Price of books

[Lioness_Heart]

I was just wondering, does the cost affect what books you buy? Lots seem tremendously overpriced, but I'll still buy them if I thinkI'll want to read them more than once, or can't get them from the library.

And does the quality of the printing affect your choices?

This question has been plaguing me since I started buying the Penguin Popular Classics: these cost only £2 and are printed on 95% recycled paper, but the drawbacks include the attractive lime-green covers (actually, I've grown quite fond of them), cramped text and frequent typos. However, I think that they're worth it: you can buy three books for the price of one, and, after all, it's the text that's important - once you're reading, you don't notice the cover. And in broader terms, they make classics accessible to those who may be put off books by their price.

But I was wondering what everyone else thinks. Does the quality and price affect your choice of reading material?

[wessexgirl]

I agree with you that the price of the Penguin Popular Classics is a great inducement to get the classics out there for people. I've bought a few, but I'm not keen on the green covers. I suppose I'm a bit shallow, in that I love an interesting cover. I've also bought some Wordsworth classics, which are also very cheap, the ones with a blue cover. They are prettier, as they have a picture, as opposed to the blank green ones. I do find that the print is not brilliant though. I'm currently looking at the Oxford World Classics, as they are reprinting a lot, with lovely covers, and I also like Vintage covers. I'm trying to buy all the Zola's in the OWC series, but they don't do all of them. That's annoying, as I'll have to get other editions. Why do publishers not print a whole series? I will have to be alert as to what they send too, as I bought some recently, which are lovely, but after I bought them, they reprinted some with a different design. I suspect they will send out the older ones when they're ordered. :( I love the Penguin Classics too, with the nice picture covers, but I think I'm going to try and get more OWC as they've definitely improved the covers. I think they are as good as the P's for intros etc.

Anyway, to answer your question, I suppose I do judge a book by its cover. Although I would buy the cheaper ones, and have, I tend to buy books to collect and keep, so I prefer good-looking ones. As a librarian, I think I'm a bit obsessive about having complete sets of things. :blush:

[kelby_lake]

I'm addicted to the penguin modern classics covers (perhaps because they're mainly photographed front covers) :)

[John Goodman]

I love the Penguin Modern Classics ones with photographs on the covers. It's a shame they don't do all the works of certains authors because I don't like having books that are 3 different sizes with different covers all of the same author.

[DapperDrake]

I'm a sucker for expensive bindings :s I think I can safely say I've spent nearly £100 on books in the last couple of months :)

More fool me I guess, but having said that I keep my books. I have them in bookcases and I fully expect that I will still have them all if I live to be eighty, I want something that Is going to give me pleasure over my whole lifetime as an object as well as a text... £2 paperbacks don't cut it.

[wessexgirl]

I'm like that too. I like to buy books to keep, as beautiful objects as much as to read. I do tend to just buy pbks at the moment though, (cost) but I used to collect Folio books which are very expensive, and are in a case. The pbks are to read, the Folios to look at. I do have 2 copies of a lot of titles.

[Dori]

I just buy B&N Classics, and I have had no grievances regarding their quality.

[jgweed]

I find many books just by browsing used bookstores. For the price---often in today's world much less---of a poorly printed paperback that falls apart the second time you read it, you can find real hardbound jewels, or at least more durable copies.
The postponement of the immediate gratification of purchasing a title right then is more than compensated by the happy discovery of something you have been searching for stuck away on a shelf in some corner of a used bookstore.

[kelby_lake]

Don't books smell nice? especially old books :)

[Tersely]

I started investing in the Penguin for my classics. They can get pricey (7-14 dollars) I stopped when I noticed how fast the covers wear off, get scratched, and whatever glue they use for binding was actually disappearing (these books weren't more than a year old). I started going for the Oxfords. Same price.
Cost doesn't affect me so much as I want my moneys worth.
Anything else can be found at the library for free. :D

[LadyWentworth]

If there is a book that I want, I will take a look at a couple of stores/websites and compare prices. Whatever book I liked the "look" of the best I will buy from the place that sold it at the cheapest price. If I just really want a book that I happen to be looking at in a store, I will buy it as long as it is under $20.00. If it is more than that, I will definitely look into cheaper prices then. I generally only care about the price when it is hardcover. If it is a paperback, I don't usually care what the price is. They are generally under $10.00 anyway.

I would prefer the printing and binding to be near perfect, but if I can't find a book anywhere else, I will have to give into typos and the cover falling apart. I don't like it but I can live with it.

[The Atheist]

I find many books just by browsing used bookstores. For the price---often in today's world much less---of a poorly printed paperback that falls apart the second time you read it, you can find real hardbound jewels, or at least more durable copies.
The postponement of the immediate gratification of purchasing a title right then is more than compensated by the happy discovery of something you have been searching for stuck away on a shelf in some corner of a used bookstore.

Bingo!

