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Posts Tagged ‘columns’

Books that still have covers should expect to be judged by them.

Another books column from my newspaper days. This one is about how real paper books have to be beautiful to survive the digital revolution. “If I’m going to buy a book, an actual book — if I’m going to bring it into my house and make space for it — it better be beautiful. It better justify its visual existence.”

Fill your bomb shelters with hardbacks.

This column reads a little newspapery. (My voice always shifted when I was writing my columns, it’s such a wide general audience.) But I still like it. It’s about loving e-books, but feeling like we’ll want paper copies to see us through the Apocalypse.

Reading — whatever doesn’t kill you makes you softer.

I decided to wrangle up some of my old columns about reading. Here’s one about the Dire Effects of Reading on the Body and the Mind. “Everything is better in books. And only a fool would rather live than read. Living is what you promise yourself you’ll do after the next chapter.”

Learn to read, kid, but don’t fall in love.

Here’s a column I wrote a while back about reading. I wanted to have it formatted nicely somewhere, because sometimes people ask for a link. It’s not just about reading; it’s about my problem with reading. I remember when I wrote this, I felt like I was confessing, like I was sharing something really dark. I expected people to shame me (readers had tried to shame me for much less). But no; everybody who commented was like, “Yay! Reading!” If you read this column and replaced the word “reading” with ANYTHING ELSE, people would suggest a counselor.

Reading — whatever doesn’t kill you makes you softer. Posted on June 20, 2011