Paperback classics

Cafe Society
1

Spring cleaning fever is upon me. I’ve been looking at my shelves of paperback classics leftover from college and wondering if they’re worth keeping around. They’re free on e-readers, and by the time my daughter is old enough for them (ten years from now) she’ll certainly have a great device for reading free e-books.

So what are the arguments for keeping them…?

  1. I’m emotionally attached to them, though that’s going away
  2. They make a statement that we value literature in this house
  3. There are a lot of obscure but important things there; stuff that doesn’t show up on “you must read” lists unless the list comes from a graduate seminar. Things I’d forget about if the book wasn’t on the shelf.
  4. Postapocalyptic life will be dull, we will want paper books to read

Thoughts?

2
  1. Get over it.
  2. No they don’t. They’re paperbacks.
  3. This one is valid.
  4. See #2.

:smiley:

3

I have the same problem. Just looking at a particular book reminds me of a specific memory - where I was, who I was, when I was at the time of reading. Some books date back a looooong way, like my glued-and-taped-together copy of D’aulaire’s Greek Myths dwarfing the Bulfinch’s next to it (albeit hardcover and not paperback as specified by the OP).

I’d say it’d depend on how many books you have. It doesn’t have to be all or none. Maybe going through the titles you can at least pare down the shelf space to an elite 20-30. You’ll probably have an easier time donating… Franny and Zooey than Catch 22. Or vice versa. Or some other comparison alltogether.

4
  1. Yes they do, they’re Oxford and Penguin annotated editions. Even if they weren’t, the best books are tattered paperbacks full of scribbled notes.
5

You can loan them to other people and not worry if you get them back.

6

Since I’ve gotten a Nook, I’ve culled 2 very over-stuffed bookcases down to 1½ bookcases. There’s no reason why you can’t save some paperbacks that are important to you, but there’s no reason you need to keep your complete Robert B Parker collection in paperback.

And if you’re anything like me, you can always find a use for a newly empty shelf.

7

This.

Also, see if your local library system does an annual used book sale (Friends of Libraries or otherwise) that you can donate to.

8

Agree with this point – not all editions of a text are equal. I have a large collection of “The Annotated…” whatever series that I’d never exchange for the un-annotated versions. Also, when it comes to translations, all are definitely not equal. The Mercier Lewis/Louis Mercier translations of Jules Verne (which you’re most likely to get in cheap and free editions, including e-editions. I know this from comparing available copies) are far inferior to translations made in the past fifty years. Really inferior – up to 1/3 of the text may actually be missing, and a lot of the translation itself is garbage.

9

Definitely agree about the translations. Free ebook editions are usually 19th century translations, and even the best ones are really dull reads.

Some English ebooks are either incomplete or so poorly formatted as to be unreadable. Show me a readable, uncensored ebook of Pepys’ Diary, for example.

10

You can take my paperbacks from me when I am long passed the ability to read them.
From my cold and withered hands.
Those are my friends.

But my office is a library, so I may have become somewhat attached to them.

11

I loved growing up with the 19th century novels in paperback that my father used in college. Since he is quite anal, the underlining he did was with a ruler!

12

Actually I’ve gotten rid of a lot, but not Parker. I have the early stuff in paperback and the rest in hardcover. And since there will never be more, I’m keeping them.

13

Keep the physical copy of Dante!

With Dante, you have to read in parallel. One thumb on the section you’re reading, and the other thumb on the footnotes section, explaining what’s going on. Dante needs footnotes, the way some movies need subtitles. Dante involves two bookmarks.

The Kindle, bless it, is not very good at jumping back and forth. It would be nice if it had the technology to keep two “current reading location” flags, and the “back” button were a “back/forward” button.

Also, yes, translations. The best Dante I’ve ever read was Allen Mandelbaum’s translation. And it’s new enough to still be under copyright. (I wrote him a fan letter – he phoned me back to thank me!)

14

Nothing gives a room warmth like a shelf full of books. It’s the best wall covering money can buy. I love my eBooks, but I am not going to give up my paperbacks.

15

Nothing gives a room warmth like burning a shelf full of paperback books!

16

I’m desperate to get a whole set of Ballantine’s Illustrated History of world War 2.

17

Heh – again, a memory of my father. He read Dante to us when I was six; I didn’t understand anything except my father was spending time with me, but for each section he would show us artwork that corresponded to the text. I think it must have been from the Dore book because they look vaguely familiar!

18

This. A place doesn’t feel like home to me until the shelves are up and filled with books.

19

I have hardback copies of the LOTR, but I also have the paperbacks, from the late 1960’s, that were the first copies of those books that I owned. The ones with the blue and purple colors, that look like the artist was on LSD. I could never give them up.,

20

*Paperback classics (classics, classics)

Dear sir or madam, should I keep my books?
They’re from years ago, would you take a look?
I can get replacements for my e-reader
And I need the space,
But I want to keep my paperback classics
Paperback classics!*
I’d hang onto at least some of them, if only for sentimental value.

I’m nostalgic for the days when they used to publish all sorts of serious books, including classics, biography, history, math and science, in relatively cheap mass-market paperback editions.