Why buy from a retailer when you can usually get a decent copy for a fraction from a second-hand bookshop?

And the best ones are often those which sell high-volume flesh mags & books, but which also have normal books in them. I have found some amazing gems stacked away in those shops which no decent bibliophile would be seen dead in. I have no problem with people thinking I'm a dirty old man, walking away with a classic which cost $4 wrapped in brown paper!

[aabbcc]

It depends. I often buy inexpensive second-hand copies, sometimes Oxford / Penguin Classics if I do not mind having some book in English (which is not my dominant "reading language", so some things I have already read tend to have a weird 'taste' in English), and from time to time I indulge myself with expensive books, or talk my father into going a bookstore with me - which is rather rare (as home policy is that everyone buys their own books, so it is usually a "special occassion" thing), but when it happens, I usually walk out with a dozen and half, two dozen of books, regardless of the price, on his count.

Small print affects me, I tend to avoid it as I have some problems with vision. Likewise, I am not particularly fond of blank one-colour covers, but covers are still less of an issue for me than print.

[NickAdams]

This question has been plaguing me since I started buying the Penguin Popular Classics: these cost only £2 and are printed on 95% recycled paper, but the drawbacks include the attractive lime-green covers (actually, I've grown quite fond of them), cramped text and frequent typos. However, I think that they're worth it: you can buy three books for the price of one, and, after all, it's the text that's important ...

The text is very important so typos just won't do. Most of my books are used.


I'm a sucker for expensive bindings :s I think I can safely say I've spent nearly £100 on books in the last couple of months :)

More fool me I guess, but having said that I keep my books. I have them in bookcases and I fully expect that I will still have them all if I live to be eighty, I want something that Is going to give me pleasure over my whole lifetime as an object as well as a text... £2 paperbacks don't cut it.

I'm an amateur book maker: I copy my favorite poems, plays, short stories, novels (Molloy will make its way there soon) and passages onto my computer and when I've compiled enough to fill a volume I print it out and craft it into a book. My goal is to have one volume, which will be my traveling companion.

[Virgil]

I'm an amateur book maker: I copy my favorite poems, plays, short stories, novels (Molloy will make its way there soon) and passages onto my computer and when I've compiled enough to fill a volume I print it out and craft it into a book. My goal is to have one volume, which will be my traveling companion.

That is sooo cool Nick. I used to hand write my favorite passages into a spiral notebook and keep a spiral of my favorite poems. I still go back to the spiral of my favorite poems. But to actually craft it into a book, that's ingenious. :)

[Loike]

I really like Penguin Classics editions; they're the black ones with a copy of a famous painting on the front. But they're so expensive that I limit how many I buy. I bought a lot of Wordsworth Editions when I was at college, because they're so cheap and don't have too many errors in them. But I've recently fallen in love with secondhand book stores, so a lot of the books that I buy now are very, very old; yellowing pages and that lovely old-book scent make a novel all the more enjoyable for me. And they've got their own histories, too. I love it when I stumble upon a signature or random notes in a secondhand novel. *Sigh*. xx

[Erichtho]

The Price does affect what I buy. The average paperback in Germany costs 8-15€, a normal hardback 20-25€. Of course, if I could afford it, I would only buy books with good binding, a hardback and paper that isn't yellow after 10 years. I buy these quality-books second-hand and have purchased already some truly wonderful editions that would suit almost every bibliophile's library, but I'm also satisfied with an average book, because I do buy mainly for content.
I buy occasionally some Penguin Classics - and while nothing in the German bookmarket can compare with them when it comes to the price, it's also impossible to find a book printed on such toilet-paper and with such bad fonts over here.

[NickAdams]

That is sooo cool Nick. I used to hand write my favorite passages into a spiral notebook and keep a spiral of my favorite poems. I still go back to the spiral of my favorite poems. But to actually craft it into a book, that's ingenious. :)

I wish I could take full credit, but I got the idea from William Somerset Maugham.

[kiki1982]

I know what I want but I look at the price, let's put it like that. So I look in second hand bookshops and I don't buy a fairly regular book for like 20 euro. Even for a hard cover I find it too expensive. Besides, it's the same text as it would be if it was in paperback, so I don't see why I should pay more. Normally I'd look for that particular book as ong as I could for a reasonable price and if it is not possible to find it, then I would give someone a hint to buy it for my birthday...
Personally I like used books more than new ones, because they have that smell and also the thought that many many people before me used it.

[johann cruyff]

The books I buy usually cost around 5-10 €. There are no fixed prices here though,so I can sometimes find a second-hand book for 2 €,but the other one may be pricier than a new one etc. Lately,books have been pretty much the only thing I spend money on,but I still try to refrain from buying the really expensive ones,which I consider the 20+ € ones to be.

