Americans and their books

"If Amazon is not stopped, we are facing the end of literary culture in America," prophesized Andrew Wylie, an influential literary agent in New York. To what extent is literary culture flourishing in the US? And what are Americans reading? What follows are impressions of Americans' relationship with books, from the Big Apple to the deep South.

A section of Broadway, the long boulevard that stretches from uptown to downtown in Manhattan, used to be known as Book Row. For decades, the area south of Union Square was full of bookstores, stretching for seven blocks. In the 1960s things started to change. Strand Bookstore, originally founded in 1927, is the only remnant of Book Row.

These days, the legendary Strand Bookstore on Broadway makes millions selling used books, writing a unique success story of its own amidst countless other indie book shops that have been squeezed out by online retailers. Strand Bookstore keeps some 2.5 million books, covering nearly 20 kilometers of shelves.

These three readers are sitting on the steps of the public library on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. They could be skimming anything from their Facebook feed to Goethe. The number of non-readers is growing in the US; every fourth American says they never read. The other three say they read an average of five books a year, whether digitally or on paper.

Books of photographs serve a niche market. The small publisher Waltz Books in Indianapolis selects only a handful of titles every year, including the portraits of photo artist Kelly Anderson-Staley (pictured). She specializes in using a complicated tintype process and very slow shutter speed. Only true insiders show up for the autograph session in New York's International Center of Photography.

The Library of Congress in Washington, DC is the largest in the world and the oldest in the United States. Every day, 12,000 new items are added to the collection, which has been growing since 1800. The library originated out of the private collection of President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). However, it's usually researchers rather than politicians who make use of its treasures.

It took a round-about route from a Black Forest convent to Austria and then to Washington, DC. The Library of Congress contains a rare, 42-line Gutenberg Bible on vellum parchment, one of only five remaining intact copies in existence. It's quite possibly the most valuable book in the world and was purchased by the library some 80 years ago.

Olivia Jablonski works at Kramer Books at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. Her favorite book at the moment is the science fiction thriller "The Martian" by Andy Weir. It's about a stranded astronaut who has to find his way around Mars all by himself. Weir couldn't find a publisher for the book, so he self-published it - and it became a bestseller. Ridley Scott is now turning the story into a film.

Here's a view through the window of one of Barnes & Noble's 658 shops. It is the last book chain on the market and is struggling to defend its remaining share of the market. Despite heavy investment in its e-readers and e-books, Barnes & Noble's is losing business to online retailers.

Master's student Cami Alese only reads paper books for class. "Then I can write in them, make notes, and put sticky-notes inside," she said. Otherwise, the theology student prefers to read on her laptop or tablet, like most of the other students at Divinity College, part of Duke University in North Carolina.

"Forty-five percent of the money that customers spend with us stays in the region. With Amazon, it's zero percent." John, Wander, Tom and Laurin from The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina are used to hardship. In the past, people in the region, historically known for tobacco, weren't interested in reading. Now the problem is Amazon, which controls 40 percent of the US book market.

If there's a secret to success for small bookstores in the US then the Battery Park Book Exchange in Asheville, North Carolina is doing everything right. It's located in an area where education levels are high. It focuses on inexpensive, used books. And it also serves coffee, snacks and wine. The bookstore is open late, even on the weekends, and has become a place to relax with friends.

Sara, Jessica and the blue bike. The bookstore on King Street in Charleston, North Carolina has its own mascot. Those looking for antique books in the coastal metropolis will find a huge selection at Blue Bicycle. When it comes to more recent fare, staff members Sara and Jessica both love the bestsellers by Pat Conroy, also a native of the South.