Why the future of physical books is important to me.

We live in a rapidly growing technological era. Almost everything has become digital these days, from touring a home to applying for jobs to watching movies, playing games, and even reading books. And especially now that the pandemic is raging outdoors, we have all been forced to stay inside and confront the expanding digital nature of the world we live in. It seems like nearly everyone agrees that digital means better, cheaper, more efficient, and in some ways it does. But what does this increased digitization mean for the future of physical books?

Sure, an ebook might cost a few dollars less than a hard copy, but potentially saving a little money might mean sacrificing the full experience integral to reading a printed book. Reading is about more than just the story—it's about feeling the gorgeous glossy cover of a special edition, holding the book close to your chest during a heartwarming scene, hearing the spine crack and knowing you're the first person to open an anticipated new release, and opening the book wide to inhale the musky scent of paper and ink. You can breathe in the scent of your e-reader, but it won't smell the same as the well-read pages of a beloved novel. 

Reading in an all-encompassing experience that is very dear to me; it has always been as much about the tangible book as it is about enjoying the actual story inside the covers. 

I love to look at all my books lined up on my bookshelves, reaching from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. I love to change up how I organize them, sometimes by genre, sometimes by author, and sometimes by color. I love to hand a book to a visiting friend and say, "You will adore this story! Take it and read it." Those are all special moments to me that I can't replicate with ebooks. Scrolling through my ebook collection is not nearly as fulfilling as wandering the isles of a bookstore or library, where the titles and colors on the spines beckon me to come closer and take a peek inside the pages.  

Now don't misunderstand—I don't dislike ebooks. I think they're great for the price and for traveling, and I have read a few of them myself during situations when pulling out my paperback wasn't feasible. But I sincerely hope that ebooks never completely overtake physical books, as they could never fully replicate the experience of reading a physical book. 

It has become increasingly harder for brick-and-mortar bookstores to remain open. I know of many that have closed and others that are struggling as more and more people turn to the digital alternative or even toward buying printed books online. My fear is that if too many people decide the experience of reading isn't worth the price of a hardback, then the stores will close their doors forever and the printing presses will cool. We must preserve the legacy of a tactile reading experience by keeping bookstores open and printed books relevant. 

I have thought for a long time that physical books should come with a kind of code, maybe a QR code, that allows readers to download the ebook with the physical book purchase. Buying a hard copy pays for rights to read the author's story, the publishing and printing process, and the transporting and selling of the book. Ebooks do not have to be printed or shipped, which is why they are often much less expensive. But if a reader could get the hardcover and the ebook for the price of just the hardcover, that might be an incentive for more people to shop at bookstores or at least buy the physical books. 

As the trend toward the digital increases and the trend toward the printed declines, I often wonder if physical books will eventually go extinct. I have faith in my reader friends to keep supporting the printing of tangible books, but I can't say how the future will unfold. I'd like to think that we readers are too stubborn to ever allow the ink wells to run dry and the printing presses to stop moving, but we don't know what a few more decades will bring. Thirty or fifty or a hundred years is a long time. Even one year is a long time, as evidenced by our current era. 

Holding a physical book in my hands while I read, turning the pages one by one, looking at my bookmark between the pages to see how far along I am—these are all special experiences that make reading more than just consuming a narrative. Fellow readers, you understand. The printed book is important to you too. I have hope in a future where my children can grow up with a library of books they can reach out and touch instead of a tablet, by which they will undoubtedly get distracted by whatever the internet has to offer. Books have so much to offer us individually and collectively, and we need to preserve their printed treasures. 

Review: THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson

 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Way of Kings has been both my most anticipated book and the most intimidating book that I own. For starters, Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author, so my expectations were sky-high. But this is the longest book I've ever read, it's a multiple-POV book with intense magic and expansive world-building, and it's the first in a ten-book series, of which only three books are released so far (although Rhythm of War does come out in just a few months). I am terrible at remembering what happens in books, so my biggest qualm with starting the Stormlight Archive was the concept of trying to remember what happens in each book while waiting for the next twenty years for all ten books to come out. But I finally decided to just do it; I couldn't wait any longer to start the magnum opus from my favorite author. 

