Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Old Paperbacks

A friend of mine who is well aware of my penchant for hard-boiled crime and old detective novels sent me a link to a sale they're having on Ellery Queen ebooks.  Which is awesome and thoughtful of her.  But I realized as I was looking through the listings, that I prefer old paperbacks for those kinds of novels.

Don't get me wrong.  I love ebooks.  But there's something about reading old crime novels in paperback - in the original editions if at all possible.  The smell of the old pages and the feel of the worn and dirty covers just seems to lend itself to the reading of a gritty crime story.  For me, anyway.

Ebooks, for me, are for new novels.  And for classics (because sometimes those classics are huge and ungainly and hard to hold, ya know?)  I'll sit for hours holding my Kindle reading the latest from my favorite authors, or an interesting new author, but for some reason, I can't envision myself hip-deep in a crime story on an ereader.  Oh, I could probably get over it, but right now, I don't have to, so I won't.

The other day, after certain birthday prezzies arrived, I found myself looking through the Amazon listings, trying to find an old copy of I, The Jury (because my copy is falling apart and I'd like to read it again).  Nope.  People must be holding onto those with both hands because they just aren't available - at least not for a reasonable price.  I could've gotten an ecopy, but the thought just felt weird.

Maybe I'm weird.  (Okay, quit giggling... I am weird.)  I do love me some old books.  And I circle the used book stores like a vulture looking for any old crime novels I can find.  Every once in a while it's a HUZZAH! and I find one I've been hoping for.  Heh, I think that's part of the reasoning, too.  The treasure hunt of finding the books.  :happy sigh:

There's just something about an old paperback that makes me happy.

What about you?  Still reading paperbacks or have you switched to ebooks? 

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