I like technology. In front of me right now are an open browser window on one of my two Macs, two iPods, a 5.8 GHz cordless phone, and a coffee maker with an autostart feature. Ok, the coffee maker’s in the kitchen. But its thermal carafe keeps the idea of warm, fresh brew an ever present reality.

I also like books. And I don’t expect to see them replaced anytime soon by purely digital devices. But Kevin Kelly does. In fact, the editor-at-large for Wired Magazine, is positively frothing with excitement at the demise of the printed page in this “manifesto”, published as a cover story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. He extolls the idea that hyperlinking will tear the borders down between individual books, enabling a universal library, through which readers will be able to link instantly to every reference to madelines or white whales in human history.

What they won’t be able to enjoy is the decidedly lo-fi thrill of closing off the hyperlinked world and leaping to their own conclusions.

Salon has Laura Miller’s review of Peter Carey’s new book, Theft: A Love Story, set in the Australian art world of the 1980s.

The particular treasures offered by “Theft” are the novel’s window into the crass, Byzantine workings of the art market and Michael’s semidemonic, but palpably authentic, artistic passion. There are lots of novels that rhapsodize about great paintings, but this one makes you feel the tactile, unprettyfied glory of painting…Novelists with crushes on Vermeer might squander their precious lyricism on descriptions of pictures, but Carey knows that what drives painters mad with lust is the paint itself. When Michael gets his hands on the good stuff, the prose almost throbs.

I don’t know if I need throbbing prose, but I’ve no doubt that any book of Carey’s has wit and intelligence enough to render such palpitation unnecessary.

It’s nice to see an offbeat, well written mystery get some props:

Citizen Vince wins 2006 Edgar Award

Little, Brown won’t be republishing the recalled Opal Mehta, preferring to wipe their hands clean of Kaavya Viswanathan. Since the publisher wouldn’t comment on whether they’ll be asking for a $500,000 refund, I’m guessing they won’t. More borrowed passages (from Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella and Salman Rushdie) have emerged, and the Bergen County Record is vetting its archives to see if Viswanathan faked her articles during an internship at the paper.

The revelation of a third party, Alloy Entertainment, makes the story a little more interesting. Alloy is a book packager, which means they develop ideas, usually for the young adult market, find authors to write them, and then sell them to publishers. Think Sweet Valley High and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Alloy worked with Viswanathan on Opal Mehta to “conceptualize and plot the book,” but insist that the book was written by the young author.
Anyway, the bulk of the fallout is here:

CNN.com – Harvard author faces further allegations of borrowing – May 2, 2006