The Way of Kings is over one thousand pages of an awesome action-packed magical adventure story. I lost count of all the perspectives this book is told from, but there are four main ones I want to focus on: 

Kaladin Stormblessed: Kaladin is the son of a surgeon and was on the path to becoming a surgeon himself, but he ended up as a soldier in the army, and later became a slave on a bridge crew. He really is the embodiment of hope in this series as he takes his dire circumstances and completely turns them around. In this book, we get flashback chapters from Kaladin and learn about his youth and how he ended up in Bridge Four. 

Dalinar Kholin: Dalinar is a Shardbearer and high prince of Alethkar. He has been fighting for his country for so long, but his desire to shed blood is fading as he begins to have visions of the distant past that give him a new purpose in the present. He is reading an ancient text called The Way of Kings that seems to be hiding secrets within its lines. 

Shallan Davar: Shallan is an artist and scholar-in-training, but her main focus is on saving her family from financial ruin. She attempts to become heretic Jasnah Kholin's new ward, but her plan is more sinister than simply learning all she can from the massive library in Kharbranth: she intends to steal Jasnah's Soulcaster, an ancient artifact with magical properties. Shallan was my favorite character by far. 

Szeth-son-son-Vallano: Szeth is an assassin who weeps as he kills. He doesn't want to be an assassin but he is being controlled by a greater force. We only see his POV in the interludes, but he is still a central character to the story. 

Each of these characters is in a different place in Roshar with different goals and motivations and does not know any of the other characters. This makes it kind of hard to tell you what the book is actually about since each character's storyline is vastly different. 

One gripe I did have with this book was that I wanted more POVs from ladies. I prefer reading about women in stories, especially epic fantasy where there is a lot of fighting and political intrigue. I don't actually like action scenes or reading about great battles, and there was a lot of that in this book. Nothing wrong with the book, but that just wasn't my style. 

Enjoyment-wise, The Way of Kings is closer to a 3.5 or 4 stars, but plotwise and character-wise it's absolutely 5 stars. Sanderson knows how to weave a clever and intricate plot full of reveals and surprises and easter eggs, and this book was no different. I read snippets of information about the cosmere, the overarching universe that this series and many of his other books take place in, and it has me so excited for when they start to cross-over later on in the series. 

I loved learning about the history of this world. We get little pieces of history here and there, but there is still the overarching mystery of what happened 4,500 years ago to cause the Radiants to forsake their Shardblades and abandon the people? This story is rich in history and myth, and I can't wait to learn more about it in future installments. 

The magic in this book is super cool! Brandon Sanderson always creates such unique magic systems. Everything here is based on storms and stormlight. There are Highstorms that sweep the land, which are basically super strong, destructive storms that have debris and walls of water that are very intense. During the Highstorms, the Stormlight in spheres is regenerated. The spheres are their monetary system, but they also provide light; different values and sizes of spheres give off different colors of light. The stormlight can be inhaled by certain individuals who can then infuse objects with stormlight to give them certain properties for a short time. We do not see very much of this magic in the first book, so I might have some of it wrong and it's probably way more expansive than what I've seen so far. 

The writing style in this book is fairly straightforward; it's not hard to understand what's going on. The hard part is just remembering all the details and reveals, some of which seem like passing information at the time but later turn out to be details crucial to the plot. This is definitely a series that will need many rereads to fully pick up on all the clues and details hidden throughout. 

I really enjoyed my time reading The Way of Kings, and I can't wait to continue on with the series. I'm not looking forward to waiting so long between books, but at least Brandon Sanderson is reliable at releasing books on a reasonable schedule. It's also lucky that I'm able to read these books with my husband, who basically has a photographic memory and is able to help me remember all the details I forget. I definitely recommend this book to any epic fantasy fans out there looking to be committed for the long haul on an unforgettable series. 

Review: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

This book has been on my list for a while, but I picked it up right when I did for the book club with my coworkers. 

I didn't love Maas's writing style in the Throne of Glass series, which I still haven't finished reading yet, but I ended up enjoying her writing style a lot more in A Court of Thorns and Roses. 

I like Feyre as a protagonist. I never had an opinion about Lucien and Tamlin because I had heard so much before starting this series about Rhysand, who I knew was the main love interest, so I was just waiting for him to appear. Well it isn't until over halfway into the book that he shows up! And then we have a love triangle (square?), so I should have been paying better attention to the characterization of Tamlin and Lucien from the beginning. 

