Books, Books and Umm More Books

Recently, a group of us were sitting around talking, and I was asked if I had been doing anything interesting.  I replied that I had just started reading a book about the construction of the Erie Canal. For some reason, that set off some laughter and a few funny facial expressions.  Okay. maybe I don't have much of a life, and this wouldn't have sounded as interesting as a world cruise but, I was enjoying the book and learning some historical facts.  Is this a crime?

I admit I'm a research nerd.  Term papers and book reports were my favorite assignments.  Creating our novels gave me the opportunity to travel through time and history via encyclopedias and other research materials.  It was an adventure tracking down people who had knowledge we needed to make our stories as accurate as possible. A missionary who spent twenty-five years living along the Amazon River, a young man versed in the ways of the Voodoo culture, and engineers who designed submarines and diving equipment, were but some of the interesting people whose brains we picked to add substance to our stories.  Now, so much information can be found by just tapping a few keys on the computer but, I don't find it nearly as much fun.

Going back to the book I'm reading, I have discovered that none of the people involved really had any idea what they were doing!  The basic premise for the canal was that the city of New York was growing but could grow so much more, if their goods could travel northward. Job opportunities brought the masses to the citiy who never left, and the goods produced helped to sustain the westward movement and make New York the commercial capital of America.

The canal's history is filled with rich stories of the people.  The early 1800s brought together various religious beliefs, exploration, and a willingness to imagine new ways of getting things done.  Oh, and let's not forget creative politics!  Some might think that digging a trench 360 miles long through the wilderness sounds boring, but I'm finding it rather interesting.  BTW, the name of the book is Heaven's Ditch  God, Gold and Murder by Jack Kelly.

Have you heard that the mass market paperback books will soon be no longer?  Starting around 1939, these four inch by seven inch books gave readers the opportunity to have access to inexpensive novels that fit into your purse or back pocket.  I remember in the 1960s, going to the local drugstore and purchasing my next read for thirty-five cents.  Riding public transportation to work, other than those passengers who slept, people were either reading the Chicago Sun Times or paperback books.  Your didn't have to check out the best seller list to know what was popular. You could just look over the shoulder of your fellow passengers.

Think of all the writers who made a living, or close to it, writing for the mass market. Authors such as Mickey Spillane and Louis L`Amour became household names.  Ian Fleming was on the books racks and shelves alongside Ernest Hemingway. The racks were filled with adventure, science fiction and tales of romantic places where lust and love rose to breathtaking highs and crushing depths.  As the demand for those little books grew, so did the publishing houses. Art departments conveyed powerful messages with their cover art, luring us to pick up the book and read the exciting synopsis of the adventure waiting within the pages.  All was good!

Alas, starting in the 1980s, trade size paperbacks started to appear.  These books, usually around six inches by nine inches were usually too large to fit on the shelving in many bookstores.  They were left on tables or laid flat on the shelves, or put in with the hardcovers.  There was nothing wrong with them, they just didn't fit as well.  Over the years, the larger books became more abundant and booksellers adjusted shelving to fit them, making them easy to locate.  According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales of mass market paperbacks dropped eighty-four per cent between 2004 and 2024, Distribution of these books will gradually cease.  The books that made reading affordable for the masses is going the way of the dinosour.

  Whatever type of book or article you read, hardcover or softcover, big or little, or seen on a computer screen, read!  Books bring us pleasure, information, and are good for our brains.  Plus, you can tell your friends all about them.

Sharon