18.1.12

I'll always buy you a book

My mother used to say: 'I'll always buy you a book' and she always did. I used to read two at a time (one upstairs, one downstairs) when I was growing up, and if I ran out when there was no trip to the mainland planned, I'd read the back of cereal boxes until I had a new one. 

With 'the internet', that all seems like a thousand years ago now – especially the sitting on bookshop floors surrounded by piles of paperbacks and trying to make sure I picked the right one, which I'd start reading straight away when I got home. But that excited impatient feeling all came back to me a few weeks ago when I went into a bookshop, bought two beautiful hardbacks, and brought them home with me.

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I had overheard various Twitter recommendations for these two, but they were both so nice that I'm sure I would have picked them up anyway: a green cover with orange endpapers! A limited run of signed editions!

This all reminded me of this New York Times article I read last year about publishers making an extra effort to make their books more interesting to look at, with extra design features and bold endpapers, to stop us all from abandoning print for Kindle. As the article puts it: 'If e-books are about ease and expedience ... then print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading.'

This is how it ought to be, I think. I'd buy a Kindle just to read books I don't necessarily want on my shelf (sometimes ugly covers in my bookcases irritate me to the point of considering turning them all so that the pages face out and the spines face in) but still buy well put together hard copies. Owning books is one of my favourite things, but it adds a whole other dimension when they're as satisfying to look at as they are to read.
Posted by S at 20:25

22 comments:

  1. anabela / fieldguided18 January 2012 at 20:40

    I know what you mean! I've been thinking about getting an e-book reader, although at this point it's still an expense I can't really justify. But then I think about books that I bought, such as Bossypants... once I had read it I had no idea what to do with it. Not exactly the sort of book one needs to hang on to forever (I won't be re-reading that one).

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    1. S18 January 2012 at 21:06

      Yes! When Bossypants came out and you were all reading it, you couldn't even get it over here, so I guess e-readers are pretty good for imports. I did buy 'How to be a Woman' though, which I guess is kind of a British version, which is now hidden in a bookshelf corner - I liked it, but I don't really want it around anymore!

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  2. danielle and dinosaur toes18 January 2012 at 20:44

    i love books so, so, so much, and i have to say that i would never buy a kindle. a member of my book club chose our book for this last month that wasn't available in print, but only as an e-book, and it took every bit of strength i had to download the kindle app for my laptop. i don't think you can ever beat the look, feel, and smell of real pages!

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    1. S18 January 2012 at 21:13

      I was dead against too when they first came out... but I think I'm warming to them. I'd get one just to read (slightly rubbish) biographies, I think, if I could afford such extravagance. I would resist having to read a book on a computer though, for sure. I love that you're in a book club - I've always liked the idea of joining one!

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  3. Jane Flanagan19 January 2012 at 02:10

    Oh yes, I love nothing more than giving (or receiving!) a beautiful book. And buying a digital copy will never have that romance. But I don't think it's practical to be dead-set against ebooks (not to mention hypocritical for a creator of digital content!)

    I don't have an e-reader yet, mostly because book-reading is my rare and treasured non-digital time. And I tend to only want to read books I'll love and treasure (I don't waste time on time-waster fiction). But I can imagine a scenario where I'd compromise. Still, I can never (EVER!) imagine a room without books, loved and read and with their spines cracked and broken from much rereading.

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  4. Anonymous19 January 2012 at 16:13

    Beautifully designed books are the very best kind, and I'm glad publishers are working hard to keep readers interested. However, I am slowly coming around to the idea of ugly book covers, too. Sometimes, if the book inside is stunning, the ugliness starts to take on its own kind of beauty. But that must be a very rare gem indeed.

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  5. Rebecca19 January 2012 at 19:55

    I am, a fellow book lover, particularly if they are old and a bit dilapidated, I tend to have a preference for the older looking ones. Possibly due to only reading library books. However there is something unbeatable about a fresh beautifully bound book which a kindle can never compete with.

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  6. alice20 January 2012 at 13:28

    I was given a kindle but it is so ugly in comparison :) long live books! The price difference between the kindle book and the paper book is usually only small so I prefer to buy the book and then if I don't want to keep it pass it on to someone else, give it to charity, or resell on eBay (to fund the book buying habit ;))

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  7. Anonymous20 January 2012 at 15:04

    I have played with the idea of getting a kindle, but I love my beautifully bound books. And the ones with ugly covers? I put them in stacks behind the pretty books. Since I put them in back on the shelf where I would normally store them, it is easy to guess where they are!