I did like Tamlin, but I heard that he becomes a horrible character in the next book?? I have no idea what's going to happen but I'm very curious because I think he's such a good guy. Especially compared to Rhysand, who's a jerk to Feyre. 

I've never been a huge fan of fey stories, and I don't really know why either. But I did enjoy this book more than I expected to, at least, and it wasn't as explicitly romantic as I had heard it was. I'm excited to read the next two books and see what happens. 

Review: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL by Anne Frank

 

Rating: 5/5 stars

I originally read this book in seventh grade, but I never actually finished it. I read more than half but I can’t remember exactly where I stopped or why. Probably just busy with school and didn’t get around to it.

Well, this year I decided to reread the book, and I found myself much more engaged than I expected to be! Anne Frank is a very interesting girl. I love her voice and her personality, and I found myself becoming very attached to her. I kept wishing as I was reading that I could have been her friend and got to know her. 

Anne was very wise and mature for a teenager, and I was continually surprised—in a good way—by some of the things she would say and observations she would make. She’s very smart and self-aware. She was also very forward-thinking for her time: “I believe that in the course of the next century, the notion that it’s a woman’s duty to have children will change and make way for the respect and admiration of all women, who bear their burdens without complaint.”

It is so sad that she died so young because I think she would have grown up to make a difference in the world. Anne wanted so much to be a writer and for her spirit to live on after she died, and that’s exactly what happened with her diary. I think it’s wonderful that her father was able to fulfill her dream and publish her diary. 

“I’ve made up my mind to lead a different life from other girls, and not to become an ordinary housewife later on. What I’m experiencing here is a good beginning to an interesting life.”

Even though this memoir is about a Jewish girl and her family in hiding during World War Two, it is not a sad book. Anne mostly writes about her feelings and about the quarrels and conversations between the eight people living in the annex. She writes about the food they eat and the activities they do to pass the time. And sometimes she writes about the philosophical musings of her mind. Rarely does she mention the war and what’s going on outside the annex, probably due in part to her not always knowing. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to live in such a confined space for two years, everyone getting on everyone’s nerves and no one being able to leave for fresh air.

I am glad Anne Frank kept a journal and that it was posthumously published so the world can learn more about her and about life during that awful time. I am eager to see the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam now that I know her story, and I hope I can visit it someday to learn more about her. 

I would definitely recommend reading Anne’s story if you have any interest in what Jews had to go through during Hitler’s tyranny during the 1940s. The Diary of a Young Girl was a very interesting and engaging account of her last two years of life. 

“A quiet conscience gives you strength.” 

Review: SPINNING SILVER by Naomi Novik

 

Rating: 2/5 stars

I really wanted to love this book. Like Uprooted, Spinning Silver has a gorgeous cover and the synopsis sounds amazing; I was sure it was going to be a new favorite. But it wasn’t. . . .

I listened to the Spinning Silver audiobook, and the first hour of the audiobook read like a summary of a whole novel: all telling, no showing, and it spanned months and months, a kind of build up to the actual story and a way to set the stage and introduce us to the characters and tell us about their lives and what they did. We learned about Miryem being the moneylender’s daughter and going around and demanding payment from the loan borrowers because her father was never able to get them to pay and how she turned the whole town around and basically became very wealthy. Except that this “summary” was what I thought the entirety of the book was going to be about, so once we moved on to “the present day” in the story, I was very confused about what the rest of story would actually be about.

Just like Uprooted, this book is an example of misplaced expectations. I thought this book was going to be about one thing and it turned out to be about something else with only a small presence of what I originally expected. I hate when publishers market a book incorrectly because it attracts the wrong kind of audience. Spinning Silver is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling, but it’s also not. There’s so much more story going on than just her spinning silver into gold, and there’s so many other characters telling their own separate stories as well. 

One of the moneylenders refuses to pay so Miryem demands his daughter come work for her family. The daughter’s name is Wanda and this book is told partially through her perspective as well, and partially through the POVs of about six different people, but the problem is the same person narrates all of characters, and all six perspectives are told in first person, so there were some instances where I had no idea who we were reading about, or a situation was happening to one girl and then I later realized it had actually happened to someone else, and it was all very convoluted and confusing. The voice of the characters is too similar if I can read chapters without being able to tell a difference, and that’s a problem. And especially when I finished the book and had to go online to look up how many perspectives this book had and was surprised it was so many. I literally had no idea while I was reading that there were so many POVs and that’s a big issue. 

