eBooks as "Literary Sweat Pants"

Deep Down Things
Written By Dorian Speed

"The recurring motif in cinema of a freshly finished manuscript being scattered by the wind or burned in a fire is far more savage a drama than the computer crash that modern authors contend with." So contends Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award-winner Craig Thompson in this brief reflection on traveling with print books.

I just returned from a three-month book tour and was discouraged to see eBooks as the requisite travel accessory, the airports littered with travelers hunched over smart phones and Kindles and iPads. It’s true, Bolaño’s 2666 takes up a lot of space in your carry-on bag, but that’s the point! It’s like a pet that requires a 5am walk. The heft is a symbol of commitment —a marriage band.

I have to admit I agreed with him right up until the point where I got a Kindle for Christmas. What say you, readers?

Dorian Speed

Dorian Speed is a writer, educator, and speaker. She will soon graduate from the University of St. Thomas with her MFA in Creative Writing. She contributed a chapter about the Scottish writer Muriel Spark to the collection Women of the Catholic Imagination: Twelve Inspired Novelists You Should Know, newly released by Word on Fire Votive. Dorian is currently working on her first novel, as well as a book comparing the authors Flannery O’Connor and Muriel Spark

Previous

How social media helped make ‘Downton Abbey’ a hit PBS show
Next

We Need Your Help