I already wrote it in the other thread but really I can't let that slip through.
Items selection isn't a basic problem, old games letting you search any pixel with your cursor was badly designed games not offering much more, typical adventure games with non logic puzzles where you hadn't much more to do than an intensive cursor seeking.
There's good selectable items seeking but this requires a solid design, otherwise it ends quickly in a tedious cursor seeking. A last minute change like that can only be a fake option. It's more to calm down fans but it won't result in good gameplay.
EDIT: In reality it's not really a problem because only see an item let you know most often what you can do with it. A book, a yeah I can open and read, a glass, ah yeah i can take it and fill it with water, and so on. Alas no game offer such an easy identification of selectable elements. That's why the game needs a solid design to identify it. For example selectable books should have some visual singularity allowing the player identify those non selectable after some experience in the game.
EDIT2: What's fun in searching is only the observation game, not at all the painful cursor seeking. Observation is a complicate task involving identifying, analyzing, cross information, identification of patterns, identification of anomalies, and much more. But this means a lot of care in design.