June 8, 2020 – Zezee with Books

Hardcover vs. paperback: Which do you prefer?

I’ll choose a paperback every time. I just don’t see the appeal of hardcover books. Those things are heavy! And they always poke me in my eye. I don’t like them, and I don’t think they like me. 😦

I have a few hardcover books on my shelves. They got there either because I was too excited for a book and couldn’t bother waiting for the paperback to be published years later, or because they were bought second-hand so the hardback was cheaper than purchasing a brand new paperback, or because it’s a series and the first couple books are hardcover so I continued with that to keep the books the same size. (This last one only applies to my Rick Riordan books.) Otherwise, it’s paperback all the way.

And it’s trade paperback I prefer, not those mass market ones. The trades often have better cover design, I think; and more of them can fit on my shelves than those horrible hardcovers. Sometimes the designers do something fun on the hardcovers, like sprayed edges and stuff, which makes me mad because that means I have to buy the hardcover. I’m a sucker for a beautifully designed book. Still, those things are too damn heavy and take up too much space. I can’t love them. I prefer my trade paperbacks, which are the majority of the books on this 3-books-deep bookcase we’re still touring.