Comments on: A Stalker’s Notebook – Hardcover Madness

By: Val

Val — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:05:07 +0000

A bit of both really. I reread books a lot, so if an author I like publishes something new I usually go for the hardcover, simply because it will last longer (unfortunately hardcovers that will last a lifetime are rare these days). Then again, if I take a chance or something or if it is an author I merely enjoy instead of rave about I will go for the mass market paperback. Carrying books is not so much of an issue for me at the moment, I don’t spend a lot of time commuting anymore. Back in the days when I did, I used to make sure to have something easy to carry on hand to read on the train.

The only format I really can’t stand are the trade paperbacks. They seem to combine all the negative aspects of a hardcover (price, seize) and a mass market paperback (limited life expectancy) and do not offer any real benefit.

By: amberdrake

amberdrake — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:45:04 +0000

I prefer to read the paperbacks – easier to hold, easier to carry and cheaper. Purchasing I generally buy paperbacks because that is what I can afford. Recently I’ve bought a couple of hardbacks when they were discounted down to below the paperback price and they were books I plan on keeping anyway (WoT series). I would love to have my entire library as hardcover so that they will last a long time but I know that is never going to happen. For now I treat my owned paperbacks with the utmost respect to try to keep them as long as possible – especially those I reread often.

I check out a lot of books from the library and for the most part these are hardcovers. It is amazing how heavy they can be and how tired of holding them you can get.

By: PLMII

PLMII — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:30:57 +0000

I prefer hardcovers…but will not pass up a book with a softback because it will never be in hardcover.

Books are my “crack”…I am a junkie for them.

By: Jay Tomio

Jay Tomio — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:04:38 +0000

I send to be a diehard hardcover guy who hated paperbacks. I still don’t like paperbacks, but now I’m all for e-revolution.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:16:39 +0000

Paperbacks usually last 5 to 6 years before they get specks of mold and yellowy pages especially if printed on newsprint…while hardcovers last way way longer depending on the kind of paper used–Hal Duncan’s hardbound Vellum and Ink were not printed on quality paper and my copies have yellowed specks…while my hardbounds of China Mieville are still good as new (King Rat)….I used to prefer paperbacks but after hoarding more than 100 of them and with most of them getting yellowed pages after a decade or so, I’ve shifted to collecting hardbounds which last at least close to a lifetime.

By: Damon Cap

Damon Cap — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:07:17 +0000

It is like this for me. If its a book I want to keep to read after I retire or want my kids to read, the hardcover is bound to stand the test of time better. If it is a book I am currently reading I like the feel of a trade paperback or ARC, I just do not think they hold up well. It is tough though because I usually do not have to shell out the money on the hardcover, but when I was in my book buying days, if it looked good or was an author that I wanted to read right away, hardcover it was. I would never have let a Salvatore book slip to paperback before I read it. It is one of the things I do not look forward to in the e-reader revolution, the cool factor of a book. Something cool about a library in your house with stacks of hardcovers.

By: Lexie

Lexie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:07:52 +0000

I buy primarily mass market and trade size paperbacks–depending on which version is avail. I’m kind of an OCD completist so if I start a series in trade or mass market I only collect that way. If I began it in Hardcover, I’m only collecting it that way.

Exceptions are made if I find a series cheap at a thrift store or used bookstore, then I’ll pick up the books no matter the type and decide which format I like better later (I did this Jennifer Fallon’s books as well as Mercedes Lackey’s 500 Hundred Kingdoms and Anne McCaffrey’s Acorna/Tower and the Hive). For rare series, that I know I’ll re-read incessantly, I’ll collect both and keep the hardcovers pristine (Brandon Sanderson earns this right, as does Paul Park and Maria V. Snyder).