What a difference a year makes. This time last year, the Canadian dollar was heading toward parity with the U.S. dollar, ultimately hitting $1.10 US in January 2008.

Prices became a lightning rod for book buyers and even federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty demanded prices be reduced to reflect the dollar. Now the Canadian dollar has fallen significantly, but I'm dead certain that nobody will offer to pay more than the list price to reflect the dollar's trend.

More important is the fact that new books will be a substantial bargain this fall because their sticker prices were set months ago.

Neal Stephenson's new novel Anathem, for example is $29.95 US, and $31.95 Canadian. But at today's currency rate, it should be $39.95 Canadian. That's an $8 saving.

Due to their inherent value compared to other gift merchandise, books have traditionally weathered economic downturns. This perception should be enhanced by the dollar's current decline, at least until next year when publishers will re-price their imports (assuming our dollar doesn't rebound back to parity range).

Last week, Oprah came out in favour of an electronic book reader called the Kindle, available only from Amazon and currently only for sale in the U.S. As an aging booklover, I've been reluctant to wade into the discussion of the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Both are the size of a paperback book and store upwards of 200 books, with a battery life of about a week.

They retail for $359US and $299 Canadian respectively. Both let you change the size of type, "turn pages," select chapters and bookmark where you left off. Books can be downloaded from the internet.

Is the future of the printed book threatened by these devices in the same way that the iPod and online music decimated the record/CD business?

Despite Oprah's endorsement, I think the price point and limited range of titles available (mostly public domain classics and recent titles from big U.S. publishers) will keep book retailers in business for awhile yet. I can see these devices replacing travel guides and being used by those addicted to romance novels and other genre fiction.

However, once a standard file format emerges, like MP3 has done for music, the bets are off.

I'm dismayed that books will be reduced to the "ether" zone of insubstantiality. I still have LP records and love their large-format sleeves. Their artwork and information does not scale down without losing clarity on a CD jewel-case -- and is lost almost entirely when it becomes a MP3 file.

Likewise, I have walls full of books, many with large photographs and drawings, that will not scale down to a small screen without losing graphic impact.

I love the look, feel and smell of books and resent reading anything lengthy on a monitor. I revel in a well-chosen font, carefully presented on a page. To me, the book remains a portable tool, perfect for carrying information and stories. Electronic readers strike me as a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Chuck Erion is a co-owner of Words Worth Books in Waterloo.