Kathleen Jones on P.D. James and the Museum of Forgotten Books
P.D. James was born in 1920 and began reading and writing before the computer was even a spark in the synapses of its inventor. But, approaching 90, she embraced (with a small sigh) the arrival of the E-book with the acknowledgement that it's the content that's important. “For those of us who love books – the smell of the paper, the design, the print and the type, the feel of the book as we take it down from the shelf – reading by machine seems an odd preference. But if we accept that what is important is the text, not the means by which it comes to the reader’s eyes and brain, it is easier to understand the popularity of this new resource.” I fell in love with books almost before I could walk and would take books off my parents’ shelves and pretend to read them. Aged two I was caught sneaking a dictionary out into the garden. But most of all I loved books as sources of delight and still do. The cover opens magically like a door and immediately ...