Categories: random
Tags: books
Date: 24 September 2009 19:45:00
I realised the other day that lots of HD's books are hardbacks. So I asked him about that, and he agreed that he tended to prefer hardbacks. Which reminded me of a facebook status I saw a while ago - I think it might have been sophs - saying how she'd been disappointed when the book she'd just got from amazon marketplace had turned out to be brand new. And I SO related to that. Although if someone gives me a lovely new book (hardback or paperback, whatever) I'm very happy with the gift, there's something about second hand books that have already been read that I really like. If the pages are a bit crumpled, all the better, and I even quite like odd notes in the margins from previous readers. So now I'll always look first in the charity shop for a book (say, for book group), and if I can't find it there then I'll look for a 1p copy on amazon marketplace. And if there are quite a few of them there, I'll always go for the ones marked "Used - Acceptable" rather than the "Used - Like New". I think it's because I've always been a bit soppy and anthropomorphised these things, so I feel like I'm rescuing something that's not going to be chosen or loved by anyone else.
I do remember though about 3 years ago when I was staying in a hostel in Bucharest for a couple of days. There was an American girl staying there who, rather than take her entire Rough Guide with her when she went out exploring, would just tear out the pages she needed (presumably so she could be a bit more discreet and not advertise her tourist status to all and sundry). And I was horrified. Turning page corners or writing notes is acceptable. Tearing pages is Right Out.
[Edited to add: I think HD just read this, and has just shown me a book of his where he has written on it. It seems that the only time he writes on books is when they have made a mistake :D ] [Which reminds me of a dreadful Christian book I read several years ago, where one paragraph made me so angry I nearly got the Tippex out to get rid of it altogether! (I think I just gave the book away in the end, still intact)]