While a fascinating and inspiring insight into the thoughts and habits of the writers, I must confess to one disappointment. What the hell is Robert Caro doing away from his desk, and not continuing his writing the fourth volume of his "Years of Lyndon Johnson"! While I wait patiently, I don't want to see Mr Caro away from his desk in future until I have Volume Four in my hands.
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ORLEAN: Placed precisely for your -enjoyment.
ANDERSEN: Well, no doubt. I thought of the horse-and-car thing, I think it's a slower thing. I think it's actually sailing ships to steam. Once steamships existed, it took a century for sails to get cleared out. And what did sailboats become in the last 50, 80, 100 years? Quaint, beautiful artifacts that the rich can still indulge in.
ORLEAN: I'm much more willing to buy a novel electronically by someone I don't know. Because if halfway through I think, I don't really like this, I can just stop. I can't throw books out, even if I think they're crummy. I feel like I've got to give it to the library, I've got to loan it to somebody, or I keep it on my shelf. It's like a plant.
BLOCK: I can throw them out. [Laughter] Sometimes with great enthusiasm.
So who here reads E-books?
ORLEAN: I just finished reading Madame Bovary on my iPhone, for what it's worth.
That's a good first line for a story.
STROUT: So what was it like to read on your iPhone?
Did you curl up with it?
STROUT: Did you notice she killed herself and all that kind of stuff? [Laughter]
ORLEAN: The book is the book, and the story is the story. But it has certain advantages. You can make the font bigger. You can turn it sideways if you want to read it like that. It was actually probably better than reading it in a cheap paperback.
STROUT: Right, because you would have had to have a light..
ORLEAN: And you'd have crummy paper.
BLOCK: And this is Flaubert, who famously said I spent the morning putting in a comma and the afternoon taking it out. [Laughter]
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