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The Weekly Wrap: October 19-25

Book Affordability

BookRiot ran a story this week arguing “We’re in a Book Affordability Crisis.” One of the key pieces in this affordability crisis is the phasing out of mass market paperbacks, hitting the romance segment of the market most heavily (although many mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction/fantasy have been published in this format as well). Remember when you could buy one of these for $.50 to $.95? Even in recent years, prices were under $10, many even under $7.

The next step up is the trade paperback with price points in the $16-20 range. That represents a doubling in cost. Of course, hardbacks are just out of reach for many. So what do people do? Some dedicated readers just cut back in other areas as they can. But the book trade cannot depend on that. Retail sellers will probably lean into loyalty programs and periodic sales, and pre-release discounts.

But many dedicated readers will probably move away from retail purchasing. Second hand sales, ranging from online sellers like Thriftbooks to physical stores and library sales may benefit. But their prices are rising as well, and eventually, their supply of mass market books will decrease. Others will just hit the library, which means longer waitlists. And libraries will feel the pinch of higher acquisition costs in all formats.

And like the folks at BookRiot, I don’t see more e-book buying. Digital Rights Management limits re-selling options for books you only license, not own. And often, the cost is not that different from physical books, unless you spot a discount.

Dedicated readers are resourceful, and most already have an ample stock laid up so that they can “shop their shelves.” One way or another, they will find a way to feed their habit. I’m less sure about “budding readers.” But this also poses challenges for retail sellers, especially indie booksellers, whose ability to buy at discount are less. I wonder, as does BookRiot, whether, in the end, publishers will come up with some kind of under $10 option. Maybe they will realize that the mass market is a market.

Five Articles Worth Reading

But is all this a sign we are entering a post-literate society? I first read many classics — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis, Dickens, and Dostoevsky — in mass market paperbacks (and still have some of them!). James Marriott believes we are on the other side of a three century reading revolution and are witnessing “The dawn of the post-literate society.” I wonder if we serious readers are becoming dinosaurs. At least I will keep doing my part to “light a candle rather than curse the darkness.”

Nevertheless, Thomas Pynchon keeps writing. Gus Mitchell reviews The Shadow Ticket in “The American Dream-Master.” The novel explores fascism in 1930’s America. Hmm.

She’s written “about animals, about orchids, about a female bullfighter in Spain, about the Los Angeles Central Library, about the life and death of a 346-year-old tree, about subjects you didn’t think you cared about but actually do.” “She” is Susan Orlean and her new memoir’s title Joyride gives us a glimpse of what it has been like. So Sarah Lyell sat down with her to talk about that life and the new book and discovered “How Writing Helped Susan Orlean Find a ‘Bigger Place in the World’“

Then another reason for not giving up on the possibility of a return to literacy is that great books continue to be written. This week, Publisher’s Weekly released its “Best boo k s of 2025.” The list covers 150 fiction, non-fiction, teen, and youth books. But it does seem a tad early for “best book” lists. Isn’t there anything good coming out in the next two months?

As I write, baseball’s World Series is underway. College and pro football and soccer are in full swing. The hockey season just began and basketball is not far off. All that is to make the point that literacy need not preclude reading books about sports. There has been and is some great sports writing. David Halberstam, Roger Angell and George Will all wrote great baseball books. Will Leitch introduces us to some great books in “Seven Books That Will Change How You Watch Sports.”

Quote of the Week

Novelist Michael Crichton was born October 23, 1942. He made this pithy observation:

“I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.”

Nowhere does this seem more true than on social media where it seems we need a daily dose of epistemic humility!

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m reading What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. The story revolves around the quest for a lost poem in a post-apocalyptic world, a century from now. Many coastal cities have been inundated. Regional wars, some using “limited” nuclear options, paradoxically have helped cool the climate. But the title reflects the effort to reconstruct a dinner party from 2014 and a poem read in honor of the poet’s wife’s birthday. The poet was famous in his time, the poem thought to be a masterwork. However, in his scenario, the period beginning in 2030 is called “The Derangement.’ That seems plausible.

I was gratified to write the publicist at a small publisher for a review copy of a new book. She remembered my reviews of a couple of their books from several years back and was glad to send the book. That personal touch is increasingly rare. More often, you just submit a form. Who knows, maybe there is an AI bot in the future, who may seem personal. But the human connection is one of the things about reviewing that I’ve most valued.

