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I prefer hardcovers.

My local library is small and doesn't buy every single book published, unfortunately.

Thank you for highlighting this aspect. Hardcovers are absolutely critical for libraries' collections--and, they are BY FAR the most efficient for taxpayers. They last, and they don't need to be re-licensed like ebooks.

"loyal" is an interesting typo. In my experience, libraries are, indeed, quite loyal to their visitors. I love librarians. 🙂

I love my paperbacks, but there is nothing like cracking open a beloved hardcover. Settling it on your lap and jumping in.

OTOH, without the Guardian, how often would you get to say 'bollocks'?

I prefer paperback for sitting on my shelves but a hardcover from the library is how I first read many books.

Librarian here: can confirm.

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And remember to use your library's 'Suggest A Purchase' process if they don't have a book you want to read! Community suggestions carry a lot of weight when it comes to collection development decisions!

I often buy a hardback copy, read it, then donate it to the library to shelve for other patrons. I do this for the biggies that I want to read & I know others want, too.

Our library even lets you request books for it to add to the collection!

Also there's a browser extension that tells you if a book you're looking to buy is available at your local libary. I use it often and highly recommend.

Also, some folks (like me) buy hardcover copies of books I know I want to keep (even if I have the e-book version), as I anticipate that, at some point, e-book retailers will say "we only sold you a license, and we're revoking that now, per our TOS."

Eight weeks. Luxury. There are evils reserved until 2027 in mine. Also, we had to sleep in a lake.

I do, believe me

Give me hardcovers or give me death!

I just read Starter Villain from my library this week. (And loved it!)

I'm a huge fan and frequent user of our local library.

Hard cover books are like vinyl records, IMO. The media could be delivered in a cheaper, smaller format; but the work often deserves something more tangible and physical.

I love hardcover books and they’re my first choice when buying. Nothing wrong with the other formats. I have a Kobo and I like it well enough, but I feel like in in this day and age everything has to be charged and connected to the internet somehow. Let me have my physical books.

Either way, books made of paper will go the way of the DVD (with the proliferation of digital media). Barnes and Noble will be the new Blockbuster Video. You don’t have to like it, but it’s a moving train. Resist and ignore it at your own expense.

You know that eventually printed books will be museum pieces.

Also, do we not care about longevity? Hardcover books last longer and can stand up to rougher treatment than paperbacks, sometimes extremely so. Some paperbacks are so cheaply made that you can scratch the ink off the spine with a fingernail 😬

I love a hardcover book. It’s a physical pleasure to read, the size, the weight, the smell of the paper.

All this plus, I mean, aren't they eliminating paperbacks? you get rid of hardbacks too, and what's left, other than ebooks? which have their place, I like that format too, but please, get real.

Only for libraries

I *love* to borrow heavy tomes from wonderful public libraries! ❤️ 📚 💕 📖

Libraries buy hardcovers, & so do the strange people who prefer hardcovers, but the real question is, what % of the hardcover sales are only because a paperback doesn’t exist yet? (I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve bought a hardcover because I wanted the hardcover specifically.)

I don't buy book that is not hatd cover. Period.

I have nightmares where all books are like those cheap paperbacks from the 80s where the spine literally snaps and pages fall out of the middle. A well-bound hardback will last for centuries so our descendents can read them as they rebuild civilization after all our crap.

I **love** hardcover books. If I read a paperback book and it was fantastic, I'll find it in hardcover and loan/give/donate the paperback.

'The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is, 'rage bait.' '

I never buy or read them, but I doubt any of my paper backs will survive the coming apocalypse & we're definitely going to need all the books. We should be laser etching the text on non-corrosive metal sheets & covering them in titanium!

I would take a soft on holiday but otherwise its hard all the way every day and im going to stop there before this post becomes misunderstood as horny

Hardcover makes everything better. Opening the book for the first time, cup of tea (or glass of sherry) at hand, the feel of turning the page … ahhh.

Head your way on up that hill, bro

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Weird hill to die on, but at least he's dead.