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  8. Unknown21 January 2012 at 00:58

    I'm obsessed with books! I'm looking forward to reading the Marriage Plot

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  9. Bianca21 January 2012 at 04:58

    When I was young, I used to check out as many books as the library would allow you to take at one time ( I think it was 7). My mom used to have to force me to put down my book to eat, even at restaurants.

    This post made me smile and remember.

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  10. ming21 January 2012 at 16:26

    I loved this post! I just received a Kindle for Christmas and it's making my life (and back) a lot easier, but it can never replace the joy of hunting down a specific edition of a book in a used book store or cracking the spine of a nicely printed new hardcover. My parents were the same way growing up. I never asked for new clothes or toys, but books were a treat that my parents always indulged.

    I'm not sure if you listen to Mount Eerie/The Microphones, but if you do, this article might interest you. It brings me immense happiness whenever I buy a recording of his. http://www.bangback.com/print-crush/phil-elvrum-print-pioneer-of-the-pacific-northwest/

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  11. Amal21 January 2012 at 20:52

    One of my favorite things about living in New York City was seeing what people were reading on subways and in parks. E-readers have taken some of that away, and the curiosity kills me. I've thought about this a lot.

    I hope you enjoy The Marriage Plot. I certainly did.

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  12. Unknown21 January 2012 at 21:28

    i just got an e-reader and while there are many things i like about it, there are some downsides. aside from the fact that i cannot now read in the bath - the sense of joy and unique physical beauty is indeed gone!

    i really connected when you described being a young girl and reading all the time. i was also like this and when i didn't have a book i also read the cereal box! although i was always done reading it far too quickly...

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  13. Inge22 January 2012 at 19:24

    Every time I read one of your posts, the only thing I can think of to comment is: I feel the same way! And it's no different this time.

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  14. Ella23 January 2012 at 02:15

    Hear! Hear! I love books so much sometimes I buy the same book twice because I've seen a better copy!

    I'm reading the Marriage Plot now and love it. It's not really about anything...but it's so utterly relatable. I hope you love it too. I thought I had a good copy but your one looks so lovely.

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  15. Cheri23 January 2012 at 02:22

    I have to say, although I read via the Kindle app for iPhone, it is only for books not available as physical copies. I must have the physical copy to read - I really dislike having to read my books via a screen. :( I spend so much time staring at a screen (phone, computer, etc.) that I want to escape the screen when I read a book!

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  16. Hila23 January 2012 at 06:18

    I feel pretty much the same way as you do, and ironically, I have The Marriage Plot both in Kindle and regular hardback-book version. Some books are so precious to me that I can't bear to spill coffee on them on the bus, or have them dented in my bag. So it's nice to have an e-book version. Also, for an academic like me who has to read a lot of theoretical articles from journals and theory-books, it's nice to be able to carry them on my kindle, rather than accumulating books that I just don't want to keep. But it's never going to replace the tactile and aesthetic experience of real books, with real pages, and beautiful designs. And the books I love belong on a shelf.

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  17. Ann24 January 2012 at 01:07

    It seems I always have a different book for every room too. I love this concept that publishers are pushing books as something special and beautiful to own - I have digital apps for reading, but nothing beats an actual book.

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  18. Chuck28 January 2012 at 12:22

    a) I have been meaning to read Alice Munro forever and I finally read one of her shorts in the latest issue of Granta and now I must buy a collection.

    b) What did you think of the Marriage Plot? I found it deeply irritating sadly.

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  19. Jen5 March 2012 at 05:01

    "print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading" ... entirely spot on. I've just realised that the rooms/places I feel most like reading books are the ones where they are on display. They really are a visual pleasure (and there should be more book-filled rooms in the world!)

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  20. Dottie14 April 2012 at 04:23

    What a great quote by your mom. Owning books is one of my favorite things, too. A lot of my friends love the library, but I can't bring myself to simply borrow a book. Surrounding myself with books is so important. I mean, I'm not Gatsby or anything; I love reading the books and my obsession is not about decoration but about having my home reflect my personality and experiences. I couldn't imagine reading a book that made a real impact on me and then having to return that book to the library. E-books have that same problem for me. Too empty. Incidentally, I have a signed copy of The Marriage Plot, too, although I have major issues with the book and great prefer his two previous novels.

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