weekend paper round up

Yesterday was not the best but there was an interesting piece in The Guardian about the way that technology is changing the way we read books by self-confessed book lover Andrew Marr. In an article that came up with a lot of the traditional responses to ebook readers Marr threw in a criticism not only of the technology, he pointed out that page turning was too slow, but the experience of using something that was clean and fresh compared to books which are often old, worn and treasured possessions. He also mentioned the obvious that books are so well designed that it is hard for technology to come along and make a difference.

Other things that stood out in the papers today were a piece in The Independent about the movie that is being made about Dylan Thomas. Naturally when you could focus on the poet’s work and writing process what apparently is the main content of The Edge of Love focuses on the love triangle between his wife and a childhood friend. The hidden message is that if you ever want to become a writer that has a reputation that lives on beyond death, write some good prose or poetry but importantly try to develop some sort of twisted love life.

The Independent also has a piece about the fight to save the Karl Marx Memorial Library from takeover. Quite what the father of communism would think of the battle for the library is hard to guess.

Apart from that it has been incredibly frustrating I was half way through the title story in Salinger’s For Esme with Love and Squalor before the doorbell rang and my youngest child – who is still refusing to cooperate on this issue – decided that because I had not been reading a Star Wars book mine deserved to be taken and hidden. As a result there will not be any posts on that today.

Hopefully more reading tomorrow…