tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post6372419395483611529..comments2014-11-30T17:05:07.766-05:00Comments on Books Books Books: Some Thoughts About Books as ObjectsFarshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-40101791376149214592011-11-02T10:24:35.742-04:002011-11-02T10:24:35.742-04:00Read a redaction of this column on Shelf Awareness...Read a redaction of this column on Shelf Awareness ... and had to come here. Couldn't agree more. Thank you for such a cogent and beautifully argued piece. We at Daedalus Books & Music support you wholeheartedly. (I write their daily blog called, appropriately enough, The Daily Glean—http://dailyglean.salebooks.com).Janet P. Mullaneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994065228795508534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-15770203907742079172011-11-02T10:02:57.065-04:002011-11-02T10:02:57.065-04:00This is simply wonderful.
I publish books, and I...This is simply wonderful. <br /><br />I publish books, and I publish in all forms - electronic and paper. However, I also publish limited handbound copies of all our books, because books <i>are</i> magical and they really do make a difference when they're something treasured, something tangible, something you can pass along or mark up or...just do whatever with. I sincerely doubt the printed book will be going anywhere any time soon, and having that tangible book as part of our lives makes our lives that much better.Kate @ Candlemarkhttp://www.candlemarkandgleam.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-84756215754481809352011-11-02T09:29:16.126-04:002011-11-02T09:29:16.126-04:00Beautiful post. I love old books, those in stores ...Beautiful post. I love old books, those in stores where they are often piled up to the ceiling along narrow aisles, those my parents inscribed to me or to each other, those in the darker sections of libraries that haven't been touched for years--all treasures of an age that may soon be gone with the wind as readers flock to their Kindles and Nooks like lemmings to a cliff and/or children to a stack of Christmas presents beneath a spruce in the corner of the livingroom.<br /><br />MalcolmMalcolm R. Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07840134761199335243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-33560263676439529002011-10-29T20:53:45.953-04:002011-10-29T20:53:45.953-04:00Welcome, Alan. Your comment was not an intrusion ...Welcome, Alan. Your comment was not an intrusion but a welcome addition to the conversation and I thank you (and Pamela) for it. <br /><br />I read your blog post on SLOW READING which was very interesting. But I think readers can have the skim mentality with a book as well as a with a post, and vice versa. And it's hard for a reader not to read him/herself into any text, digital or print. <br /><br />I hope you will come -- and comment -- again.<br /><br />HelenFarshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-79832381295940294302011-10-29T10:51:50.845-04:002011-10-29T10:51:50.845-04:00Thanks to Pamela for directing me to this conversa...Thanks to Pamela for directing me to this conversation via her blog. I hope no minds my intrusion. Coincidentally, I just finished reading a book entitled Slow Reading. It's about how reading print books is importantly different from reading on the internet. I won't belabor the points here, but my review of it is at mattlage.blogspot.com. There's nothing like getting lost in a beautiful book.Alan Mattlagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06002254538342389502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-67317499834050652922011-10-27T15:23:26.807-04:002011-10-27T15:23:26.807-04:00Yes, Danny: I love even those signed by strangers....Yes, Danny: I love even those signed by strangers. After all, they chose the same book as I, and wanted to leave their mark in it, so they must be somewhat like me. I like to scrutinize the handwriting and see what I can glean from it.Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-48103110057640445082011-10-27T15:21:16.352-04:002011-10-27T15:21:16.352-04:00WE are precious to books, too: they'll cease ...WE are precious to books, too: they'll cease to exist without readers who love to hold and interact with them. I think putting your mark in a book -- essentially making it a one-of-a-kind book -- is a gift to yourself and to the book -- and even, perhaps, to a future reader.Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-87764740022383311192011-10-27T15:03:14.433-04:002011-10-27T15:03:14.433-04:00great post, I agree...books are love objects, ever...great post, I agree...books are love objects, every volume with its own personality, no identical twins...I also love those used books that were given as gifts and signed by complete strangers...Daniel Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15791058755669479845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-84896694555052258832011-10-27T10:11:48.207-04:002011-10-27T10:11:48.207-04:00Marking up books. I can't bear to do that to n...Marking up books. I can't bear to do that to new books! For one thing, most of my personal library consists of old, used volumes, so the addition of a new book means it is really something special, and I treasure its crisp, clean pages and pristine dust jacket. I'll mark up paperback books (and even dog-ear their pages), but when I want to make notes in books that are precious to me, whether new or old, I do it with Post-It notes. Some of my books come out looking like porcupines, there are so many tags bristling from the edges of their pages!<br /><br />Interesting how differently we all approach these objects we love.P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-39635725571216003772011-10-27T00:33:29.062-04:002011-10-27T00:33:29.062-04:00Thanks, Peter, for this note -- and especially for...Thanks, Peter, for this note -- and especially for addressing the question of how new books fit into all of this. I like the notion of a new book being an unknown, a challenge.<br /><br />As for marking up books: I do that, too (only to my own books, of course) and I love doing it, and I love reading books that have annotations in them. It's enriching.Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-40359980370484083052011-10-26T23:30:54.659-04:002011-10-26T23:30:54.659-04:00Thanks Helen, for your reflections, beautifully to...Thanks Helen, for your reflections, beautifully told.<br /><br />Curious how timely for me, for I have recently joined a book club for the first time in my life (to cure my laziness about exploring the vast wealth of writing out there). <br /><br />To pick up on PJGrath's point: a new book is like an unknown country to me. A good book is a challenging country at times, also beautiful in unexpected ways but sometimes challenging and a bit irritating (that's when I pause, mark my progress with a bookmark and turn out the light - reflecting on my reactions before sleep). <br /><br />With the bookclub books I take my pen with me on the expedition, marking my reactions in the margins and more thoughtful reflections on those lovely blank pages in the front and back that I can review at future times to evoke the memory of the trip and what it taught me at that moment. So the books, all marked up, become a journal of a dimension of my life, in the recognizable hand that is mine own - can't do that in an ibook, yet ...Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08002121250154674560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-69693053023486791602011-10-26T16:59:30.954-04:002011-10-26T16:59:30.954-04:00All books are magic to a degree. I tried to addre...All books are magic to a degree. I tried to address new books at the end -- the idea of becoming it's first caretaker and part of its history. Perhaps you, Pamela, can come up with more that we can include in a future post?Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-35519660421814987672011-10-26T16:13:55.913-04:002011-10-26T16:13:55.913-04:00Ester said...
How beautiful, like always I love
Y...Ester said...<br /><br />How beautiful, like always I love<br />Your writing, but tis one is special. Keep on writing and <br />sharing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-43750374224314047402011-10-26T08:17:08.856-04:002011-10-26T08:17:08.856-04:00Helen, thank you for these beautifully evocative t...Helen, thank you for these beautifully evocative thoughts on books as objects. I once owned (and subsequently gave as a gift) a book on the Arctic that had belonged to a soldier stationed there during the war. The front-facing endpaper featured a beautiful ink drawing he had made of his time there, complete with place and date and inscription to the person to whom he'd given the book as a gift. A simple book, nothing like a Shakespeare folio, it still held the magic of personal history and travel.<br /><br />We will have to think a bit on the magic of new books as objects. I do think the magic is there, too....P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.com