of the past). Equally, an awful lot of utter rubbish ends up Morocco-bound in a seductive slip cover! | |
| Andrew, London | |
| Fascinating piece. One thing you don't mention is that, with an explosion in books available in digital form (and presumably at some point an inexorable downward pressure on RRP) there will be increasing pressure on the amount of time to choose what to read, and this is an area where libraries (and indeed bookshops with their knowledgable staff) still have a role to play. Incidentally, there has hardly been a drop in library usage for children, and the most dramatic falls have been in those areas where libraries have already closed or have reduced opening hours. So the 'libraries doomed' story is a bit more grey than most journalists have painted. | |
| Mark Thornton, Abingdon | |
| What the publishers should consider is 'package' deals. As a consumer of e-books, paperbacks and hardbacks, I would would buy e-books more frequently if I could then buy the hardback at a reduced price (and the converse). The publisher could still make more money than the sale of the hardback alone. But which is better for the author and publisher - selling me (a) an ebook for £5, (b) a hardback for £15 or (c) an ebook and a harback for, say £17. I'm unlikely to pay full price for both ebook and printed book. | |
| Brian Flatt, London |
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