Jaye and I discuss e-books and real books
In which Jaye and I discuss book formats, reading too much, portability, pages, and reading whims. Also, women’s basketball. Conversation basically verbatim from our online chatting, when we both should have been asleep ages ago.
Jaye: ack! Need a book to read
me: like right now?
or recs for tomorrow?
Jaye: I am not out of things to read.
I am just not sure what I want to read pre-bed
You know?
me: I do. my bookshelf has nothing to wear” would make a great t-shirt
Jaye: Ha! Yes
me: meanwhile, I’m packing for vacation, bringing too many books, and SO sure I won’t bring the one book I really wanted to read, whatever that is.
Jaye: I <3 my Palm. actually, I think I want to read something in the style of Threepenny Opera
me: can’t help you there. though I did try out a Kindle yesterday. Bleah! it reminded me of Hitchiker’s Guide, the movie- it was like Marvin
Jaye: Heh
I like being able to carry multiple books and shrink the font
1:07 AM me: I like pages. but I’m feeling disloyal to books, as wish I could take poetry with me, like a big sprawling anthology but not sure which
1:08 AM Jaye: I like books…But thye take up space and I dont like the recent trend towards design
me: how so? (PS- am blogging this potentially)
Jaye: the taller paperbacks, the trade paperbacks
me: Oh I like them
Jaye: the larger margins
the larger type
me: I like the trade paperbacks, didn’t notice the margins
Jaye: all to make you feel like you’re reading more book than you are
me: do like the bigger page. Kindle made me feel quite claustrophobic
Jaye: and now books don’t fit in my pocket
me: Oh there’s that. still fit in my bag
Jaye: So reading is a hell of a lot less portable. DESPISE trade paperbacks
me: really?
Jaye: charge me twice as much for a crappier format
me: I’m used to ‘em- they’re the default for review.
but I see your point. Hmm- wonder how that started
Jaye: well, I don’t know about the trade
me: like, how did the default size of small paperbacks go on the wane, and who made the default size of the trade?
Mike might know- his uncle calculated the distance people put their TVs from their couches
Jaye: but the taller paperbacks are in an effort to make the typeface larger for an aging population
1:12 AM and since racks are already made for a set width and depth…
me: avoiding uncouth “rack” comment
Jaye: eh, go ahead. There’s already been a banana comment
1:13 AM me: wait-I missed something?
Jaye: different conversation
1:14 AM me: Oh ok good
Hmm- so the only question becomes why are normal paperbacks the size they are?
I am too sleepy to figure out answer
Jaye: that’s a history question
1:15 AM me: am gorging myself on poetry online however, in hopes of not having to bring any
that would be a definite liability for an e-reader… inability to flip about randomly- too linear to read poetry
feh
Jaye: <– hates poetry
1:16 AM me: I know, I know
can I use your real name, by which I mean, Jaye, onsite?
1:17 AM Jaye: Go ahead
me: marvelous
I really need to get an I’m Blogging This t-shirt
Jaye: are you going to call me a uconn fan again?
me: no no no no
it was only implied cause the WVFC readers don’t need to know the complexities of Being A Fan Of Mocking A Coach
Who Picks His Nose. I have proof
1:18 AM Jaye: hahahaha!
I still don’t think it’s that hard of a concept to grasp
It’s like, sports fandom 102
1:19 AM me: now that Tenn and Rutgers not quite making it near final 4, not going to do a tandem book review of Pat Summitt and C. Viv
noting— C Viv’s book made me cry
1:21 AM Jaye: heh
oh, I think I need bed
Mass market paperbacks use cramped margins, newspaper-style fonts, tight leading and a whole lot of other design tricks to cram as many words as possible into the smaller sized page – it’s a low-budget and efficient product. They’re perfect for efficiency-minded people like Jaye.
Trade paperbacks, on the other hand, are designed to replicate the experience of the hardcover book, in softcover format. They were specifically developed to fill the niche between quality hardcover first editions and “trashy” pulp – publishers wanted to offer a more inexpensive product that was still dignified, and eventually they came up with the trade format. Snobby to be sure, since some of that pulp was of course awesome, but the general idea of finding a middle ground has merit.
Design-wise, trade paperbacks use higher-quality paper that will last longer, nicer typefaces, they give the type more breathing space on the page both in margins and leading, and they let the book designer put in the fun drop caps and other nice details, so that the whole thing has a much more elegant look. I like that they’re elegant; it makes the reading experience just a little bit more yummy to me. But then, I’m a strongly visual/tactile person so these things really resonate. (Plus, from a practical standpoint, tall-and-flat always seems to fit in my bag way better than short-and-blocky.)
http://paperbarn.www1.50megs.com/Paperbacks/index.htm
“I’m a Mac… And I’m a PC…..”
(Plus book cover design is one of my favorite branches of design, and I’ll be sad when e-books take over and book covers go the way of the bygone LP…..!)
Glorious: http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/