Booking Through Thursday: Format

Being a bit of a technophobe, I can't manage to subscribe to Booking Through Thursday, and so I don't know without actually going to the homepage whether a new question has been posted -- so here I am thinking that there hasn't been a question since December or thereabouts, and there have been five.  So I inadvertently answered one yesterday, and here is the most recent one.

All other things (like weight, cost, and so on) being equal, what’s your favorite format for a book? Hardcover? Paperback? Old? New? First edition? Digital? Audio?

I see the appeal of each of these, to be sure.  For reasons of space, I am amassing a stash of classics on my Kindle (Austen, Dickens, Trollope, etc., as well as more modern things like the Cadfael and Miss Read series as they appear), and I really love some of my audio books (the Wendy Hiller version of All Passion Spent I mentioned yesterday, for one, the Irene Sutcliffe Pride and Prejudice for another).

First editions? not really, the exception being that I am slowly collecting D.E. Stevensons, many of which are first UK editions because for the most part those are more complete and more authentic -- for some reason, her US publishers regularly lopped off whole chapters, and of course (why??) Americanized spelling and certain words us Yanks would doubtless be completely mystified by, such as "neighbour" and "lorry".  (Grrr.)  But for the most part, what is inside the book matters to me more than the imprint.

There is much beauty to be found in an old book, either the sort of universally-acknowledged beauty of morocco and gilt or simply that velvety softness that the edges of the pages get in books of a certain age.  And new books certainly have their beauties, either in some really well-done design or simply in the thought that a new world awaits just inside.

But I find that this question is really difficult to answer!  All kinds of books have their unique appeal, and for both practical and aesthetic reasons -- but I suppose if I had my druthers, I would choose hardcover more often than not, though I suppose that the appeal is as much emotional as it is intellectual!  I like the heft of them, the substantiality, the sense of permanence.

Comments

[Mary Lou]

I agree on a place for every format. I got rid of boxes and boxes of books a couple of years ago, but kept those with sentimental vlaue, or that i knew I'd be unlikely to find elsewhere. The ease of the Kindle/iphone combo has me reading more, since I can pull out my phone and pick up where I left off while waiting in line etc. My library has lots of ebooks.

Reading an old Ann Patchett right now, The Magician's Assistant. Next in line is The Last September, Elizabeth Bowen.

[Jeanne]

Mary Lou, I don’t like reading on an e-reader as much as I like paper – the screen is harder on my eyes no matter the setting, and I seem to have regular issues with malfunctions from it “turning” more than one page at a time to not uploading things correctly, aside from just the inability to flip through paper pages easily – but I do really appreciate that all of those classics I’ve kept throughout the years even though they are brittle and yellow, I can now store on my Kindle, even potentially hundreds of them!

[Toffeeapple]

I finished reading Westwood (that exact edition) a few weeks ago but I still haven't formed a coherent feeling about it yet. I will need to re-read at least part of it.

I am now having difficulty in supporting quite a lot of my books so have become resigned to my Kindle (Mark 4) although still not totally enamoured. The classics are usually very reasonably priced though so that is a plus.

I recently read a Penguin book and the typeface was so small that I had to concentrate very hard on it and when I was watching Dickie's television that evening, everything was blurred. So I won't be doing that again.

[Toffeeapple]

I meant to ask you - are you aware of the true pronunciation of Cadfael? My language and, therefore that of Cadfael is Welsh and is peculiarly phonetic. We do not have j k v in the alphabet; Cadfael would be pronounced as Cad-vile.

Incidentally, you mentioned druthers in a recent post - I had to look it up since I had never heard of it before. I do, so, love to learn and this blog is a place where I seem to do a lot of it. Thank you!