David Ulin, from the Los Angeles Times, speaks of our changing relationship with the written word:

What has changed is our sense of text as fixed, not fluid, as something solid to which we can return again and again. That’s the influence of the Web, of course, where story has no end and no beginning, and readers are not passive but play a determining role. This is scary to a certain way of thinking, but I want to look in the opposite direction, to suggest that what is more compelling is how this opens up the possibilities.

This essay is a wonderful way to wrap up 2009, book-wise. I take particular comfort in Ulin’s conclusion about books: that despite the technological chaos of the last decade, reading – for better of worse – is here to stay. (via)