Yes, I know that it's the contents of the book which is important, but then we are talking about quirks and obsessions here, so let's not have everyone spouting this adage, eh? Also, if you prefer to read your books electronically, then please take it to another thread - I know from bitter experience where that particular discussion can go. I have a few, as you may have gathered. • I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks. As an example of just how much, I recently ordered Huxley's Brave New World (in what I thought was paperback). It arrived today... in hardback. So, I headed straight back to amazon and ordered it again in paperback. My hardback will go on the shelf or be given away • I prefer the smaller mass market size, as opposed to the larger tradeback. This used to hold me back to ridiculous lengths. In the end, it became so difficult to find new or re-releases in mass market size, that I either had to get over my obsession, or miss out on many novels I wanted to read. • I will go out of my way to avoid movie tie-in covers. I despise them with a passion and feel they cheapen what is often a classic novel. 'Now a major motion picture!' Arrrggghhh! • 'Never judge a book by its cover'. Oh yeah? I do this all the time and firmly believe that while a professionally designed cover is no guarantee of a good read, a badly designed one should always be heeded as a warning. We all have different tastes, of course, but I think anyone who has an eye for good design will know what I mean by this. • Despite liking the look and feel of a weathered, dog-eared paperback, I can never bring myself to buy them like this, i.e. used. I will weather and dog-ear them myself, thank you. I need help, don't I?
I used to work in an office near a Borders before they all closed. It had a cafe inside - Gloria Jeans or something. My favourite activity of a Friday evening was to wander down to the Borders, select 4-5 unread graphic novels, a large flat white or similar coffee, and then sit and read the graphic novel and people watch. Each GN took 30 minutes, so I could time my stay there in novels. Borders closed, but not before the cafe service changed hands and turned to shit. I think I prefer hardback to soft, but my books tend to be reference rather than entertainment.
I prefer paperbacks too if I'm buying a book. (Though I get most of my fiction from the library, and never check out paperbacks - I don't know why.) The size doesn't really matter that much, but I started reading fiction in the small size (Ian Fleming and John D. MacDonald), and that size 'feels' a little better. I'll buy used books, but not if they're in bad condition.
If it's a new book, I've got to have a book that has been well edited. If it hasn't, I might not buy it. That doesn't include contemporary novels, of course, but practically everything else.
I'm a frequenter of used book stores and thrift shops so I'm always running into books in all kinds of shape - ex-college copies with highlighting, and multi-prints. Horrors with slopey spines. I like paperback over hardcover to a point. My main pet peeve is fonts. During a recent book sale at the library I nearly picked up a huge copy of Mary Gallant short stories but could've sworn I had a copy at home. So I checked my shelves and found a little paperback copy of her short stories and thought cool, saved myself a few bucks until I opened it and found the font was microscopic. But I kept searching the shelf and came across a second copy - of much larger print. I do that a lot. Fonts, prints, and bad prints usually have me buying multiple copies of one book. I have two copies of Pale Fire because one, in some irony to the title, was badly printed - every other page is blurred and faded.
Good many pointers. A good one is the price - quality and length of the introduction, quality of the notes (I'm thinking of classic novels here, like those put out by Oxford World Classics, or Penguin Classics). Also, the physical appearance of the text is a good indicator, is the text a good size to read, and does it settle well with the colour of the paper. Vintage are often quite good as well. If you are looking for something that will last a very long time, in hardback too the price is perhaps the best indicator. Something like Library of America, Leob, or a university presses like Cambridge produce very fine, superbly edited books with authoritative texts of authors from the annuls of literature. They are expensive for a reason. With some books, especially modern, contemporary novels, you can't tell unless you know and trust the publisher.
If a book is in a series, I read the recently released book. I'm smart enough to be able to piece together the basics within the first few pages. I like to read only books released around the current year. Very rarely do I read books that were published decades ago. I like hardback books better than paperbacks.
Agree! I like all books by the same author to have the same cover style (eg same fonts, same style illustration etc). If I can't get hold of an edition with the same style as my other books by that author, I won't buy it. It upsets my sense of orderly-ness.
So do I. Hardcovers are just unnecessary material. Paperbacks are lighter and easier to hold. I guess my main quirk/obsession is that I go to any lengths to avoid paying to read a book.
I prefer Paperbacks. And I prefer the smaller books (not sure what they're called) instead of having large ones, easier to store for when I am ready to read (since I usually do my reading whenever I need to walk somewhere or on breaks from work (when I used to work), etc. I don't like dog earring at all, I have to always use something for a book mark and I usually draw on that makeshift book mark in a way to tell myself where I left off (A few lines across it or an arrow that I can point towards the line). Other than that I can't think of anything. Oh yeah. I have to buy the whole series if I am going to get the first book. I realized that once I bought Stacey Marie Brown's 'Darkness of Light' and shortly after getting it I bought the other 3 books to complete the series.
I seem to get really depressed if I come across an old folded page corner, I have always read no fewer than 7 at once so this happens a lot as there's only so many bookmarks that can do the job of page bearing. I find hardbacks like tombstones, sure they're much more durable and seem to have a domineering snarl to them but I don't trust them as much as the paperbacks. Can't really explain it except relegated to those child-like sentiments lol. I don't dig ebooks at all but it's wonderful we can save space and even dough... I need the physical to feel a real vibrant circuit of completeness with a piece of work though, be it music, film or literature, there's plenty of positives in the storage and transfer of a tale through the digital weather though so I grudgingly accept it.
I prefer hardback to soft. If the bookstore only has soft, I will wait to buy it until I can find the hardcover. I can only buy books in the bookstore, not online. I have to feel them and smell them before I buy them. lol Because of this, I refuse to even give ebooks a chance. I also avoid movie covers. In my house, I arrange my books in a very particular way. lol My favorite books are on the most eye-level shelf. The books I like least go to the bottom. And all series have to be arranged by author. My husband just throws his books on the shelf and doesn't care wher they end up. lol Drives me crazy. I never, never lend my books. They are my babies. If there was a fire, I'd save every book on my favorites shelf. I also don't borrow books. I own them. If you have a suggestion, great! But I'll buy my own. Eventually, when I have more shelves, I'm going to make a special place for Rick Riordan.. Which means I need to buy the new Percy Jackson covers to complete my collection.
Me too! I went on Facebook once and griped about how I've been spending a lot of money on bad books. And so many people told me to go to the library.. They just.... No... You don't understand. lol I don't wanna read someone else's book. I wanna read my book.
a kindred spirit. I was once in a charity shop (not sure what they're called in the US... thrift store, is it?) and saw something that angered me so greatly, I wanted to moan about it to the woman behind the counter. On each of the books was a sticker with the slogan: 'Read it and bring it back." So, you want me to pay for this book, then bring it back and give it to you for nothing? Feck off!!
I thought of another one that my husband pointed out to me today... I always take book jackets off of hardcovers, unless the jacket is super pretty. lol The actual cover is normally so much prettier to me than the jacket.
Oh hell yes. Pretty and textured. And doesn't rip as you throw it into various bags and suitcases on travels that require reading material to while away the hours.
I always do this with hardbacks too. I just hate seeing a tattered paper cover, especially when the hardback itself is rather ugly.
I have none, which, amongst avid readers and lovers of books, seems to be a quirk in and of itself. I was happy to go digital when that came about. I don't care about hard covers. If it's not a book that I have collected as a vintage item, for reasons of the artwork, then I am a bastard as regards care of a book. I dog-ear pages, I crease spines. Whatevz...
