The necessity of writing, and of doing it this way, here. Just as fan-fiction must inhabit the network because it is verboten, not doable, not writable elsewhere, it is at the same time the necessary form of expression online. But all online writing is fan-fiction, replicating not the characters but the concepts of the meme-space, the context. All writing has always been fan-fiction, merely awaiting the network to reveal its true form. We declared the death of the author prematurely. Barthes was a futurist, like BS Johnson. Technology is our modernity.

At any rate, when I feel bad, all I want to do is read. Not review. Not return comments. Not visit other blogs. And especially not return emails. My clogged inbox was giving me stress, so I created some folders. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Well, today I had "answer review request emails" on my to-do list. I was feeling better and decided to tackle my inbox. I opened the appropriate folder and saw that I have 32 review request emails to answer! I have never been this behind before.

But that upswing in reading-through-technology is also taking place as parents are worried that students aren't doing enough reading for fun. Just 47 percent of parents said they were satisfied with the amount of time their children spent reading for fun, down from 58 percent two years ago. And when children read for pleasure, they usually aren't doing it with e-books. Eighty percent of children surveyed said they rely on print books for fun reading, as opposed to just 20 percent who either read through e-books or a combination of e-books and print.

I can't explain the need to always find more books to read although I think sometimes I appreciate Library books for the deadline and structure they give me. When I bring home books, I can add them to my list of books to be read, but if I don't get to them for awhile, it's no big deal, cause they'll still be there. Oh, but library books require you read them within a certain time period or you will be charged money! So until all my library books are turned in, I put other books aside(usually) and JUST read those. About the only times in my life I actually follow a set order!

Literature always adapts to the most easy to understand state, and that state, now, is far more complex than our literature have addressed, or our mental models, our metaphors, have prepared us to be. They can't help it, but it doesn't mean the mystical silence is hand-waving: it is a necessary condition of the present.