One for the Books
One for the Books by Joe Queenan, published by Viking in 2012, is a thoughtful exploration of the challenges facing the book in the digital age. This first edition, comprising 244 pages, delves into the historical significance of books and their resilience against various forms of adversity, including censorship and the rise of digital media. Queenan reflects on his own journey as a reader, shaped by a difficult childhood, and presents a candid look at the current landscape of reading, from the decline of bookstores to the evolving habits of avid readers.
In this work, Queenan addresses the dilemmas that come with a passion for reading, such as the struggle to finish certain titles and the complexities of borrowing and lending books. He shares personal anecdotes and humorous observations while undertaking various projects to reconcile his unique reading style. The book touches on themes of literary criticism and the enduring love for books, making it a relevant read for those interested in the future of literature and the reading experience.
Official synopsis Publisher
Since Gutenberg first began moving type around five centuries ago, the book – one of the great achievements of human culture – has been subjected to any number of indignities, from being banned to being burned to being turned into a breathtaking quantity of unspeakably appalling movies. It has managed to survive all of these, only to find itself at the dawn of the twenty-first century facing the most radical challenge to its existence from the digital tsunami that has already left the tattered remains of the music business in its wake. As bookstores disappear and readers, apparently, along with them, alarmed bibliophiles everywhere can’t help but wonder- Whither the book?
That question has been weighing heavily on one of America’s great humorists, Joe Queenan, as he has recounted in a series of widely read New York TimesBook Reviewpieces and in his critically acclaimed memoir Closing Time. Having first become a voracious reader as a means of escape from a joyless childhood in a Philadelphia housing project, he has since devoted himself to a lifelong defense of the book and merciless hounding of all the forces aligned to undermine it. One for the Booksis Queenan’s choleric survey of the landscape of reading today, from fervently dedicated booksellers to beleaguered libraries to the everyday dilemmas faced by the avid reader (borrowing and lending, the inability to finish certain books, rereading favourites, dealing with an increasingly elephantine collection). Queenan also embarks on a series of projects to come to terms with his own eccentric reading style, which involve gauging the number of titles he will have time to read in his lifespan, reading only short books, granting library books that are about to be disposed of a respite by being the first one in years to check them out, and finally confronting the fearsome leviathan of Middlemarch.
Acerbically funny, passionate, and oddly affectionate, One for the Booksis a reading experience that true book lovers will find unforgettable (and a goad to reading even more).
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