Alan Jacobs on the joy of reading: “Don’t turn reading into the intellectual equivalent of eating organic greens.”

“I cannot remember a time when I did not want to read as much as possible. Since my family did not have many books, my main sources were school books, gifts from relatives, and books borrowed from neighbors until I was old enough to check them out of the Butte Public Library, which I did as often and as many as possible.”

Patrick Kurp talks about the love for words, saying we have a master poet walking among us today in Helen Pinkerton. He brings her up in reference to an email he got from D.G. Myers, asking whether he thought printed books were positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably dead.

Erin O’Connor writes about reading long novels, those works she says Henry James called “Loose Baggy Monsters.”

The psychology of feeling that one should, of giving it a go, of wanting it to work, of bogging down, of eventually admitting–if only to oneself–failure, and, finally, at a later date, when the frustration has faded, of doing it all again–that’s a psychology that is, I think, pretty specific to long works of fiction. They demand a lot of your time–and a lot of you. They will color your imagination and dominate your inner dream-scape while you are involved with them. Reading really long works of fiction is more than reading–it’s having a relationship. It’s not surprising that they evoke some commitment anxiety.

Professor Erin O’Connor writes, “I’m a huge believer in reading out loud–and in having students read literature out loud, together, in real time. It creates a kind of shared, immediate experience that makes for remarkable class discussion–and it also helps hone reading skills and oral presentation skills in students who, almost universally, badly need them.”

Love it.

There’s good and bad in Seth Godin’s post on libraries, as Ben Domenech points out (Get Seth’s latest book, Poke the Box, here)

Seth throws several ideas together, not all of them fully developed. For example, he says, “Five years from now, readers will be as expensive as Gillette razors, and ebooks will cost less than the blades.” How old is the iPod now? Is it as cheap as a razor? There’s no reason for Amazon to sell Kindles at $10 in five years, and does Seth plan to write new ebooks to sell at $5 or less?

There’s a movement among librarians and what I believe are to be called library advocates to boycott HarperCollins e-books because the publisher has stated it plans to release new e-books that will have distribution limitations. For Overdrive and other library e-readers, HarperCollins intends to publish new works that will permit only 26 check outs before expiring. They haven’t done it yet, but they still intend to.

Publishers Macmillan and Simon & Schuster don’t publish ebooks for libraries at all, but no boycott has been organized for them that I know of.

One librarian said, “Consumer market eBook vendors like Barnes & Noble and Amazon don’t let publishers get away with the amount of nonsense that we get stuck with through library eBook vendors. I fault the publishers for not realizing what a huge mistake they are making by not realizing that new formats are opportunities…”

In other library news, at least six Alabama libraries were severely damaged in the tornado storm we had last week. Three of them may be completely destroyed. Several more libraries are in badly damaged areas of the state, but no word has come from them yet.

A local history library just south of where I live took a good bit of damage. “Our genealogy and local history material was boxed up and stored at the temporary location,” the Dade County librarian said. That location lost some of its roof. The materials inside were soaked.

I’m like a kid with a new toy, because… well, because I’m emotionally stunted and have a new toy. As mentioned Friday, through the generosity of Hunter Baker, prize-winning author of The End of Secularism, I’m the proud owner of an Amazon Kindle (the picture above shows what I’ve actually got, the new one. The picture I posted in haste on Friday was so last year).

The new Kindle can hardly fail to delight any reader (perhaps not any book lover, if he’s emotionally attached to the smell of paper and the feel of binding). It’s smaller and lighter than a paperback book. Shockingly small, to be honest, about the width of a pencil. Thousands of books are now available for this platform, usually at below hardback prices (and comparable to paperback if you figure in shipping and handling, which you get to bypass completely here). Downloads take no time at all (I downloaded a free version of Heimskringla, a book more than two inches thick, in about five seconds). The display is clean and clear (not backlit, but neither is a traditional book), and you can select your font size and other display options. If you want to read it sideways or upside down, you can rotate the image. Just to sweeten the deal, the Kindle also operates as a web browser (in black and white), and an MP3 player.

My only criticisms are minor. The controls are small and a little fussy, especially for web surfing. My great fear remains that I’ll drop mine, but I’ve ordered a padded cover which ought to cushion any shock.

Owning a Kindle opens up to me, not only the growing inventory of books available for sale in electronic form, but the riches of free public domain download collections, like Project Gutenberg. I’ve only actually paid for one book so far (Meadowlands by Thomas Holt. I’ll let you know how I like it), but I’ve downloaded several free tomes, and have my eye on more when I have a few minutes to play with it.

The main downside is that I think I hear the death knell of my campus book store.

Photo credit: Jon ‘ShakataGanai’ Davis

That unspeakable poltroon, Hunter Baker, has frustrated me yet again.

I was all set to deliver a jeremiad tonight. I have seen the demise of our civilization, clearly and ever more near, and I was ready to deliver the fatal diagnosis in tones of stentorian woe. I promise you, it would have wrecked your weekend, if not your whole month.

Then I get a package, and what has Hunter Baker done? He’s sent me an Amazon Kindle.

Because I’ve commented frequently that I’m not about to jump into this newfangled gimcrackery. Paper books were good enough for Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and by hunky, they’re good enough for me.

Now I have a Kindle.

I kind of like the idea.

In light of this development, I hereby delay the Apocalypse, at least until I can figure out how to hook it up to my WiFi.

I’ll keep you posted.

Update: I ought to mention that Hunter Baker is the author of The End of Secularism.