"We don't need hardback books." We don't need doughnuts, either, but just try to take them away from people.

I'm sorry, but I very much do need hardcover books. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I wish they would go back to paper that has enough weight to not curl every damn page as I’m reading. Really annoying.

Love my hundreds of hardcovers. Feels like I live in a library.

Fuck you Larry

"selling great, especially the ones that these days come with sprayed edges and illustrated end pages." I see those increasingly showing up in my local library. Since I doubt the library thinks it is worth paying a premium for them I presume they are being unloaded.

Hardcovers are also usually larger print with more spacing between lines, so as a dyslexic person I find them much easier to read. I prefer ebooks over paperbacks in most situations because you can adjust the font.

Exactly. People are now also buying old DVDs at tag sales. Paying to watch old movies on Netflix with commercials is crazy.

ACTUALLY ripping right now. Just got my first MP3 player (because the cd player in my car died and the player and aux cord are WAY cheaper)

The thing I hate the most about this is the “I don’t personally like this choice, for which there are several other options I can choose instead, so we should eliminate that choice so no one else can have it!”

Great, thanks! Love to hear it.

Another case of willfully using the wrong pronoun (we instead of I) to cause controversy.

Hardcover books often end up on remainder tables or discount store. Also a lot of used book stores won’t take them. Then there’s the environmental cost. I prefer paperback books bc of arthritis.

I don't trust a freelance writer who seems to forget that libraries exist.

Honestly, I think it's just because the cheaper paper is more dense. Maybe more pulp and less good strong fiber.

I only buy hardcover or ebook unless the title is only selling in paperback. When I last moved, I had to “dispose” of all my paperbacks due to deterioration. Slowly replacing some.

There is nothing more beautiful, functional, and enduring as a hardcover book.

Fancy Hardcovers are less for reading and more for showing off. Not a criticism. Just that books are more than just words on a page.

Before my father died, he was on a quest to replace every paperback book in his collection with a hard cover edition. He befriended a local used bookstore owner to help him track down the out-of-print titles. I inherited his books, and the hardcovers still look great! The paperbacks not so much. 😬

Plus paperbacks are a nightmare for libraries (be they public or classroom) because they get destroyed in backpacks, etc. I ONLY buy hardcover books for classroom use, even if it means buying fewer copies for that reason.

I do like a hardback for the shelf, although most are now stored in the loft until I get my finger out and sort out my study to display them all properly!

hardbacks are very rare in Australia. Our first-release format is the C-format trade paperback, which costs about A$32-35. Only a few very successful books get a second edition as B-format paperbacks.

I only buy hardcover books.

Hill I will die on: why do we eat off of fine china at all? They can’t even go in the dishwasher. We should only eat off paper plates because there’s no mess at the end of dinner, only trash. 🙄

That one is easy. For their AI techbro overlords.

It's fun to be fancy sometimes

I agree. Books are sacred.

Hardcovers are needed more now than ever. We’re on the cusp of WWIII and potential nuclear apocalypse. Survivors will need that hardcovers.

I intend to use the term "bollocks" with the very next person I disagree with.

The Guardian was helping Republicans blame Democrats for Spirit Airline’s bankruptcy just last week.

A true "collector's edition" book is printed on acid-free paper; if not, in a hundred years it will turn to dust anyway.

I typically only buy hardcover books if I'm planning to get it signed. A couple years ago I got a hardcover copy of The Hobbit for the express purpose of getting it signed by Andy Serkis (had it made out to my son, Samwise). I recently got a 1-volume copy of LotR and will be getting it signed soon.

I use my kindle app on the iPad.

Yeah, this is one article that I really don't need to read. The headline is already stupid enough to get the gist of it. Hardcovers are the obvious choice for a book, what the hell is the article author smoking?

I'm taking the article as a failed attempt at satire aimed at people who are upset at being even slightly inconvenienced--of whom there are far, far too many.

I much prefer a robust hardcover to a flimsy paperback...

