When is a book old?
I was in our local used book store yesterday. (There were about four copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows there, which the owner said she got within a day or two of the book coming out.)
Anyway, I went shopping for something to read (duh), and was going through the sci-fi and fiction sections. When I saw something that looked interesting, I found myself checking the copyright date. See, I have these rules about what I’m willing to read.
There’s a period between when a book is “current” and when it’s “period,” and I just can’t read anything in that time frame. Let me explain.
I can read a book that takes place in the ’60s or ’70s or ’80s no problem. But then it gets iffy. For example, a book written about the present-day that was penned before 9/11 will certainly be outdated. Ditto for one written before the Web. I remember thinking about The Pelican Brief, “Why doesn’t she just post the stuff online?”
Right now I’m reading Darwin’s Blade by Dan Simmons, a writer I usually like a lot. It was written in 2002 or 2003, I believe. And there are some things that make it so obviously dated. For example, the protagonist (Darwin Minor is his name) uses his laptop, and a big deal is made of the fact that he connects his cell phone as a modem — he’s supposed to have all sorts of high-end equipment. But in the age of Wi-Fi, it’s kinda silly.
A big deal is also made of his cell phone. Simmons refers to it as a Flip-Phone (with caps), as if a flip-open cell phone is a big deal. (And remember, this was written published only a few years ago.)
With some books — Harry Potter, for example — publication date doesn’t matter, although I wondered more than once why there wasn’t Web access at Hogwarts. But with thrillers and modern-day drama, anything more than about a year old seems clearly dated. The Web, the post-9/11 security nonsense, Caller ID, iPods, Wi-Fi — all those things are such a ubiquitous part of life now that it’s hard to read something that’s missing them… at least until it becomes a classic.
Jason says:
I understand what you mean. About 10 years ago I read a book published in the late 80’s; the novel took place in the 24th or 25th century and the protagonist was using a laptop with a highly advanced modem, which the author specified connected at the amazing speed of 14.4kbps…