Week 16 prompt

Both of our readings this week talk about the culture of reading and the future of the book. So I have two questions for you as readers, pulling on your own experiences and all of the readings we have done over the semester: First, how have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing? This is  a very free-form question, feel free to wildly extrapolate or calmly state facts, as suits your mood!

Books of course have changed from when I was a kid, of course.  We have ebooks now!  And audiobooks have become a thing.  Graphic novels and manga have hit a boom.  (A friend and I always like to joke about manga and how kids these days have it easy...in middle & high school, we really enjoyed manga but bookstores and the library only had about a shelf each because so few series were being translated, and each volume cost $15-20.  Now there are rows and rows of titles that only cost $9!)  I remember checking out mostly paperbacks too, but I feel like current purchasing and publishing trends are getting away from that and pushing hardcovers.  Or maybe it's just that my personal preference on that has changed!  Covers are also becoming more visually appealing and art-y too, I think.  Writing all that down, I realize that books have become more of a commercial package than I remember them being as a kid!

That one time I tweeted about how we weren't doing our jobs
&Neil Gaiman himself enabled us.

The act of reading itself hasn't changed much for me.  I still always have at least one book going, always have a to-read stack to grab the next one from.  That's always been my habit.  I took the History of the Book course last year, and we discussed how reading historically has been social--not everyone was literate, so books were read aloud, or even going back to ye olden times when books simply weren't available so people relied on oral storytellers to entertain them.  When you're a kid, reading is still a social event.  Parents read to you, the librarian reads to you, teachers read to you...  Reading as an adult is still a pretty social thing, for me.  (It was argued in that class, however, that reading is rapidly becoming a more solitary activity for the majority of people.)  Of course, as a librarian, I get plenty of chances to talk books and I jump on Goodreads and the Books subreddit fairly often, follow my favorite authors on Facebook.  But even beyond that...if it's a warm, lazy Sunday, you'll find myself, my boyfriend, and our dog laying out in a quilt in the backyard with our books.  We share the same taste in books, so we're usually telling each other about what we're reading and why the other one should read it.  (That's actually how we met--he was worked at a local bookstore that I frequented!)

That answer bled into the next question...I don't see reading becoming a solitary activity any time soon.  Nor do I see people reading less, especially once publishers wholly embrace ebooks.  They're (usually) cheaper, more convenient for people on the go, and tablets are becoming everyday technology meaning many people have access now.  Don't get me wrong, I still prefer my traditional books!  But with more options opening up, letting people read whenever and however they want, I don't see reading disappearing.  Especially since I've noted already that books are being marketed more and more attractively...publishers aren't going to let reading die out either!

I'm also very excited to see the future of reading, and of books, because I think traditional publishing may lose some footing to these new trends I'm seeing.  The 39 Clues books, while juvenile fiction, is a great example of where publishing may be going.  (Kids read the books, but they can also jump online to find clues and there are also collectible cards.)  Marvel has been experimenting with integrating their publishing with their movie and TV franchises to create a cohesive universe for their characters, so we may begin to see other companies pick that up.  A couple years ago, I purchase a non-fiction book about the behind-the-scenes creation of a popular, critically-acclaimed video game franchise that used QR codes so readers could see video of the programming or of the mo-cap stage.  It was even set up so the QR codes would 'refresh' every so often to show new content.

I'm sure we'll see some duds, but I think we'll see some exciting stuff too coming out of the world of books and of publishing.  I agreed with Wachtell in our readings for this week...we shouldn't confuse with "how" of reading with the "why" of reading.  Maybe ebooks and audiobooks will edge out traditional books someday...but that doesn't mean people aren't still reading.

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Happy summer, guys!  This class has been a lot of fun, but I'm ready to relax and enjoy this sun as much as possible now.  (Just gotta get this final project done!)

One last chance to show off Zero, sorry, had to take it!