Book Sketch: Nicholson Baker reads “Papyrus,” by Irene Vallejo

Irene Vallejo’s Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, translated from Spanish by Charlotte Whittle, was published in the United States this past October. In Spain, where it was entitled El Infinito en un Junco (“Infinity in a Reed”) it won the National Essay Prize and was a bestseller for more than a year. Mario Vargas Llosa liked the bo…