Originally published January 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified January 18, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Book Buzz
Strong words about books and readers fling the gauntlet down at publishing's Big Biz
In an essay titled "Staying Awake: Notes on the Alleged Decline of Reading," Portland author Ursula K. Le Guin insists that books are here to stay: "It's just that not all that many people ever did read them."
Those who wring their hands over the dwindling number of readers in the United States might want to turn to the latest issue of Harper's Magazine, where Portland author Ursula K. Le Guin offers a few tart, common-sense words on the so-called reading crisis.
In an essay titled "Staying Awake: Notes on the Alleged Decline of Reading," she insists that books are here to stay: "It's just that not all that many people ever did read them."
Le Guin's nastiest salvos are aimed at publishing executives who "think they can sell books as commodities" and are disappointed if their holdings don't increase "yearly, daily, hourly."
Until the corporate takeover of independent publishing houses, she points out, publishers didn't expect expansion: "They were quite happy if their supply and demand ran parallel, if their books sold steadily, flatly."
"What's in this dismal scene for you, Mr. Corporate Executive?" she wraps up. "Why don't you just get out of it, dump the ungrateful little pikers, and get on with the real business of business, ruling the world?"
Indie publishers, she suggests, would do better on their own, doling out smaller advances and harboring more modest expectations of their industry.
There hasn't been a manifesto like this since Jonathan Franzen's 1996 cri de coeur about the peripheralization of literature in American society (also published in Harper's).
We can only say: Go, Ursula! And also: The book is dead. Long live the book!
Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times book critic
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Book review: "Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life:" Fearless, funny and opinionated
Book review: 'Changing My Mind': Zadie Smith ponders the mad, mad world
Book review: Philip Roth's 'The Humbling': an aging actor quits the stage
Book review: 'The Anti-Communist Manifestos: Four Books That Shaped The Cold War'
John Grisham, Mitch Albom are hot sellers

Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Real Salt Lake is handed the 2009 MLS Cup trophy at Qwest Field, November 22, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Tugboat sinks on Seattle's waterfront
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Italian lead prosecutor argues Knox motive was hatred
- Italian prosecutors request life sentence for UW student
- Man shot in chest on E. Union Street in Capitol Hill
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Senate vote clears hurdle
239 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
128 - Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
122 - Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle
121 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
121 - Cutting through breast-cancer confusion
90 - Game thread
70 - New York terror trials will restore faith in rule of law
58 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
53 - Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
52
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Nonprofits get creative using Twitter and Facebook to make donation easier
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Lynnwood is reinventing itself — again
- Great places to cross-country ski for free (or almost) in the Methow
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Recipes: Sesame Pork Roast, Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce and more
- Banff: powder, peaks & purity
- 175 foster kids in Washington get 'forever families'








