Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays: Codex

Since I'm still reading the same books I was reading last Tuesday, for today's teaser I'm using lines from a book I read several years ago. I've been looking back through some of my reading journals and this is one passage that jumped out at me. It's a little longer than two lines, but it seems so relevant to the current debate about paper vs. electronic books, I thought I'd include the whole thing (sorry - I'll make up for it next week). In Lev Grossman's novel Codex from 2004, Edward Wozny, a young banker, is asked to help one of his firm's most important clients organize a library of rare books. In this bit, Edward has just encountered the library for the first time:
He was treating these books like they were holy relics...there was something magnetic about them, something that compelled respect, even the silly ones, like the Enlightenment treatise about how lightning was caused by bees. They were information, data, but not in the form he was used to dealing with it. They were non-digital, nonelectrical chunks of memory, not stamped out of silicon but laboriously crafted out of wood pulp and ink, leather and glue. Somebody had cared enough to write these things; somebody else had cared enough to buy them, possibly even read them, at the very least keep them safe for 150 years, sometimes longer, when they could have vanished at the touch of a spark. That made them worth something, didn't it, just by itself? [Chapter 4, p. 57]
Well, I'd certainly go along with those sentiments. But then, I have the soul of a librarian.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in a comment here.

19 comments:

  1. I haven't known about this particular book but I am adding this now in my wishlist. You got me there with the teasers. Thanks. :)

    Sharing you with my teasers.

    Happy Tuesday!

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  2. I haven't heard of this one, but it sounds good.

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  3. Sounds like a good futuristic noel. Nice tease. Here's mine.

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  4. I haven't heard of this book either. It sounds like an interesting read.

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  5. Sounds like a great read :) You can find my FEVERED teaser at The Bookish Snob

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  6. You're right...it does offer food for thought about books, their creation, and the legacy they leave.

    Here's my TT:

    http://rainysnowday.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/teaser-tuesdays-jan-11/

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  7. here's mine http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaser-tuesday-high-spirits-tale-of.html

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  8. Not really my thing.

    http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaser-tuesday_10.html

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  9. Sounds interesting. Thanks for visiting me today.

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  10. Books are a wonderful artform...if western ciivilization loses them in its zeal for electronic convenience, it will have shot itself in the foot.

    A civilization without books is nary a civilization at all! ;-)

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  11. I agree with the teaser too, books should be treated with care.

    My Teaser Tuesday

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  12. Happy Teaser Tuesday!
    My teaser is here
    Please check out and comment on my interview with a wonderful nonprofit 'Mom to Madre' that helps spread literacy to families and helps mothers adjust to differences in their lives when going from one language to another! Thank you!

    Sincerely,
    Emma Michaels
    http://EmmaMichaels.Blogspot.com

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  13. words are my life, and books salvation to creativity... ahhhh hoping to come back as a book in my next life ;)

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  14. Love that quote! I am not a librarian...but I, too, have the soul of one. I keep telling my friends, "There is nothing like holding a real book in your hands." Particularly an old one....

    Here's my TT: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaser-tuesdays_11.html

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  15. Great teaser! I hadn't heard of this one before, but it sounds really interesting.

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  16. What a great teaser.

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  17. Sounds like a great book! I'll have to add that one to my TBR.
    And somehow, I just knew that SmellinCoffee had posted a comment on this blog. ;)

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