Survival and loss

Forgot to post yesterday to give my review of Nicholas Basbanes' A Splendor of Letters. I'm a huge fan of all of his books, and it's particularly fitting that I was in the middle of it when I got accepted to library school. He specializes in 'books about books,' that genre so near and dear to bibliophiles everywhere. This latest follows in the same vein as his previous works in this three-part series, A Gentle Madness, which focuses on book collecting, and Patience & Fortitude, which focuses on the the meeting between collectors and libraries. In A Splendor of Letters, Basbanes talks about how some books have managed to survive to today, while others fell victim to changing tastes, political and religious struggle, and the inevitable assault of time. It's a loose series of vignettes about various books and their history (he touches lightly on Michael Servetus, the subject of the previously reviewed Out of the Flames), and they're all quite compelling.

However, what I really love about Basbanes' work is how he acknowledges the changing world of books and publishing that has resulted from new technology but still makes a compelling argument for the continued endurance of the delightfully low-tech book. I'm prone to scoffing at those who say that the book as we know it will cease to exist in ten years. I don't see it happening for the simple reason that I have yet to see any reason why e-books or Internet publishing (for anything other than academic journals) is appreciably better than what I'm using now. Books don't make my eyes hurt from staring at a screen for too long. They don't depend on batteries that require frequent recharging; can you imagine the battery crapping out on your book just as you get to the good part? They're cheap, readily available, easy to transport, they don't crash, and they won't be destroyed if you accidently drop them. Until a tech company can convince me that their product is better suited for the task, I'll stick with my old standby.

Finally, I've got a new review forthcoming for The Mystery Reader here in the next few days. This one's for Ann McMillan's Chickahominy Fever, a Civil War mystery set in Confederate Richmond in 1862. I'll own that this is not my favorite subject matter, but issues with the story trump those objections. I'm officially giving it three stars, but I'd rather give it 2 1/2. Keep an eye open for my full review soon.