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This Week's Question
When reading a mass market paperback,
many people fold the
front cover back, as if they
were reading a magazine. How do
you feel about this
common bookish habit?
(Submitted by Maria @
My Answer
I have very strong feelings about this. I just can't do that to a book! I don't care that mass market paperbacks are cheaper than trade paperbacks and hardcovers. They're books, and therefore, sacred.
A mass market paperback is obviously not a magazine, so I don't know why people fold the front cover back, as if it were, in fact, a magazine, instead of a book. I don't think that doing this makes these books easier to read, either.
I know that not all readers feel the way I do about this issue. Some readers are bookworms only, while others are bibliophiles as well as bookworms. There's a difference. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, a bookworm is "A person unusually devoted to reading and study." (Check out the link HERE.) A bibliophile, according to the same dictionary, is "A lover of books, especially for qualities of format; also: a book collector." (Check out the link HERE.)
What this means to me is the following: some people read for information and content alone, and really don't have a special regard for, or attachment to, books as objects in themselves. Thus, they will borrow books from libraries, then happily return them, swap books with their friends, lend books to them as well, fold back paperback covers and corners of pages, and read ebooks. Other readers, however, actually revere printed books as objects in themselves, in addition to the information contained within their covers. This is the group I'm in. I definitely revere books! Lol. I can't borrow books from libraries because, if I fall in love with them, they HAVE to be MINE. And I don't lend books to anyone, because others might not treat books with the care and respect that I do. Nor do I enjoy reading ebooks, although at times I have to, because I'm running low on money.....
Furthermore, once I've fallen in love with a book I've bought for myself, I keep it. That book has become part of my soul, and I am unable to part with it. If I absolutely can't stand a book I've purchased, then I have no trouble at all getting rid of it! I usually donate such books to Goodwill.
Of course I'm a book collector -- an addicted one, in fact. Lol. No, I don't go to book auctions and spend thousands of dollars on priceless, rare editions. I just collect regularly-priced, new books, as well as cheaper, used books in "like new" or "very good" condition.
Based on all of the above, I am definitely a bibliophile as well as a bookworm. So I am very, very careful with my books. I treat them with LOTS of tender, loving care!
What are the effects of folding back the front cover of these books? Well, this creates very ugly creases in the book's spine. Sometimes the creases are so deep, that the book will automatically open to certain pages, and then there's the danger that some of the pages will come unglued from the spine. See the photos below. They're both of the same book, from different angles.
Another very unsightly effect of folding back the front cover is that the book will then be tilted. Yes, that's right -- tilted. When you put a book that has been treated this way on top of a table, it won't sit straight on the surface. It will be tilted. This drives me NUTS!! See the photos below. UGH, UGH, UGH!!! (They show the same book, again from different angles.)
I do not like for my books to look as if they've been abused, and that's exactly how books with folded-back front covers look to me -- abused. My books -- including my mass market paperbacks -- still look new after I have finished reading them, precisely because I NEVER fold back the front cover.
Furthermore, if I order a used mass market paperback from either Amazon or eBay, and I see, when I open the package, that the entire book is tilted, and the spine has creases on it, I will immediately contact the seller for a refund. If I'm in a secondhand bookstore, or at Goodwill, and see a book in this condition, I will not buy it, no matter how cheap it is.
The above pics are of a book I recently bought on eBay, and got a refund for. The seller said I didn't need to return it, so I'm donating it to Goodwill soon. Then I will buy another copy of the very same book, one that is NOT tilted, and has NO spine creases. Lol.
I'm also including pics of a mass market paperback from my personal library, which I read some time ago. The book's title is Blood Rights, and you can find my review of it HERE. (This is proof that I have, indeed, read it, lol.) I've owned if for five years, as you will see from one of the photos below. This book not only looks brand new, but I have even laminated it. I do this with books I especially love, whether they're trade paperbacks, hardcovers (I laminate the dust jacket), or mass market paperbacks. See the pics below. (The surface you see in all of the pictures in this post is the top of the lap desk I use with my laptop.)
The two photos below show that the spine is neither creased nor tilted.