I can solve his problem. Just have multiple books on the go at once. Hardbacks for at home, and paperbacks or an e-reader for travel, and audiobooks for driving and chores. I usually have 3-4 books going at once.

Hardcovers are durable. For libraries, for books you want to keep in your own collection, hardcovers are the way to go. It's like dishtowels vs. paper towels -- one gets used again and again, the other is disposable. (I know paperbacks do get passed around, but the idea remains.)

Since most large type (for vision problems) are hard cover, doing away with them is a terrible idea.

I don't like, everyone should don't like!

They will take my collector's editions, sprayed edges, and textured dust jackets from my cold, dead, 'calloused on the inside of my pinky because of how I hold my Kindle' fingers.

Clearly a non-reader.

They also work best for libraries.

They are also great for getting autographs....I think it'd be easier for an author to write on the hardcover than the paperback...🤔

Gotta disagree on this one. I love a good hardback book ❤️

Libraries buy hardcover books over paperbacks whenever possible. Their bindings aren't great but they last longer in circulation than paperbacks.

My mass markets (RIP) live in stacks on a shelf or in boxes in the attic. My office is only HCs and trade paperbacks.

What’d you do, search all of Bluesky for “ebook” because you had that one loaded in the chamber and you wanted to squeeze some greasy word diarrhea out? Maybe you can use your physical book’s pages to wipe your mouth, because you sure ain’t READING AND COMPREHENDING ANY WORDS WRITTEN ON THEM!

I absolutely seek out hardcovers if/when I can, both because I like how they look better and they are more sturdy than a paperback and especially a mass-market paperback.

This is like that one about never washing the bread knife or countless others. The Guardian must put in its opinion writers' contracts a clause requiring one eccentric bad take every quarter just to prove they are a British paper.

I buy loads of hardbacks

I disagree with Larry. Its name should tell you something, like it is full of shit. Is it a little weakling? It can’t hold a hardback. Must be maga. Hope he gets help, maybe join a gym and build some muscle.

Also, I’m sorry the writer is so frail they can’t lift a hardcover book.

Bildungsroman are my joy. He can go piss off. (Runs to buy more hardcovers, paperbacks, and HUGE books)📚

I love hardcover books! Used an e reader and no matter what filter I put, it affected my sleep. Hardcovers don't. Plus they never buffer when you're reading!

Fucking hell @theguardian.com really do come up with some utter shite! I love a good chunky hardback book! Typical low level "journalism" from the bog roll that is #thegaurdian 🤮 #news #journalism #fail

Considering they’ve stopped making ‘pocket paperbacks’, hardcover is the way to go. They last longer and can handle a bit more damage.

And for what it's worth...I think climate change will drive a future in which technology is phased out and humans are forced to live as we did several hundred years ago. Which means we'll need to be able to publish printed books, both hardcover and softcover. No more e-books or Kindles.

I either buy hardcovers, or I buy paperbacks, and if it's something I want to keep on my shelf, I buy the hardback and donate the paperback to the library!

Plus hardcovers lend a sense of permanence to their content. They show respect to the writer and the reader.

Wholeheartedly agree with you! Signed first time author who is thrilled that her book is being released in hardcover on May 19th.

From my cold arthritic hands

The individual who wrote that clearly does not ‘love’ books. I collect as much as read, often have a hard cover copy and a well read paperback. Most of my photography/graphic novels are hard cover as standard. I’m careful with them. They’ve travelled well with me. And I love them all dearly.

Of course he mentioned Pynchon. 🙄

Had so much fun translating those runes btw

also, have you ever checked out a paperback from library? Like holding a dead fish.

Yeah, Larry can kick rocks.

Hardcovers are always to be preferred. Nothing in history will replace the feel of a good book or the act of reading it on a sunny afternoon. Getting ready to do my umpteenth reading of the Lord of the Rings. You can't do that properly with a paperback. Yuck.

As long as there is a market, and as long as publishers make a profit from hardcover sales, why stop printing them?