Richard Martin's Reviews > The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books

First off, the title is misleading. Editors Martin and Magee present 28 essays on the topic...most enlightening, some humorous, a few incomprehensible. It's not so much about the novel as it is about the future of the book in light of the advent of digitalized text and e-readers. A question for thought. Are we "...near the point of forgetting the idea of books as objects, as works of art...(Mandel, p.107) while "...gadgeteers ...with their cold slim readers...flip pages on a touchscreen." (Mandel, p. 104) ? Hopefully not.