Yeah
I suck.
The
thing is, my book snobbery gets better and worse and changes all the time.
Some
of the things I think about when I buy a new book are what kind of cover it
has, who the author is, what type of pages it has, and so forth.
I
buy a lot of books that are new releases, because of this, most of them are
hardcovers. When I first fell in love with books and for a long time, I thought
I needed hardcovers. I thought hardcovers were the prestige of book owning.
After a while I didn’t think I cared about hardcovers and started buying
paperbacks. Paperbacks are easy to read, they are easy to carry around, they
are light weight. It was a no brainer. I bought paperbacks. But every few
months I change my mind. Hardcover, paperback, hardcover, paperback. And so on.
I have entire series where either the first book is a paperback and the rest
are hardcovers, or half of them are paperbacks and the rest are hardcovers. A
few months ago I was on a paperback kick. Right now I am on a hardcover kick. Part
of the reason I buy paperbacks instead of hardcovers is the price. Paperbacks
are cheaper. Everyone knows that. So when I want multiple books and only want
to spend so much money I buy paperbacks to save a little money. Now, I honestly
don’t care about the money, plus I get a lot of coupons so buying hardcovers is
fine by me. One big perk to buying hardcovers is fancy endpapers. Most books
just have solid colored endpapers. Some special books have designed endpapers.
And they are fancy and special and a great treat to book buyers. When you buy a
hardcover book you need to undress your book. And by this I mean taking the
dust jacket off and seeing if you will find a surprise. Besides the words of
the book, this may be one of the best things about hardcovers. Taking the dust
jacket off to find things like imprinted words or designs on the hardback are
great. They show that the publisher really wanted to give the reader a treat. And
I really appreciate that.
Another
thing to consider when buying books is the covers and dust jackets. Like I said
before, I buy a lot of new releases. Sometimes after the first book is released
and the publishers don’t think it’s selling well enough, they change the
covers. I have several series where the first book has one cover and the rest
of the series has different covers. I really hate it. You can’t even tell on
the shelf that they belong together. I really don’t like it when they change
the covers from hardcover to paperback. When I am in my paperback phase I want
the hardcover cover, I like the hardcover cover, but then they change the cover
and now I have to get the hardcover when I’ve waited so long for the paperback.
It’s really a never ending issue. Dust jackets are an issue as well. I love
owning hardcovers, but when it comes to reading them, I never read them with
the dust jackets on. I don’t want to hurt them in any way so I take them off
and read them naked. This usually ends with me with black fingers. Alas I’d
rather have black fingers than a ripped dust jacket.
One
of the less important things about book buying is the type of paper. Lots of
people, non-excessive readers, like deckled edges. Avid readers do not like
deckled edges. Sure they look nice, but they make reading that much more
difficult. Trying to turn the pages of a book with deckled edges wastes
precious seconds that could be used to read a few more words. This goes hand in
hand with thin pages, what we in the book world call bible pages. They are thin
and decently see through and easier to rip.
Have
you called me a snob yet?
One
of the last things I consider when buying a book, and have only recently
considered are exclusives. Book exclusives are a relatively new thing. Some of
these include designs or posters on the insides of the dust jacket. Others
include special or deleted scenes not found in other editions of the book. I
love these. I seek them out. Others include interviews and author insights.
All
of these things add up to how I am a book snob and am not about to change. I
know there are people who share my views. I’ve seen the video proof of these
people. So I don’t feel so bad. There you have it, the reasons I am a book
snob. I embrace it with open arms. I hope you do too.
