An Exciting Week for Literary Battles

The case of Sherman Alexie v. Amazon (and Kindle) takes another turn! Now Alexie has agreed to meet with people at Amazon "and listen to their arguments for the machines."

I hope this means that Alexie will inspire Amazon to get involved in charity work for literacy (if they're not already). And it sounds like some of the responses to Alexie's anti-Kindle stance have softened him a bit to the technology:

"I have been especially humbled by those Kindle readers who, because of various physical issues, can only read with the machines. While I still have serious qualms about the technology, I have been challenged and emotionally moved enough to take a long-requested meeting with the folks at Amazon and Kindle and listen to their arguments for the machines."

Although I'm actually a little confused by the phrase "readers who, because of various physical issues, can only read with the machines." Not quite sure what would make a Kindle a different physical experience from a book. You have to hold both and stare at both, right? Not saying that there's no difference; I'm sure there is, but I just don't know what it is.

I'm glad both Alexie and Amazon are taking this step. Maybe by coming together, they can approach the much larger issue of illiteracy and class discrepancy.