Favorite Kind of Book

[Junkyard]

No, I'm not asking you to tell me whether you like mystery or romance, horror or science fiction.
I'm asking which kind of book you prefer to read.
Small pocket paperbacks, large paperbacks, crisp new hardcovers, or musty old hardcovers? Do you prefer one of those e-book dealies? If so, which? Or do you deal exclusively with audiobooks?
What's most comfortable or enjoyable for you?

In my case,  I tend to prefer pocket books for most situations. I wear a big coat and I go to college. It's perfect. However, big musty hardcovers are wonderful when I have some time and a good seat.
Altogether, I haven't been able to get into e-books. At this point I suppose they finally have some decent readers out there, that don't either burn or strain your eyes, but damn are those expensive.

Thoughts?

[anais.jude]

i prefer QPs (Quality paperbacks) and sometimes hardcovers. if its a book i want to keep forever, def a hardcover.
i can't read e-books, they hurt my eyes

[RobtheBarbarian]

You'll find two kinds of books in my room: little paperback fictions with titles like Age of Conan: The God in the Moon and hardcovers that cover subjects like medieval siege warfare.

[AmandaGal]

I actually like ebooks, but I could see where you wouldn't.  I like them because I always have my PDA with me and I can store about 20 books on it, so if I'm ever anywhere where I'm bored, I can "open a book."

I do prefer real books though because I like to write in the margins and underline (even in fiction).  It's a bad habit, I guess.  I always miss that when I read an ebook.

[bettertomorrowamy]

I actually like ebooks, but I could see where you wouldn't.  I like them because I always have my PDA with me and I can store about 20 books on it, so if I'm ever anywhere where I'm bored, I can "open a book."

I do prefer real books though because I like to write in the margins and underline (even in fiction).  It's a bad habit, I guess.  I always miss that when I read an ebook.

In the Palm eReader I had you could highlight text and create a note that you could write on that would be saved to the specific highlighted text.
Then you can go back later and read your notes and see where they linked to.

I don't buy ebooks anymore because I like to resell all the books I read when I'm done with them.  It's hard to sell an ebook when they encrypt it with your credit card number.

[mrbasehart]

I prefer paperbacks, because with hardbacks, I always lose their dust covers.

[Tripe]

I'm mostly of the same opinion as Anais and actually as long as the book is a good publication I sometimes prefer the paperback.

Case in point Robert Greene's The 33 Stratagems of War which was only in hardback for the longest time. I've only ever owned the paperback versions of his previous books so I've had to wait until just recently to buy  33. Otherwise they'd have looked odd on the shelf.

[anais.jude]

I'm mostly of the same opinion as Anais and actually as long as the book is a good publication I sometimes prefer the paperback.

Case in point Robert Greene's The 33 Stratagems of War which was only in hardback for the longest time. I've only ever owned the paperback versions of his previous books so I've had to wait until just recently to buy  33. Otherwise they'd have looked odd on the shelf.

I also hate it when my collection is out of uniform. I am eventually going to have to re-buy all the harry potter books (british versions) because they are not uniform

[Jinto]

I like hardbacks of the stuff I think is best. paperback is fine for the rest. I too however dislike non-uniform series. it's always the worst when I start a new series that's been out a while. you pick up 3 or 4 paperbacks and then whoops! book 5 just came out in hardback and you don't wanna wait a year for it to come out in paperback to read and add to the collection.

[Tripe]

My problem is, some books are damn near impossible to find in a good edition in hardback.

I couldn't find a good hardback of The Book of Enoch for love nor money.

Actually I'm more about presentation than specific format. That's why I have the edition of Lord of the Rings that came out a few years ago with geometric designs by Tolkien himself on the covers.

While one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, it's nice to find an ascetically pleasing one if you can

[Jinto]

My problem is, some books are damn near impossible to find in a good edition in hardback.

I couldn't find a good hardback of The Book of Enoch for love nor money.

Actually I'm more about presentation than specific format. That's why I have the edition of Lord of the Rings that came out a few years ago with geometric designs by Tolkien himself on the covers.

While one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, it's nice to find an ascetically pleasing one if you can

Yeah, it's worse when you go looking for older books. It's hard to find a nice hardback once they're gone, but paperbacks will be reprinted over and over as long as the content is popular enough. Tolkein is one of the seeminly few that ever get reprinted hardbacks. My copies of The Hobbit and LotR are the ones with color artwork inserted periodically throughout the book by popular Tolkein artists like Alan Lee and John Howe. So naturally, I also like a good cover myself. I love good artwork as much as the story.

<rant>
So of course I was pissed when the US releases of George Martin's Ice and Fire series of books got switched to plain "solid" covers. Damn them! Now I have books 1-3 with artwork, and books 4+ will be mismatched for being "solids". ARGH!

I mean just look at all the awesome covers in his galleries.

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/gallery.html

Why the hell do we get crappy "solids" for the Ice and Fire series when everyone else gets awesome artwork?!
Even my books 1-3 are the "lesser" artwork versions that just have "windows" of artwork (and even THAT much gets taken away by the release of these damn "solids"!!!), instead of being full cover masterpieces. Grrrr!!!!!

</rant>

[Fortis]

I definitely prefer hardbacks, I hate the little creases you get on the spines of the paper backs if you open them too wide. Plus the art work seems to be better on the hard backs.

I also hate it when my collection is out of uniform. I am eventually going to have to re-buy all the harry potter books (british versions) because they are not uniform

That drives me crazy too. I have every Harry Potter book as hard cover except the first three. All the rest are first editions so I'm going through used book stores trying to find good quality hard back harry potter's that are first edition. No such luck so far.

[Tripe]

Ah but most of my Pratchett's are first editions too, but there's such a huge print run on popular books, first editions don't have the cache they once did.

I might have to start getting Hatchard's Special Editions.

[a pretty girl is like]

Paperbacks mostly.  They're the most convenient for carrying around in my man purse shoulder bag thingie.  Plus I don't feel so bad when I have to write in them or highlight passages.

[AmandaGal]

I actually like ebooks, but I could see where you wouldn't.  I like them because I always have my PDA with me and I can store about 20 books on it, so if I'm ever anywhere where I'm bored, I can "open a book."

I do prefer real books though because I like to write in the margins and underline (even in fiction).  It's a bad habit, I guess.  I always miss that when I read an ebook.

In the Palm eReader I had you could highlight text and create a note that you could write on that would be saved to the specific highlighted text.
Then you can go back later and read your notes and see where they linked to.

I don't buy ebooks anymore because I like to resell all the books I read when I'm done with them.  It's hard to sell an ebook when they encrypt it with your credit card number.

Mine has that too, but it's not the same