Dusty Paperbacks
The Radical Uprise 032
Full disclosure: Ye olde DJ has an article included in this
zine.
The heart & soul of Dusty Paperbacks comes right in the
middle of this quarter-sized zine: an essay by Shulie B titled The Importance of the Written Word which
delves into the author’s relationship with physical books with clarity and
succinct expression. Shulie B’s words resonate with me and articulate concepts
that I've been struggling to put down on paper for months. We touch, smell, taste,
see, feel and imagine differently with a book in our hands vs. an
electronic reader. The experience is literally more organic. A sacred path leads us from
bookshop or library back to publisher back to printer back to author and connects
us in ways that are difficult to express but that are qualitatively different
than a connection with a cold white screen. .
Shulie B’s narrative is
unfortunately the only piece that I personally connected with in this zine
(apart from my own). When it comes to the topic of love for literature and dusty books we need
dozens, hundreds of voices singing from the page. A stack of zines proclaiming
that books are not dead. Sometimes less is more but with a topic this
compelling, more is more. I wish there had been more substance in this zine.
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