Annoyances with physical books

[Jax.A.River]

I have no complaints about the physical nature of the books. But I do have a complaint about the authority of book ownership: the older fiction books I've read are generally not sold in bookstores and are national books—accessible only to civil servants and not to the general public. Too exclusive. I don't understand why the government restricts the distribution of educational fiction books like this.

I have never heard of books being limited in distribution like that. It's kind of wild sounding to me. Wherever you are that does that kind of extreme thing I hope you're safe as a writer.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Two issues.
1. It takes up space. Like, for real, half my room is with that shit and no they are not in book shelves but rather in boxes. So I can't even re-live old memories without literally excavating.

2. Printing errors. I still recall the funny thing when I bought the book and as I was reading it engrossed, suddenly the ending got cut off. Turns out, the book I bought is flawed. Bookstore was nice though and gave me an exchange to another book (no refund policy). I found the ending to the OG book sometime later.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Two issues.
1. It takes up space. Like, for real, half my room is with that shit and no they are not in book shelves but rather in boxes. So I can't even re-live old memories without literally excavating.

2. Printing errors. I still recall the funny thing when I bought the book and as I was reading it engrossed, suddenly the ending got cut off. Turns out, the book I bought is flawed. Bookstore was nice though and gave me an exchange to another book (no refund policy). I found the ending to the OG book sometime later.

This is wild but not uncommon.

 

[CountVanBadger]

I've always hated hardcover books that slide out of their dust jackets if you don't hold them completely level.

 

[Macha]

 

[Rezcore]

I adore physical books and dream of building a full library of em. From hard covers to paperbacks to old rare ones.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I adore physical books and dream of building a full library of em. From hard covers to paperbacks to old rare ones.

Agreed.

 

[Racosharko]

Cheap glue in perfect bind, imo perfect bind is already the worst way to bind a book.
If the glue is bad?
Get outta here!
the book will get read 4 or 5 times and it will just fall apart.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Cheap glue in perfect bind, imo perfect bind is already the worst way to bind a book.
If the glue is bad?
Get outta here!
the book will get read 4 or 5 times and it will just fall apart.

I've had that happen once or twice.

 

[Tyranomaster]

We're saving trees so it's cool. ?

My understanding is that, in the US at least, almost 100% of our paper supply is sustainable forestation, meaning that more trees are replanted on the same managed land than are harvested.

There are basically controlled forests that they harvest 2% of the forest each year, and then replant it, such that 50 years from then, the trees will again be harvestable. Obviously, not all. But its the vast majority of it that works this way.

In terms of CO2, paper sequesters it away a bit in solid objects that we don't destroy, similar to furniture. It will decay eventually though. That said, the fast growing and harvested forests for paper specifically used for books (not disposable paper like tp or paper towels or mail) and lumber sequester more CO2 "permanently" (hundreds to thousands of years) than do old growth forests or rainforests, which are largely CO2 neutral due to decay.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

My understanding is that, in the US at least, almost 100% of our paper supply is sustainable forestation, meaning that more trees are replanted on the same managed land than are harvested.

There are basically controlled forests that they harvest 2% of the forest each year, and then replant it, such that 50 years from then, the trees will again be harvestable. Obviously, not all. But its the vast majority of it that works this way.

In terms of CO2, paper sequesters it away a bit in solid objects that we don't destroy, similar to furniture. It will decay eventually though. That said, the fast growing and harvested forests for paper specifically used for books (not disposable paper like tp or paper towels or mail) and lumber sequester more CO2 "permanently" (hundreds to thousands of years) than do old growth forests or rainforests, which are largely CO2 neutral due to decay.

 

[tiaf]

Very thick and heavy hardcover books having a flimsy bookcase that goes kapuuuuu after a couple of reads.

The fact that I have no space to buy more books, thus I can't buy new ones/need to buy the tiny softcover ones whose font size I can't read.

A book having a font I absolutely can't like/being hard to read for a long period. Looking at serif fonts.

 

[RainyLiquid]

They be heavy! Literally! And maybe metaphorically... Also, I only have so much shelf space.

That's the best part. I love keeping a heavy tome next to my bed in case I need a makeshift weapon.

 

[DharmaCA]

Yard sales, estate sales, and library used book sales are also great because it can be as cheap as $0.50 a book. I got most of my collection from doing that.

Ha ha ha! I hear ya! Same thing over here.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Finding a copy of a book I've been wanting to read ... and being allergic to it. Seriously - took me three tries to find a copy of Don Quixote that I could afford and did not aggravate my allergies due to dust (and likely mildew).

 

[Azhurie_Mythephan]

The pages tear so easily, even though I turn them gently.

 

[JayMark]

I once had two thousand physical books. It's now down to a few.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I once had two thousand physical books. It's now down to a few.

You had 2 full libraries! Dang.

 

[JayMark]

You had 2 full libraries! Dang.

I went to rummage sales and bought any good book I could find. I didn't read that many though, even if I read alot.

 

[rileykifer]

When there's a book series where all the copies are the same size and shape, but then you end up with one that doesn't match the rest of them.