Hardback or Paperback?

**Monty Mike** · January 4th, 2005, 07:20 AM

I always go for Paperbacks, as I find hardbacks just take up too much space (they also cost twice the price). On the other hand, I do know that some people will only buy hardback copies. I was just hoping to find the general trend.

monty

**Glelas** · January 4th, 2005, 07:29 AM

Mostly paperbacks. I can't stand the jackets/covers on hardcovers. If I keep them on they get in the way, fall off etc. If I take them off they get ripped or squashed from laying around on a shelf or something. The only times I will buy a hardback is if I can't wait for the paperback (A Feast for Crows will be a hardback) or one of my favorite authors starts a brand new series and I want to keep it uniform (Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle).

**Monty Mike** · January 4th, 2005, 07:35 AM

That's another point, if I buy the first book in a series as a Hardback I will try to buy them all in Hardback. I find it looks... odd having some in paperback and some hardback.

**Eldanuumea** · January 4th, 2005, 12:51 PM

I simply can't afford the hardbacks, most of the time. My book club editions cost less, and I do have lots of those.
Every once in a blue moon I'll break loose with some cash and get a brand new hardback.......did that with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, Kushiel's Avatar, God's Concubine, and Fool's Fate.

**Avi_stetto** · January 5th, 2005, 11:54 AM

It depends on how much I like the author, and the price. For example, I bought Shadowmarch Volume I in hardback because I wanted to have a nice copy in a quality binding. However, that option is not always available - I would kill to have the Book of the New Sun in hardback, but they only sell that in trade paperback.

I've worked for several years in libraries, so I don't actually buy a lot of books; I just read what's in our collection for free. Also, if a book is being discarded, or was donated to the library, the employees have first pick of what they would like to take home. I have a lot of books that I got this way.

An option that I have considered is having my paperbacks that I really like sent to the bookbinder that the library works with. They offer us a discount for that, too.

**MrBF1V3** · January 5th, 2005, 05:54 PM

Paperback. Always.

Unless its on sale at the second hand store, or it's from a book club, like the books from the Astronomy Book Club, or it's something someone else bought for me, or it's a book I know is that good.

B5

**Mugwump** · January 5th, 2005, 05:57 PM

Whilst I recognise the robustness and collector's value of the hardback, I must admit to a sneaking preference for the oft-derided paper-bordered cousin.

Hardbacks are prohibitively expensive, so heavy they make my arms ache, and too damned difficult to hide down the back of one's trousers when one is seeking a ten-minute escape to the toilet during a skull-numbingly boring period at work.

What say thee?

**Monty Mike** · January 5th, 2005, 06:00 PM

thanks for your input, guys

**emohawk** · January 5th, 2005, 09:18 PM

I'm definately in the paperback camp. I'm a bit of a book devourer (though not nearly as productive as I used to be) so buying hardcovers is far too expensive. Also I mostly read on the train to and from work, so carrying around a big heavy book really isn't practical. While I'm very tempted to get some new titles in hardcover, or even big format trade paperback because I'm keen to read them, I try to stop myself because I think I could buy and fit 2 or 3 paperback books on my shelves if I just wait 6 months or so. The other benefit of waiting till paperback is that usually a lot of reviews and recommendations have been done so I can be more discerning in what I spend my hard earned money on.

**ArthurFrayn** · January 6th, 2005, 12:22 AM

Hard covers just make your bookcase fall apart if you have more than 10 million.
Paperbacks you can have 40 million.Your poundage drops considerably.

You can't read hardcovers lying down - the frontpoints of the covers stick into your stomach.
As mentioned above, you can't easily read hardcovers on a crowded train because you need both hands to read them, and they take up too much room in your napsack when you need the space for work related materials.
In short, they are a total drag.
I like the covers on paperbacks better as well.

**Erfael** · January 6th, 2005, 09:27 AM

I usually only get HBs on things that I really like. I treat all my books very well and feel that the HBs will hold up over time at least a little better than the PBs. As far as cost goes, when I do get HBs, it's usually secondhand in good condition for about as much as I would get a new or used paperback, so $4-$7. So not so cost-prohibitive there. I grant you they're not as convenient to read, but I work from home and so no train rides. Also, I have a nice, comfy chair that I can read in. But it's usually a fair-sized quest to find the HBs at that price, so I only get the stuff that I really, really like in that format.

**KatG** · January 6th, 2005, 11:43 AM

I have a set of paperbacks that are about 60 years old, so I can't say that hardcovers hold up better, but I have noticed that the quality of the paper in hardcovers is usually better and yellows and deteriorates less quickly, at least if we're not talking about ancient hardcovers. The covers, being hard board, are more resilient and can be more easily repaired, though when the binding goes, it tends to go altogether (but can also be repaired.) So I buy both and certainly you can store more paperbacks more easily, but for things I hope to preserve, I'd rather have them in hardcover, to be on the safe side. Up until relatively recently, there wasn't much of an option for sf/f -- it was paperback or nothing. But now, they often have the hardcover edition and if you wait patiently, there are ways of getting it at a decent price. Or, if you get a gift card and get to splurge. The price of paperbacks seems to be rising rapidly, making the difference between the editions not quite as stark as it used to be.

**MrBF1V3** · January 6th, 2005, 03:33 PM

??? Didn't I just read this thread somewhere else, with different people in it???

B5

**fortytwo** · January 6th, 2005, 03:35 PM

You can definitely put me in the paperback camp, I'll buy a hardback only as a last resort.
Apart from the cost, like others I have real difficulty in supporting the weight of a hardback. My wrists have lost their strength from those heady days as a youngster when I used to cut and pull those cricket balls all over the ground ( I wish).
I'm not at all interested in books as a monetary asset, I only care about the story being told. Anyway, these days I look out for some of the older books in secondhand shops which are invariably paperbacks. I can afford more, I can hold them easier, there are some pretty good old stories I haven't read so I'm a winner all round.