When I activate (read) a book laying loose in the game, the menu at the bottom of the screen says to press "E" to take the book.

I have literally pressed every single key on my keyboard except the F1 through F12 keys.
I cant pick up any books...

Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong?

Ok, my bad.
I just noticed there is an "unofficial bug" thread.

I just spent the last hour or so reading it. Wow....

I've only gotten about 2 hours of play time logged, and already I'm hitting quest breaking bugs.
(I can't pick up "King Olaf's Verse" in the Tending The Flames Quest...)

So, basically, the game is broken?
Well, they did make their release date... but the game probably won't be functional until mid February or so?

Some issues have been reported when people have remapped their keys. Have you tried going into the settings menu and hitting "Default" (even if you haven't remapped) then saving and trying to press "E" to pick up books and other objects again?

Try asking your Companion to pick up the book for you, then take it from their inventory.

I don't use companions, so I had to reset my keyboard layout.

Aggravating, but at least I can finish the quest.