Primetime UK: A New Love Affair With the Book

Think the book as physical object is on its way out? Think again.

A bouquet of popular British television shows hold out a ray of hope for all of us who love our books to distraction. The Guardian books blog looks at the current crop of shows with either a focus on books or a strong book component:

What's been particularly interesting is how convincingly most of these shows have conveyed the thrills of the book as a physical object. The Beauty of Books has concentrated on those aspects of books which can't be replicated on ereaders. The camera lingered lovingly on rows of leather-bound gold-embossed volumes, while Richard Dormer waxed lyrical about the feel of the paper, the quality of the stitching and illustrations such as John Tenniel's surreal contributions to the original Alice in Wonderland or Penguin art director David Pelham's iconic cover design for A Clockwork Orange. In The Book Show and My Life In Books guests have responded to invitations to smell the artefacts with a swoon, as if they've been momentarily transplanted into Gatsby's own luscious rose garden.

The full piece is here.