Disappearing: Paperback Books

     I am an avid reader.  I start getting nervous upon finishing a book and not having another novel to start on, so I found it distressing yesterday when I read a news article in the Guardian, saying that paperback books are on the way out.  The biggest book distributor in the US is going to stop distributing mass-market paperbacks.  The decision was made because of plummeting sales.  In 2004, sales numbered 130 million, by 2024, sales had dropped to just 21 million.

   While it is troubling that paperbacks will be disappearing, I guess I am part of the problem.  Although I read a lot of paperbacks, I have not actually bought one in a decade.  Most of paperbacks that I read are used, and recycled paperbacks.  One of the major benefits with used paperbacks is that here in the Robson Valley, we have several sources where I can get the the books for free.  There is a shed at the dump, where people donate and recycle their books, same thing happens at the train station, and our library often has discarded books, for a donation.

    I had to hunt around for some paperbacks for the photo above.  After reading most paperbacks I turn them in for others to read.  The paperbacks shown are all ones that I enjoyed so much that I wanted to keep them for a second reading.

    I have also recently read that the reading of all books has fallen 40% in the last 20 years.  It seems that people are just not reading books anymore, preferring instead to spend their time browsing on the internet.  This is particularly true with young people.  Because of their internet habit, their attention span is so short and in need of so much generated excitement, that they no longer have the patience to read a whole book.  In an interview by Katty Kay with author John Grisham, both admitted that they have paid their grandchildren to read whole books.

    I gotten so much enjoyment in reading books over the years, and it makes me sad that so many others are missing out on something that can give a person so much satisfaction and understanding.

 

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