Books - Read and Throw Away?

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IceMaiden
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Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by IceMaiden »

Split from 'General Natter Room'.

Yesterday on the Jeremy Vine show there was a discussion about the care of books which I thought would be interesting. It wasn't actually about caring for books though, more the lack of care for them and if you agreed with it!

Apparently, books are now so cheap to buy people aren't looking after them as they're disposable and cheap to replace and they're looking on them as being like newspapers, read then throw away. There were discussing things like folding corners, ripping pages and writing on pages to know where you're up to, breaking the spine to 'break it in', ripping out pages so two people could share a book and even mention of someone who if they go on holiday they rip the book in half and only take the bit they haven't read!! :shock:

I truly do hope they only meant new cheap paperbacks. There was also some "advice" that the best way to put books on a shelf is with the spine facing the wall so the pages blend into your walls for when visitors come!! and a bit about how mainly younger people are buying pictures of book spines to stick on the front of shelves to make it look like a stately home type library, so they can get the look without having books they'll never read. It was on from around 1.35pm, interesting, but as someone who loves books I found it hard listening to how people now see and treat them. A book used to be a main Birthday or Christmas present, people wrote their names in them to make sure they got them back but now they being looked on the same as a daily newspaper, don't keep it as nobody will want it afterwards. Awful and quite upsetting attitude :( .
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Chrissie777
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Chrissie777 »

IceMaiden wrote:A book used to be a main Birthday or Christmas present, people wrote their names in them to make sure they got them back but now they being looked on the same as a daily newspaper, don't keep it as nobody will want it afterwards. Awful and quite upsetting attitude :( .
IceMaiden, that's absolutely awful! :evil:
I wonder in what kind of families these book abusers grow up that they can't value a book?
When I was a child, I was very lucky if I received one or two books for my birthday or at Christmas. We were a small family and I never received many presents. That's probably why books are until this day my favorite gifts to receive and to give to others.

Sometimes I miss the many independent bookstores from Europe!
Here it's mostly Barnes & Noble and the book sellers who work there are less knowledgeable than me.
Sometimes it's quite frustrating. :roll:
I miss the many interesting discussions that I used to have with my bookstore owner in Hamburg...
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Rob Houghton »

That sounds awful, IceMaiden! I can't believe the people they interviewed were representative of the wider reading public...at least, I hope not! Coming from an era where most of my books as a child were paperbacks, I kept them and still have most of them to this day, even the tattier ones! I guess there really are 'book lovers' and 'book fashionistas' who buy 'the latest book' to read (or not) just so they can boast that they read it! Sad times! :-(
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
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Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Courtenay »

That IS awful and I also hope it's not true for the wider public. Books are treasures and should be looked after. Even if I do buy a book that I end up not liking, or at least don't like it enough to be interested in reading it again some time, I give it away to a charity shop or second hand bookshop — I certainly don't treat it as a disposable item and rip bits out of it!! :evil: But I'm sure the majority of people wouldn't do those things, only the sort who have never learned to really enjoy and value books in the first place.
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Rob Houghton wrote:Coming from an era where most of my books as a child were paperbacks, I kept them and still have most of them to this day, even the tattier ones!
Same here. I kept all my childhood paperbacks and I still read and enjoy them. They've been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember and it would be hard to part with them. If I could no longer keep them, I'd hope someone else could get pleasure from them. I certainly can't imagine destroying them or throwing them away!

Some of the paperbacks I've bought as an adult also mean a lot to me, though I've given away a few that I didn't like.
IceMaiden wrote:Apparently, books are now so cheap to buy people aren't looking after them as they're disposable and cheap to replace and they're looking on them as being like newspapers, read then throw away. There were discussing things like folding corners, ripping pages and writing on pages to know where you're up to, breaking the spine to 'break it in', ripping out pages so two people could share a book and even mention of someone who if they go on holiday they rip the book in half and only take the bit they haven't read!! :shock:

I truly do hope they only meant new cheap paperbacks.
Today's "new cheap paperbacks" could be tomorrow's treasures!
IceMaiden wrote:There was also some "advice" that the best way to put books on a shelf is with the spine facing the wall so the pages blend into your walls for when visitors come!!
How drab that would look! Books play their part in furnishing a room, giving it character and making it look inviting! Coloured spines and intriguing titles are enticing. Besides, it wouldn't be at all easy to find a particular book if you could only see the edges of pages!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Katharine »

As a book lover I find that attitude towards books appalling. Apart from that though, I think it's ironic that we are constantly told how much people are in debt and poverty in this country, and yet it would appear that people can quite happily afford to throw away at least £5 on a regular basis. :roll:

On the whole though, I take the whole article with a pinch of salt, I always change the channel whenever Jeremy Vine comes on, as I can't stand his programme and the opinions on it.
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Moonraker »

I stopped listening to Radio 2 a few years ago. I listen to Radio Caroline Flashback, now.
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Rob Houghton »

Talking of destroying books, has anyone else seen the strange trend of having favourite books cut up into confetti ?! You can choose your favourite book, and someone will stamp a load of heart shaped 'petals' out of the pages so you can be showered with it on your wedding day...all for a price, of course...another disturbing trend if you really are a book lover! :-( I can't imagine a book ever been in a bad enough condition to do this to!!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/book_confetti

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'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Katharine
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Katharine »

I haven't seen the confetti trend, but I have seen books cut into artistic shapes. I also recently saw some hand made Noddy greetings cards, on closer inspection I discovered they were pages from old Noddy books. I suppose it depends on why they were cut up, maybe part of the book was missing, so they just made use of the rest of it.

I suppose I'm not really in a position to criticise anyone for a disregard for books. As I'm sure I've admitted on here before, as a child I happily cut up one or two of the tiny Noddy books which would have come from the boxed sets. :oops:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Rob Houghton »

I must admit as a child I regularly coloured in the illustrations in my books (especially The Faraway Tree and some short story books when I was quite young) with garish felt pens that seeped through to the other side of the pages - but I never cut my books up - unless there was something to make which required cutting out. However, I think colouring of illustrations shows a love for a book, rather than a wish to destroy it. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Daisy »

I suppose picking up any old book from a car boot sale in order to do something artistic with it, might salve our consciences!
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Daisy »

I've just been re-reading my Faraway Tree books and quite a number of illustrations ave been enhanced (!) by colouring in. Now can I blame my younger sisters for any of this I wonder? :wink:
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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Rob Houghton »

:wink: I guess you could, if you have younger brothers and sisters. unfortunately, I have no such defence! :lol:

In a couple of my books I even wrote in the front 'Now in full colour!' lol! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Courtenay »

:lol: :twisted:

As for cutting books into confetti, it's not something I would do either, but I guess if there's a market for it... :shock: A similar popular trend at the moment seems to be to make jewellery with a piece of a book page in it, usually showing a famous character's name or similar. I'm aware the Jane Austen Centre in Bath does a few of those, like this one... :roll: :P

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Re: Books - Read and Throw Away?

Post by Chrissie777 »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:How drab that would look! Books play their part in furnishing a room, giving it character and making it look inviting! Coloured spines and intriguing titles are enticing. Besides, it wouldn't be at all easy to find a particular book if you could only see the edges of pages!
A German saying goes "Books make the nicest wallpaper".
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