Let's Discuss: Book Treatment

 

I can't recall if I've ever done a discussion like this and honestly, I'm too afraid to dive back in to see if I had or not! But even if I had, it's time for a refresher...even if my answer hasn't changed.

Book Treatment

How particular are you of your physical books? I know there's a great divide between ebook readers and real book readers and all. So for those of you who are my real book readers and love their real books (even if you read 99% ebooks and 1% real books) how particular are you about the condition your book comes in when purchasing?

I've always and still am, very much a perfectionist! I can't tell you the number of times I will sift through every available copy of whatever book I am buying, be it 3 copies or 20 on the shelf. I will examine just about every. Single. One. Of them. I want to make sure the spine is in tack, that there are no rips in the cover, so dents or bents. I have pretty much always been like this! Granted there were times when I legit had NO choice as to what copy I was buying, particularly if it was the last one on the shelf.

But I can say that if I ever order online (which, yeah, I do do that still) if I get a copy that is just so beyond unacceptable for a NEW book, I will say take it back and send me a new one because this is unacceptable. You all know who I'm talking about! I feel like I've only ever done this with B&N once or twice because the book was really truly unacceptable.

I have to say even when I am reading one of my purchase books I still treat it with TLC. I don't open it super wide to damage the spine. I NEVER dog-ear a page. I always use a bookmark or a bookmark like item if I have to put the book down super quickly. My family jokes that 99% of my "read" books don't look read. Well, that just shows great care from the reader!

One thing I do forget to do, because it's only ever happened once, is to flip through the pages and make sure that they are all there. One time I bought a book that when from page 272 to 285 or something like that! Yes, pages were MISSING! They had reprinted a previous 12 or 13 pages and I freaked out! It was a mystery on top of it and nearing the end so I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I know after that one, I checked before buying the rest of the series in particular. But that was one horror story I never want to relive. And yet, I still forget to check for that these days. Eek! Of course, I will say that this was quite possibly before my TBR pile got out of control and I could read new releases within its release week.

But my question for you (should you be a real book reader/shopper): How particular are you about the shape of your book when you're buying it? Do you examine every copy (or even 2-3) looking for damages or mars? Do you just grab whatever is up front in the pile/stack?