Post 2: What is a book?

        A book is a work of art.  Authors delicately plan their books, and they do focus on every detail.  They craft them to perfection.  I think of books almost as if they are a painting.  Both of these are continued to be worked on until they are the exact way the writer/painter wants them.  This is a reason I have a problem with what Victor LaValle has to say in "Scribble" from the excerpt of  The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books.   He states, "Some man or woman spent weeks or months or years of a lifetime bleeding on the page!" in a joking manner.  However, what he is describing as a joke is actually true.  Authors do spend years of their lives trying to make their work perfect.  The authors are trying to teach you something through the book, and the fact that he isn't showing appreciation for their hard work tells me that he has no clue about the way books should be presented. 

        On a different note, I agree completely with Nancy Jo Sales who states, "There is something about the physicality of a book, the way it looks and feels and even smells--the notes written in the margins--that makes it a living, breathing companion..."  I concur with her because I feel that the way something is presented completely affects the way you feel about it.  For example, if someone were to compliment you, normally a kind gesture, but said it in a distasteful way than that would affect what you believe they were trying to get across to you.  You could think they were joking with you, being rude to you, their words just came out wrong and etc.  You're confused.  The original way it should be presented is faltered.  Therefore, I believe that in whatever way an author presents their work that that is the way it should stay.  The book the author puts out into the world has a message, and that can only be delivered fully if you receive the whole package. 
       
        The experience on any sort of device cannot be the same as you would feel from a book.  A book says too much.  In no form is words on a screen the same thing as holding something you can feel.  To me, they aren't even in the same hemisphere.  There is a complete difference from the virtual world and something you have that is tangible.  Both of these things are wonderful to have, but they need to be separated.  Books need to be felt.