So then I went back and read the whole story again from the beginning. I desperately wanted to understand it and enjoy it, so I did what I never do and read it twice in one year. But honestly, that didn’t help me. I understood only a tiny bit better what was going on, but this book did not need six POVs. Some of them were minor characters, side characters whose eyes we did not need to see from. Instead of writing so many perspectives, Novik should have written only a couple and had them be in third-person. In my opinion, that would have combined a lot of POVs and made the narrative much easier to follow.

After reading and then rereading Spinning Silver, I was able to grasp a little bit better why I think I don’t jive with Naomi Novik’s books: it’s her writing style. I’ve mentioned in many reviews previously that an author’s writing style is the biggest factor in whether or not I’m going to enjoy a book. Not the characters, not the setting, not even the plot; it’s the writing style. And I’ve realized that I don’t like Novik’s writing style. So even though Spinning Silver’s (and Uprooted’s) plot sounded amazing and the characters were really cool and we had a beautiful setting with some cool magic, I didn’t like the book because I didn’t like how she wrote it. Now don’t get me wrong, she has some beautiful writing at times, and I can’t explain exactly all the reasons why, but I just don’t like how she describes details or writes characters. 

Spinning Silver also feels like it takes place in the same world as Uprooted. They are both very atmospheric and magical in a way that I feel like the stories are on opposite ends of the same world. The writing style and descriptions and even the characters all felt very similar to me (and even the covers match). I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but it’s something that really stood out to me, and maybe to the story’s detriment; maybe I can’t like one without liking the other to some extent also.

I’m so so sad I didn’t love this book. I wanted to, but it just didn’t work for me. I’m still going to give His Majesty’s Dragon and A Deadly Education a chance because those stories sound way different from Uprooted and Spinning Silver, so it’s possible they could be written differently and I will like them better, but those will be my last attempt at reading Naomi Novik’s stories. 

Review: THE SWITCH by Beth O'Leary

 

Rating: 3/5 stars

I loved Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare, so I was excited to read her sophomore novel, The Switch.

After a panic attack during an important meeting, Leena is forced to take a two-month sabbatical from work to rest and regain her mental composure, but she struggles to let go of her responsibilities. Meanwhile, her grandmother, Eileen, is nearing her eightieth birthday and is looking for new love and some more excitement in her life, but struggling to find any age-appropriate bachelors or new things to do in her very small town. Leena goes to visit her grandmother one day, and they decide that what they need is to swap lives for those two months, letting Leena relax in the countryside and giving Eileen an adventure in London. What ensues is a heartwarming, funny story of second chances, friendships, the meaning of family, and unexpected romances.

Eileen is the coolest grandma ever. I love that we have a POV of an eighty-year-old woman, which is uncommon in literature. I feel like the younger generation subconsciously ostracizes the older generation because we don’t understand them, and they don’t understand us. But this book goes to show that there are a lot more similarities between generations than we realize, and that elderly people are still people—they’re not dead yet—and they are worth getting to know. I love how Leena creates such genuine bonds with all the elderly people in her grandma’s town. She even has a soft spot for cranky Arnold next door. I hope I can be like her someday.

It’s pretty easy to tell early on how the story’s going to end, like who Leena and Eileen are going to end up with, but it was fun to be on the journey with them regardless and see them struggle along the way.

It can be intimidating to step out of our comfort zones, but The Switch shows readers how much we can grow and learn from taking a leap of faith and doing something different and unexpected for once. I loved the morals and lessons this book taught.

This story is less romantic than The Flatshare, even though there’s romance in it. Like in her first novel, Beth O’Leary discusses some difficult topics in this novel too. We have grieving a death in the family, cheating, catfishing, anxiety and panic attacks, and getting out of an abusive relationship. And we also have a strong focus on friendships in the unlikeliest of places, the true meaning of family, and finding a lifelong love.

The Switch was super cute. I’d recommend it to any reader of contemporary literature. I don’t know if I’d say this is contemporary romance since the main plot for both characters was not romance but instead their goals to help their respective communities, but there is definitely a very tender romantic outcome for both of them as well.