Column:
Novels best read in hand, not online
Published Nov. 3, 2008
My friend Mallory takes beautiful photographs, studies incessantly at the Cherry Street Artisan, exercises super early in the morning and works as a barista. And, sometimes, she reads for fun.
Mallory reads more than just her friends' wall posts on Facebook. Mallory reads novels.
I am always impressed by those college students who can go to class, who stay busy with extracurricular activities and a job, and who read hundreds and hundreds of small-print pages for fun in their spare time.
I read MU Info every Wednesday, and sometimes I pore over People or Glamour as I dry my hair. But the novels I brought from home sit mockingly on my bookshelf.
"Hahaha!" "The Stuff of Thought" seems to laugh at me. My friend Michael read the book for a psychology class and, last November, he loaned it to me.
"I'm 512 pages long," the book says, taunting me. "Like you could read me in a year!"
I probably could read a hardcore book or four if I spent less time checking Facebook or blog-stalking Julia Allison, a girly-girl dating columnist with an addictive, self-promotional site.
(Check out Nonsociety.com. Don't you want to follow Julia as she makes a creatively skanky Halloween costume with hundreds of Three Musketeers bars? Yes!)
I, like Mallory, could read for fun if I didn't spend so much time on the computer.
Luckily, Google can come to my rescue. Google has already saved my inbox, my calendar and my written documents. And now, Google Book Search will make available millions of digital books on the Internet.
The Google feature already offers a searchable collection of millions of books but, until recently, the program has shown only excerpts from copyrighted books.
Now, Google Book Search is expanding.
Last week, Google Inc. reached a $125 million settlement with the publishing industry that will make millions of digital books available online. The difference? Online readers will buy access to copyrighted works, and authors and publishers will get paid.
"What this does is breathe new life into millions of books without jeopardizing rights holders," said Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the Association of American Publishers, in a Wall Street Journal article.
I agree with Sarnoff. Google Book Search will offer an innovative way to make a dent in your must-read list.
But I'm not sure if it will change my reading habits.
I don't like to spend money at bookstores. (Instead, I'd still like to knock peep-toe booties, red tights and a yellow skinny belt off my winter fashion lust list.)
According to the settlement, Google plans to provide free online views at public libraries, but I'm not sure if that will help. After all, I still haven't trekked to Ellis Library to pick up the short play I've put on hold.
Besides, readers haven't embraced digital books. The Amazon Kindle, a handheld electronic book reader, like an iPod for the written word, is a Glamour magazine "Don't." Sixty-six percent of Glamour.com readers said so. (I take Glamour polls very seriously. Glamour.com readers are usually spot-on, except this month, when they condemned forehead bands.)
Ultimately, I don't think Google Book Search will provide the escape I look for in literature. When I pick up a crisp novel, I'm leaving day-to-day monotony behind. I'm amazed that plot, setting, imagery, diction, tone, symbolism, character development and a host of other literary devices come together smoothly and deliberately to create a world that is just as significant as my own.
And holding a book, that tangible representation of drama and meaning, emphasizes the power of the written word. Reading even a great novel online won't help me retreat from the daily grind.