A mass market paperback is obviously not a magazine, so I don't know why people fold the front cover back, as if it were, in fact, a magazine, instead of a book. I don't think that doing this makes these books easier to read, either.
I know that not all readers feel the way I do about this issue. Some readers are bookworms only, while others are bibliophiles as well as bookworms. There's a difference. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, a bookworm is "A person unusually devoted to reading and study." (Check out the link HERE.) A bibliophile, according to the same dictionary, is "A lover of books, especially for qualities of format; also: a book collector." (Check out the link HERE.)
What this means to me is the following: some people read for information and content alone, and really don't have a special regard for, or attachment to, books as objects in themselves. Thus, they will borrow books from libraries, then happily return them, swap books with their friends, lend books to them as well, fold back paperback covers and corners of pages, and read ebooks. Other readers, however, actually revere printed books as objects in themselves, in addition to the information contained within their covers. This is the group I'm in. I definitely revere books! Lol. I can't borrow books from libraries because, if I fall in love with them, they HAVE to be MINE. And I don't lend books to anyone, because others might not treat books with the care and respect that I do. Nor do I enjoy reading ebooks, although at times I have to, because I'm running low on money.....
Furthermore, once I've fallen in love with a book I've bought for myself, I keep it. That book has become part of my soul, and I am unable to part with it. If I absolutely can't stand a book I've purchased, then I have no trouble at all getting rid of it! I usually donate such books to Goodwill.
Of course I'm a book collector -- an addicted one, in fact. Lol. No, I don't go to book auctions and spend thousands of dollars on priceless, rare editions. I just collect regularly-priced, new books, as well as cheaper, used books in "like new" or "very good" condition.
Based on all of the above, I am definitely a bibliophile as well as a bookworm. So I am very, very careful with my books. I treat them with LOTS of tender, loving care!
What are the effects of folding back the front cover of these books? Well, this creates very ugly creases in the book's spine. Sometimes the creases are so deep, that the book will automatically open to certain pages, and then there's the danger that some of the pages will come unglued from the spine. See the photos below. They're both of the same book, from different angles.
Another very unsightly effect of folding back the front cover is that the book will then be tilted. Yes, that's right -- tilted. When you put a book that has been treated this way on top of a table, it won't sit straight on the surface. It will be tilted. This drives me NUTS!! See the photos below. UGH, UGH, UGH!!! (They show the same book, again from different angles.)
I do not like for my books to look as if they've been abused, and that's exactly how books with folded-back front covers look to me -- abused. My books -- including my mass market paperbacks -- still look new after I have finished reading them, precisely because I NEVER fold back the front cover.
Furthermore, if I order a used mass market paperback from either Amazon or eBay, and I see, when I open the package, that the entire book is tilted, and the spine has creases on it, I will immediately contact the seller for a refund. If I'm in a secondhand bookstore, or at Goodwill, and see a book in this condition, I will not buy it, no matter how cheap it is.
The above pics are of a book I recently bought on eBay, and got a refund for. The seller said I didn't need to return it, so I'm donating it to Goodwill soon. Then I will buy another copy of the very same book, one that is NOT tilted, and has NO spine creases. Lol.
I'm also including pics of a mass market paperback from my personal library, which I read some time ago. The book's title is Blood Rights, and you can find my review of it HERE. (This is proof that I have, indeed, read it, lol.) I've owned if for five years, as you will see from one of the photos below. This book not only looks brand new, but I have even laminated it. I do this with books I especially love, whether they're trade paperbacks, hardcovers (I laminate the dust jacket), or mass market paperbacks. See the pics below. (The surface you see in all of the pictures in this post is the top of the lap desk I use with my laptop.)
The two photos below show that the spine is neither creased nor tilted.
The photos below show how I make a paperback book MINE (whether it's a mass market or trade). I print my complete name on the inside front cover, along with the year in which I bought the book, and then I laminate it. (I don't have the time or the money to do this with each and every paperback I own, but I at least put my name and year of purchase on each. Besides, I laminate only those books that I'm especially fond of.)
As you can see, I treat printed books -- no matter how cheap the edition -- as the treasures they truly are!
What are your thoughts on
this topic?
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I'll go comment on your
own BBH post.
If not, I will then comment on one
of your blog posts!
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