[DapperDrake]

I used to buy second-hand books but unfortunately all the second-hand book shops around here have closed down. Not enough people buying old books I guess.
I love the books but its a little morbid really, nearly all of then have signed messages and dates - my copy of Twenty years After is signed 1913, can't help thinking the first owner might of been shot or blown up :(
Still... His book's doing all right.

[kelby_lake]

That is sooo cool Nick. I used to hand write my favorite passages into a spiral notebook and keep a spiral of my favorite poems. I still go back to the spiral of my favorite poems. But to actually craft it into a book, that's ingenious. :)

I wrote lines from books i liked all over my school planner, which was in hindsight a bit geeky, but impressive to look at.

[imperiex]

going to a second hand book fair in Auckland this saturday, im certain to get some sweet as deal there :D

book prices are an issue for me, as im a student, so i'll usually search for secondhands first before buying new ones

DapperDrake: that's the beauty of secondhand books, it looks more human. but that 1913 thing is just creepy too

[Scheherazade]

I never check the price of the books I am getting... It never even occurs to me... because I get them from the LiBrArY... for free!!!

:D

[Lioness_Heart]

I'm an amateur book maker: I copy my favorite poems, plays, short stories, novels (Molloy will make its way there soon) and passages onto my computer and when I've compiled enough to fill a volume I print it out and craft it into a book. My goal is to have one volume, which will be my traveling companion.

Wow!!! That's so amazing! Do you do covers and binding etc too??




I wrote lines from books i liked all over my school planner, which was in hindsight a bit geeky, but impressive to look at.


I've done that too!! But possibly worse is when I started to write my favourite mathematical formulae everywhere :blush:



I never check the price of the books I am getting... It never even occurs to me... because I get them from the LiBrArY... for free!!!

:D

You haven't seen my local library... it has millions of reference books and ones on gardening and cooking, but the fiction is generally falling apart. However, I feel duly ashamed.

[NickAdams]

Wow!!! That's so amazing! Do you do covers and binding etc too??

Yup. I don't know how to do the lettering for the covers yet.:(

[Scheherazade]

You haven't seen my local library... it has millions of reference books and ones on gardening and cooking, but the fiction is generally falling apart. However, I feel duly ashamed.Most libraries will order the books they don't have in stock if the users make a request and get them ready within a week or so.

When so many libraries are facing closure or reduced opening hours, I really wish more of us used our libraries.

[motherhubbard]

We never go to town without going to the library. It’s always busy there. Maybe it’s because there isn’t a lot to do in my area, well there is, but not much indoors. The library is safe, clean, comfortable, has space for different activities, has internet access, lots of books to read, teen night, story times, there are lots of events, lectures, programs and displays that draw people in. There are always a lot of kids there, too. Really, the local library is one of my favorite places in the county. They don’t always have the books that I want, but they do keep a good selection. We can request books, but I don’t know if I ever have.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Most libraries will order the books they don't have in stock if the users make a request and get them ready within a week or so.

When so many libraries are facing closure or reduced opening hours, I really wish more of us used our libraries. - Scheherazade

It doesn't work like that at my library...they'd probably laugh at me...


The library is safe, clean, comfortable, has space for different activities, has internet access, lots of books to read, teen night, story times, there are lots of events, lectures, programs and displays that draw people in. There are always a lot of kids there, too. Really, the local library is one of my favorite places in the county. They don’t always have the books that I want, but they do keep a good selection. We can request books, but I don’t know if I ever have. - motherhubbard

I'm so jealous...mine has none of that. It has books and then its like Lioness said, "You haven't seen my local library... it has millions of reference books and ones on gardening and cooking, but the fiction is generally falling apart."

It's a shame. That is also the reason why I hardly ever go to the library anymore. It seems like the only new books they get in are the prerequisite Nora Roberts and James Patterson books. I've gone there many a time to look for classics as well and then end up getting blank stares when I ask about them. So now I order my books online - by far the cheapest and most convenient (apart from second hand, but I don't always find anything I like). I love going to bookshops though but the one closest is 40km away and can be quite expensive.

Aaaanyway...to get back to the thread topic :blush: ...

I usually buy whatever's best looking and cheapest. I don't want to spend a fortune (esp since it's become a bit of an addiction ;) ) - the story's the same in all of them anyway. But they need to be aesthetically pleasing as well. I know it sounds silly, but I can't bear to have an ugly book (read: lime covers) on my shelves.:)

[Bakiryu]

Since my books are bought with my parents money (and the child support money my dad pays) I am quite limited. I don't want to leave my parents broke after all. But I'm a cheapskate, I love buying lots of cheap books instead of one pricey book, I will only spend lots of money, if it's a good book!

[waryan]

I have a serious, serious problem with the spine creasing so I will spend a long time looking for a version of a book with the most flexible spine, best print, paper, etc. I'm usually pretty particular and after buying as many books as I have, most are made well but certainly not all. Even the good ones from major retailers are overpriced, but what isn't.