Technological Conundrums

The rise of technology has always directly influenced the world of literature. We began with crude paints on the walls of caves and now it's the norm to have a digital device that can hold thousands of books. For hundreds of years after the improved printing press was created by the German printer Johannes Gutenberg in 1450, the hardback and later the paperback book were the main options for literature. The printing presses were perfected and literature became more available to the public as advances in technology reduced costs and educational opportunities increased as the western world's culture developed and changed. Then in 2007, the Amazon Kindle was released; for the first time it was possible for an average person to have a device that could hold hundreds, thousands if you so willed, of books. It didn't take off immediately, however within a few short years the e-reader has thrown the literature world upside down.

There are pros and cons to having an e-reader. I, myself, have the most basic Amazon Kindle. I resisted getting one for about four years until I realized how convenient they could be. Instead of having to lug around two or three 500 page plus novels, I can pop this slim piece of technology into my purse and carry around a digital library. But I've found that even with the Kindle, I still buy hard copies of my favorite authors' new releases. What I do love about the Kindle is that there is easy access to many free books that include classics as well as new authors. It's also much lighter than Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. 

The release of the e-reader hasn't only thrown the product side of publishing for a loop; e-readers have also opened up a whole new path to publishing for those individuals who wish to become authors. It used to be that you'd send out a hundred copies of your manuscript to agents, hoping that they'd decide your novel was worth something and find you a book deal. Or if you decided to self publish, you'd end up spending hundreds of dollars printing your books and then trying to market them to your local bookstores. Now, with the release of e-readers self publishing has become much easier and has really sped up the process. Once your manuscript is edited and formatted, you can have your book ready to be purchased within 24 hours if you decide to self publish! Quality can range from superb to downright awful. When you buy a book at a store, you know that there were at least three various editors overseeing the book's many stages; with an e-reader you don't get that guarantee. An e-reader author may not have been able to afford a great free-lance editor and perhaps they used their neighbor's daughter who's going to college and needs a few extra bucks. The result is that the quality of the books you can get on the e-reader can range. However because the publishing companies have seen the trend of the public moving towards e-readers, they've began releasing digital copies as well as hardback. So obviously not all works on e-readers have the chance of being horrendously edited.

There are those who also fear that the e-reader will replace hard copies of books. I can fully understand that, but I don't think it will actually happen. While some publishers have reported a drop in sales when it comes to paper backs, hardback sales have stayed steady they also report. Also one benefit of the e-reader is studies are showing that kids and young adults are beginning to read more. It makes sense because the new generation is so entwined with technology, if we want our children to read we may just have to introduce it through the devices their eyes are already glued too. Personally, I would love to raise my future children on hard copies but I can understand that if you are having to pack a huge bag for them for travel, who wants to add three or six more books for them?

I don't see the e-reader as being the end of the physical books, but I do see them being the cause of a drop in local bookstores. In the last seven years, in my area, I've seen four bookstores disappear. I think our culture's move to more of an online market has had a large hand in it as well, but for sure the release of the e-reader has definitely affected local stores. Barns and Nobles is barely holding on, the release of the company's own e-reader has helped keep them going where as Amazon has never been doing better.

Honestly in the end, I like both books and the e-reader. I do primarily read hard copies, keeping my Kindle for travel and or access to quick, free books. I think Stephen Fry nailed it on the head when he said: “Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” There will be the crowds that always pack into the elevator, or in this case e-readers, but for those of us who still crack open a book it's refreshing.

Besides, it just means shorter lines at the bookstore.

-B

P.S. I wonder what will come after e-readers as technology advances?

Photo Credit: Unknown

Madame Tussaud; A novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran

The difference between liberty and tyranny during a revolution can often be hard to distinguish. I believe this is because of the probability of the mob-mentality. The revolutionary leaders can take down the old order, and in the same belief of fighting the old ways commit atrocities that can be worse than the old leaders ever attempted. You simply have to look at the current world news or thumb through a history book for evidence of this occurrence.

In Madame Tussaud, the author Michelle Moran creates a riveting fictionalized biography of a woman whose ambitions was to create her own financial well-being at a time when most women sought a good marriage and family. She cleverly weaves fiction with the true story of this famed wax sculptor; drawing you deeper into the murky world of surviving in a city plagued by starvation, blood thirsty mobs, politicians, and family tensions.

Moran isn't the first author I have come across that has suggested a large part of the French Revolution was the fact that the French monarchy, King Louis the XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were kept ignorant of the true state of finances of the kingdom. While this book is a fictionalized biography, Moran has stayed true to the events that occur in the book and sheds light on what a family may have had to endure playing both sides of the revolution.