I really need to do something for our mail carrier this Christmas. The daily USPS Informed Delivery email from the post office revealed I had four books coming from different publishers. I knew those wouldn’t fit in our mailbox so I raced to meet her when I heard the truck. But she was already on my doorstep, scanning the packages when I got there. She’s really terrific. Any ideas of a good and appropriate gift?

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Andre Trocme’, The Memoirs of Andre Trocme’

Tuesday: Agatha Christie, The Idol House of Astarte

Wednesday: Norah Whipple Caudill, Old Testament Wisdom & Poetry

Thursday: John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

Friday, Ian Mc Ewan, What We Can Know

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 19-25.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page

The Library Book, Susan Orlean. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018.

Summary: Centered around the fire that destroyed much of the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986, chronicles the history of the library, and why libraries are such important parts of our communities.

I grew up going to the Reuben B. McMillan Library in Youngstown, Ohio, and later to the branch library near my home, losing myself in books. In the course of my life, I’ve lived in two cities with great library systems, Cleveland (where the author of this work grew up) and Columbus. I don’t allow political signs on my property–except for the library.

Susan B. Orlean’s book on the Los Angeles Public Library reads like a love letter to libraries. She describes her own childhood, going to the Bertram Woods Library in Shaker Heights, and the library near her Los Angeles home, followed by a tour of the Central Library where she learned about the fire of April 29, 1986. The fire began in the northeast stack of the fiction section and reached 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, so hot that the flames were pale blue in color. Over 400,000 books were lost, another 700,000 damaged. We learn about the laborious salvage operation that restored books soaked in water, books that would quickly have succumbed to mold and been rendered useless.

She describes what that day was like for library employees, who felt like they were witnessing a death. She describes the investigation of the fire, believed to be arson, and reveals how difficult in many cases arson is to prove, and how some of the assumptions investigators make can mislead them. The lead suspect is profiled, a sometime actor named Harry Peak, who told a different story of his whereabouts every time he was asked. Descriptions that fit him and the inconsistent stories led to his arrest as a suspect, but insufficient evidence existed to try, let alone convict him. It turns out Harry lied all the time. Conditions were such in the library that spontaneous combustion was a real possibility, and the stack designed created the ideal fire. Harry received a $35,000 settlement from the city for damage to his reputation that barely put a dent in medical expenses he incurred as he died of HIV/AIDS.

I found the Harry Peak part of the story the least engaging part of the book. He was a sad figure, especially compared to some of the early head librarians like Mary Foy, and Charles Lummis, a colorful journalist who succeeded her when it was decided that a woman couldn’t head up a library, even though she had capably done so. Actually, they both gave great leadership in developing the institution, its outreach to the community, and the growth of its collections.

Orlean traces the history of the building from its conception, the changes it underwent over the years and deteriorating condition prior to the fire, followed by its restoration and the modern addition to it afterwards. She takes us around to the different departments of the library and volunteered with The Source, a gathering of social agencies at the library allowing L.A. residents a one-stop way to connect with agencies that could address their particular set of needs.

This also served as an example of her description of the changing landscape of library services which range from homeless center to social services, to an adjunct to educational institutions, and a technology hub offering access to various forms and media of information, books and far more. Orlean summarized her conversation with Eva Mitnick, head of the Central Library:

Mitnick and I talked about the future of libraries. She is an idealist. She thinks libraries are adapting to the world as it is now, where knowledge streams around us as well as being captured in physical books. . . . Mitnick sees libraries as information and knowledge centers rather than simply as storehouses of material. She is one of a large cohort of library people who believe libraries will remain essential to their communities. By most measures, this optimistic cohort seems to be right. According to a 2010 study, almost three hundred million Americans used one of the country’s 17,078 public libraries and bookmobiles in the course of the year. In another study, over ninety percent of those surveyed said closing their local library would hurt their communities. Public libraries in the United States outnumber McDonald’s; they outnumber retail bookstores two to one. In many towns, the library is the only place you can browse through physical books.

Actually, Orlean has written far more than an account of a fire, or an account of an arson investigation, or a library history, or even a love letter to libraries. What she has done is articulate why libraries are vital cultural institutions worth preserving and supporting and patronizing, and the vital works librarians are engaged in as they both preserve and advance learning in service of the public good.