We hear so much about the death of the written word,
about how no one reads anymore and no one cares about
books. And there is, sadly, proof of that all around us—
stores closing by the week, sales decreasing, lists cut
back. It is sad enough to walk down certain streets and
no longer see the book store I used to haunt, a young
man spending money he didn't have on books he needed
to have.
And then I look around the table, at the bright and ea-
ger faces of The Red Table Book Club and see them chat-
ting with a young author who has nothing but a brilliant
future in front of her and it makes me realize that maybe
all that negative talk about the demise of the book can be
defeated. That there are many people out there who still
love a good story well told and will reach for it in any fash-
ion they can.
There was one other thing about that morning that
stayed with me. One of the members of the Red Table Club,
Matt, had told me earlier that he had signed with a literary
agency. They had agreed to take on the novel he wrote in
his free time, when he wasn't teaching or helping his wife,
HYLAND
