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What books have you worn out, not merely through sheer carelessness (people who purposely crack new books MUST DIE, although I'll forgive adolescent ignorance as I'm about to talk about it), but simply through love and re-reading? Me:
I have a set of Pocket paperbacks of the first four books of Hitchhiker's Guide which I've had for about fifteen years (!), and they are a bit in need of replacement now. Some of the binding is cracking and there's definitely plenty of highlighting and dog-earing, because when I was 14 I didn't know you didn't do that to books. (My book club edition of Mostly Harmless is in great condition, partly because it's in hardcover which endures better, and partly because I've only read it all the way through three times tops, rather than the 32948029384032 times I've read the rest of them.)
Valerie Worth's Crone's Book of Wisdom, which I think has since been reissued under another title. I took this with me to summer camp (ca. 12-14 years old). It got dusty, highlighted, read and re-read. Pages fell out because the binding was crap. I repaired it inexpertly with Scotch tape, and then, when I was briefly in a position to have access to real book-repair supplies in 2005-2006, did a bit better with glue and stronger tape (although completely rebinding a paperback is beyond my skill -- it's actually easier to do a passable job on a hardcover). The spine is completely shot, but I have not yet replaced it, perhaps at least partly out of nostalgia for the sort of magic that interested me and my friends at age 13.
The Lord of the Rings. Set of three, some Canadian printing. Just before the film of Fellowship came out, I figured I should actually read the book, since I never had before. So I bought a copy in an airport bookstore for entertainment on the flight home. Wanting to be consistent, the next time I was back in Canada I bought the same editions of Two Towers and Return of the King. I've tried to treat these gently, but in even ~6 years they've been read so often that there are creases on the spines and the blocks don't lie straight if I lay them flat on a table. Also, my copy of RotK had a flaw that means now there's a crack in the spine glue (dammit!).
Anne McCaffrey, the original Pern books -- Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon, and also the copy of Dragonsinger that I bought from a used bookstore in high school (which was actually the first Pern book I read). 1, 2, and 3 basically see above; I've tried to be nice, but they've gotten worn. 4, Dragonsinger, especially is "soft" since it was an ex-library copy to begin with, but it's of a better quality binding, so despite its greater age has actually survived the best (its spine is curved rather than cracked).
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. Both bought used (as have been all my HP books, but from GoF onward I bought hardcover). They came with some wear already, but they both have similar spine creases (though no cracks) as my LotR and Pern books. They also tend to bend if I lay them flat (closed); for some reason this is intensified on an airplane (something to do with the air pressure making the pages bend differently?).
P.S. I will never adopt e-books for more than extremely casual ("I don't even know if I care") reading until they can duplicate the smell of cheap "pulp novel" paper. The smell of a bookstore, especially a used bookstore, is a wonderful thing. *fans a book under her nose*
I have a set of Pocket paperbacks of the first four books of Hitchhiker's Guide which I've had for about fifteen years (!), and they are a bit in need of replacement now. Some of the binding is cracking and there's definitely plenty of highlighting and dog-earing, because when I was 14 I didn't know you didn't do that to books. (My book club edition of Mostly Harmless is in great condition, partly because it's in hardcover which endures better, and partly because I've only read it all the way through three times tops, rather than the 32948029384032 times I've read the rest of them.)
Valerie Worth's Crone's Book of Wisdom, which I think has since been reissued under another title. I took this with me to summer camp (ca. 12-14 years old). It got dusty, highlighted, read and re-read. Pages fell out because the binding was crap. I repaired it inexpertly with Scotch tape, and then, when I was briefly in a position to have access to real book-repair supplies in 2005-2006, did a bit better with glue and stronger tape (although completely rebinding a paperback is beyond my skill -- it's actually easier to do a passable job on a hardcover). The spine is completely shot, but I have not yet replaced it, perhaps at least partly out of nostalgia for the sort of magic that interested me and my friends at age 13.
The Lord of the Rings. Set of three, some Canadian printing. Just before the film of Fellowship came out, I figured I should actually read the book, since I never had before. So I bought a copy in an airport bookstore for entertainment on the flight home. Wanting to be consistent, the next time I was back in Canada I bought the same editions of Two Towers and Return of the King. I've tried to treat these gently, but in even ~6 years they've been read so often that there are creases on the spines and the blocks don't lie straight if I lay them flat on a table. Also, my copy of RotK had a flaw that means now there's a crack in the spine glue (dammit!).
Anne McCaffrey, the original Pern books -- Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon, and also the copy of Dragonsinger that I bought from a used bookstore in high school (which was actually the first Pern book I read). 1, 2, and 3 basically see above; I've tried to be nice, but they've gotten worn. 4, Dragonsinger, especially is "soft" since it was an ex-library copy to begin with, but it's of a better quality binding, so despite its greater age has actually survived the best (its spine is curved rather than cracked).
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. Both bought used (as have been all my HP books, but from GoF onward I bought hardcover). They came with some wear already, but they both have similar spine creases (though no cracks) as my LotR and Pern books. They also tend to bend if I lay them flat (closed); for some reason this is intensified on an airplane (something to do with the air pressure making the pages bend differently?).
P.S. I will never adopt e-books for more than extremely casual ("I don't even know if I care") reading until they can duplicate the smell of cheap "pulp novel" paper. The smell of a bookstore, especially a used bookstore, is a wonderful thing. *fans a book under her nose*