Do you like Hardcovers?

[JohnstonMR]

I can't fold the front cover back under itself, and the damned jacket keeps falling off. True, it looks better on the bookshelf, but I'm a paperback guy.)

Ugh. I cringe whenever I see that, and if I loan a book out, I'd better not see it. That said, I much prefer paperback in general, both for ease-of-carry and because they're cheaper. Also, it's hard to read a hardcover in bed the way I prefer (on my back, holding the book up).

[charlotte49ers]

I only buy hardbacks if it is a book I've been waiting for to come out and I don't want to wait for the paperback. Other than that, I avoid them. I'm a bathtub reader and it's so much easier to take a paperback with you!

[E McD]

Definitely a paperback girl. Hardbacks are uncomfortable to hold, especially if they're big.

[aspiring_x]

If it's a book I adore, i love to have a hardback. Like my LOTR trilogy boxed set with amazing illustrations by Alan Lee, or my 1883 copy of The Scarlet Letter. I love old books, with the paper in between the illustrations and the text to preserve them. There's something about holding something that has persevered all these years, and leafing carefully through the pages. I love when there are inscriptions in the beginning that trace back years through several people's hands, or comments written in the margins by someone else who took the journey with me. And illustrations... I paint and draw. I love good illustrations. I have this one copy of Beowulf (an abbreviated version) illustrated by john howe which just blows my mind, everytime i open the pages.
That said, i hold to the same philosophy on books as on movies. i usually rent first (cheap used amazon paperback, or salvation army treasure) and then decide whether i want a more durable, standing-the-test-of-time copy.
Is it wrong that I think books are pretty? (I know the story is what counts... but they are just so pretty.)