(no subject)

[oyceter]

I always think how it's quite interesting that there are two book camps people fall into -- those who take really good care of their books and scream if you crease the spine (that'd be me) and people who really don't care. Personally, I don't think it's some giant moral crime if you read one way or the other, although I will kill you if you hurt my Sandman series. matociquala has an interesting post on the physical act of reading and on loving the book for the story, not for the physical form of the book itself (she's a very hands-on reader). I agree with that in principle. It's just that I've worked in a used bookstore for long enough that most of me looks at a book for the story, for the author, for the content. The other five percent evaluates it for how much I would pay for it if I bought it for the store. Ha, I am so mercenary. Never invite me to your house, because that's what I'll do to your books. Well, unless you have books I personally want to read, in which case, I will just be salivating. Anyway. Also, after processing so many books, it was rather frightening realizing how many books are out of print. Most books have had large print runs and so are readily available, despite being OOP, but others... sigh. I've managed to hunt down most of the books that I've been looking for, but some are borrowed from the library. If I want it for myself, I have to scour used bookstores. And you never know if it'll be reprinted or not. And there's that sentimental value in having the exact edition that you read as a kid, with that specific cover art.

But mostly, they go out of print. Most people don't take good care of their books, so they get moldy, or water damaged, or pages fall out. I used to buy mass markets all the time (portable, cheap, etc.), and I still love them, except my old ones are getting to the point where some are falling apart. And yes, if I have to read something that's been dropped in a bathtub and sprayed with soy sauce and rubber-banded together because the binding's come loose, of course I will. But now I'm perpetually aware of the fact that my favorite books may go out of print and that I may never find a copy again (well, for years and years, or for less than fifty dollars, because we all love the internet), which goes a long way in persuading me to buy hardcover and to take really good care of them.

ETA: I'm horribly careful with my books usually, though I have this strange habit of crinkling page corners. And if a book really, really pisses me off, I will throw it against a wall. Yes, I'm still mad at Patricia Gaffney and Mary Jo Putney for that.

In real life news, the insurance claim seems to be going along and it is official, the other guy is at fault. Whew. I have my rental car, which caused a great deal of headache before. I don't actually like my rental car. It feels like the exact opposite of my car, which is very short, very heavy feeling, with a slightly difficult to turn steering wheel. The rental is all light and plastic-feeling, and it drives me crazy. Plus, it's an SUV. Rrgh. Hopefully I will not have to fill it up too often. Today I had to go to the towing place to sign a form to release my car. I managed to get lost twice -- once on the way there, once on the way back. I have no sense of direction. To put this in perspective -- my usual car has GPS, and I still manage to get lost. So this was absolutely terrifying, and I hated it, and it didn't help that the towing place was in a rather sketchy area. Ugh ugh ugh ugh. Stress. I'm also horribly behind on LJ because I'm getting home much later every day now.

Comments

[luned.livejournal.com]

The other five percent evaluates it for how much I would pay for it if I bought it for the store.

I'm the same way with books these days, due to doing too much online selling and buying. It's true what they say about worn books; they are "much loved." However, what some people do to books decreases the heck out of the resale value.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

those who take really good care of their books and scream if you crease the spine (that'd be me) and people who really don't care.

I join you in being one of the former - I hate having creases in my books and if there's something I think may get battered somehow, I'll buy another cheapo copy of it (my George RR Martin hardcovers don't leave the house. Well, that's also because they're so damn heavy!) It's the frightening "what if these go out of print and I can never get another copy ever" part for me, I think, although I did use to sell books to a used bookstore and of course, the better the condition the better I did with that.

My husband's a favorer of content over form - he'll buy cheap moldy paperbacks with the yellowing paper and he'll read his books in the tub (he's not allowed to read mine!) We've compromised in that he knows some of my stuff is not read in the bath!

[fannishly.livejournal.com]

loving the book for the story, not for the physical form of the book itself

Of course one reads the book for what's in it. But what's in the book is only accessible through the book, so taking care of the physical thing itself is a good thing.

I'm pretty careful with my books, partly for the above reason, and partly because I'm careful with all my things. Except when I'm not.