This story grips you in its fist, causing you to worry over Marie's fate; knowing that while she makes it out alive, you also know that Marie is put through proverbial hell. The character herself acknowledges in a moment of despair that she traded her chance of love and safety for her wax salon and her family. You find yourself amazed at how dedicated she was to her work that she wouldn't leave it behind, not even for the man she loved with her entire being. At the same time you marvel at her strength, uncommon in the women at that time, you also wonder if she's ridiculous for not taking the chance she had to flee to safety from a city who was quickly becoming flooded by the blood of those who started the revolution's movement years before.

Moran is excellent at showing a gritty realistic revolution. When students learn about the French Revolution, often they learn about how amazing it was that the poor rose up against the greedy aristocracy and took control of the nation. Many do not take the time nor are presented the picture of how much death and fear the revolution struck into the people at the heart of Paris. How the revolutionists cast down their leaders, declaring them traitors and how they began a proverbial witch-hunt for anyone that could be considered anti-revolutionist and those related to anti-revolutionist. Friends were not safe from friends, families turned on their own, neighbors betrayed neighbors; all of out fear. Moran portraits this more clearly than any other author I've read, albeit I've only read a handful of French Revolution era novels. But what stayed with me was how she wrote the royal family, she showed clearly the ignorance of the royal family that was fostered by the nobles; Moran showed a Marie Antoinette a mother that was torn by grief but had to play the part of a queen. She gave you the feeling that you were torn between understanding the hungry people of France as well as the blind ignorance and hopeful royal family; just as Marie Grosholtz develops.

If you are a fan of fictional biographies, French Revolution fiction, or just a fan of revolution drama and politics this book should certainly be on your to read list. The actions of the revolutionist may not be exactly what is going on in parts of the world today, but the mob-mentality along with the lengths these “revolutionaries” go to are along the same lines. It is a terrifying idea that humans as a people still resort to escalating violence because of being drunk with power and having a following of people willing to do what is suggested so long as it is said with enough passion.

“ 'It doesn't have to,' I tell him. 'You must simply learn the rules and obey.'

'Is that what liberty means?' he asks earnestly.

The three of us are silent.

'No,' I say, 'That is what tyranny means,' but I don't explain.”

Excerpt from Madame Tussad, p. 347 

Author Michelle Moran's Website

Blind dates with Books

Something I come across rather often is that people know a lot about a book before ever reading it. When you know a lot about the book before ever opening it, you're at a disadvantage for immersing yourself. You might know the plot twist, or the outcome of the characters which doesn't allow you to fully experience the story sometimes. Or it might not live up to your expectation. Wanting to know about the book is understandable; I mean look how terrible blind dates can be when a well meaning friend sets you up. Who would want to do that with something so important as reading a book?

Sure many people don't believe that reading a book is important, but I believe differently. When you read a book you're investing your time, your emotions, and your mental stability. People walk past people reading everyday and don't notice that the reader's heart may be breaking, a plot twist may be throwing them for a loop, something a character realizes might be causing them to have their own self realization. There are many quotes about books and the importance of them to the world, and so many of them ring true.

I like to have blind dates with books, and it's a huge risk. I don't use the library, not because I don't support them-I think libraries are wonderful assets; I don't use the library because I'm selfish and I don't like giving books back even if it's not something I love. I enjoy spending time perusing the local used book store, taking the time to glance at all the books, seeing which ones are interesting, which ones immediately put me off, which ones were well loved and which ones were never read. Often I will choose a book I have never heard of before, an unknown author, unknown world, unknown plot. I'm making a commitment to that book that I will read it as it deserves, I will finish, and I will think about it.

This isn't to say that I love every book I've read, because I haven't met anyone that loves every book. There are some books that I don't care to read the next series, for whatever reason may be. I've given up on only one book, one that I know many people have for an understandable reason: The Heart of Darkness. If you know that notorious novel, you'll understand why at the age of 17 I didn't have the patience to push through.

Just as you have negative experiences with blind dates sometimes there is that wonderful, glorious, heart warming, amazing feeling when you and the book click. The author's words lift off the pages, transporting you out of this world and into one of their creation. You cry when the protagonist cries, you laugh when they laugh, you cheer them on, and you despair for them in their darkest moments. But you carry on, just as Samwise Gamgee said, because you know that it shall pass.

So I encourage you to take a blind date with a book, and see what path it takes you on. It might not work out sure, but it also might become your favorite book. The one that you don't ever forget.

Here's to never forgetting your favorite story.

B.