Here’s a headline that caught my eye: “Who will save our books?” I saw it blazing out at me from a full-page ad on the back page of The New York Times Book Review (April 21, 2013). The ad was authored by the best-selling novelist James Patterson. Since I believe the questions and comments he presents are so important, I’m sharing them here:
“Who will save our books?
Our bookstores?
Our libraries?”
“If there are no bookstores, no libraries, no serious publishers with passionate, dedicated, idealistic editors, what will happen to our literature? Who will discover and mentor new writers? Who will publish out important books? What will happen if there are no more books like these?”
(Partial listing of the books cited — my choices!)
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
Sophie’s Choice
by William Styron
The Natural
by Bernard Malamud
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L’Engle
“The Federal Government has stepped in to save banks, and the automobile industry, but where are they on the important subject of books? Or, if the answer is state and local government, where are they? Is any state doing anything? Why are there no impassioned editorials in influential newspapers or magazines? Who will save our books? Our libraries? Our bookstores?”
Something to ponder and feel passionate about! Bravo, James. And write on!
I work with stuff such as this out here in Hermenches, Switzerland.
Passion in what you feel and in putting it into words is a real talent.
Your writing is informative, illuminating, and passion-driven,
all of which I profoundly appreciate when dealing with this
topic.