I'm glad the insurance thing is going well. *hugs* for the hassle with the rental car, though, and with finding the towing place. I'm so with you in the having-no-sense-of-direction camp. I get lost all the time. I got lost more than a few times while I was driving back home in Taipei, too, which was even more terrifying.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Huh. Which Gaffney did you throw against a wall?

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

I am obsessive about my books! I never crease the spine, fold any pages, nothing. I have read paperbacks in discomfort just so I don't harm the book in any way! On the one hand, it's very OCD. On the other (and this isn't even why I do it!), if I get to the end of it, and I either didn't like it or don't feel I need it for my personal library, I can always return it to the bookstore, and no one could ever tell it was read. But shhhh! Our little secret. ;-)

[rue10.livejournal.com]

Also-- and this is, like, the most horrifying thing I can think of-- publishers regularly destroy books. Destroy! En masse! Because it costs more to store them, if you overprint too heavily, than you can make by selling them at the rate at which they're currently selling.

We destroyed a couple hundred of our first title recently. It was downright painful, and I wasn't even working here when it came out.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'm actually careful with my books; I just overreacted to the "Every sperm is sacred!" types who seemed to believe that one must treat a copy of "Dianetics" as if it were as difficult to replace as "The Thurb World".

[thinkum]

Yay, you! re: the insurance and car rental and towing and etc.! I know it's an absolutely miserable list of things to take care of, and you deserve kudos for getting yourself through it successfully. ;-)

[oyceter]

Yeah! I usually don't mind what other people do to their own books, as long as they don't do it to mine, which I think is a fair thing to ask. But once you get in the business of buying and selling other people's used books, then it gets hairy! We would get some people's books that had been rained on, or had been chewed on by pets or something. It's particularly frustrating when it's a book that we don't see that often. Grr.

[oyceter]

I've started getting two copies of my favorites as well -- one is a "lending copy" just in case someone decides to feed it to their dog, or just because accidents happen, and one is my shelf copy.

I'm always amused because the boy seems even more fanatical than me. Well, maybe not about his mass markets (his old ones look really battered), but he always yells at me for tossing magazines around. That's something I don't preserve!

[wizened-cynic.livejournal.com]

This is interesting ... unlike most people here, I love books but I treat them really badly. My books are often stained and creased and dog-eared. I've also dropped them in puddles, buckets of water, and toilet bowls. I wonder what this says about me.

[oyceter]

I fondly await the day in which everything will be accessible via computer and we never lose data again ;). Of course, that would probably just mean that the computers would crash all the time. And reading off a screen is painful (says she who spent too many hours reading fanfic online).

[oyceter]

I think it was Crooked Hearts. There was this part in which the heroine was kidnapped by the evil yellow Chinaman and fed an aphrodisiac in preparation for rape. Then the hero rescued her and of course she absolutely had to have sex with him, and at that point I chucked the book against a wall.

[oyceter]

LOL! You sound like me ;). That's a pretty good trick. I should keep that in mind, hee hee.

[oyceter]

Urgh, yikes =(. I keep thinking of something akin to the elephant graveyard in Lion King -- a giant graveyard of unread, unwanted books. I suppose it's just part of the business though.

[oyceter]

Oh, yes, definitely. Not all books are created equal on the scarcity scale. I generally try not to write on or crease or whatever to my books (with the exception of math textbooks, which I scribbled on relentlessly), but that's because I like new-looking books. And, to be honest, the world is probably never going to be short of Stephen King or Shakespeare.

[oyceter]

Hee, thanks. Although I'm still freaking out on a regular basis ;).

[oyceter]

Did you check out matociquala's post? That's the camp of other people like you. I'm not sure it actually means anything beside the bit that I've worked in a used bookstore too long and am very picky about my books ;).

[cychi.livejournal.com]

I can totally understand the desire to protect books! I think i'm probably a bit too anal about it ;P Hee hee, when i was in HS, loaning out books to popele was always never wracking if I didn't know how well they would take care of my babies. I wrote a longer reply in my journal on xanga...it seemed way too long for just a comment! ;P

[oyceter]

Oh, cool, I'll drop by and check it out.

Haha, I still remember losing your Castle of Llyr back in tenth grade! I was so scared you were going to yell at me and never lend me books again.