Hardback novels always appearing at this time of year!

Yes I got the new Shardlake book for £8 something in Tesco. Really pleased.

Unless it's anything specific that I need or want I won't buy hardbacks either. Trouble is it's been those that I have wanted in the past that were hardbacks which gave me no choice but to get them. One of them is now proving difficult to obtain unless you're prepared to really pay out.
Admittedly my purchases have been more for research but were still on the expensive side.

I got the new Shardlake as well Lullydully really looking forward to reading it. My husband comes from Norwich so it has an added interest.
I love getting a hardback book, it feels like a real treat for me ( sad I know )

I love getting a hardback book, it feels like a real treat for me ( sad I know )

Well I must be sad too sodapop because I love getting a hardback book as a gift too. It feels so special doesn’t it? DH almost always gets me one at C (can we say that word yet?) . My only problem is what to do with them once you have finished. I don’t see, to be able to part with them as easy as I can with a paperback

I hate hardbacks - far to heavy to read in bed as witzend said.

Our village library has an independent loan section where they are always happy to take good quality secondhand books. As are charity shops.

I prefer a hardback.

I find them particularly easy to read in bed as I sit upright to rad and rest them on my duvet covered knees.

I read lying on my side!

I lie on my back in bed holding the book up. I only do this with a hardback or my Kindle if I’m feeling wide awake, but I’ve nearly given myself a black eye on many occasions.

I am like kitty I also read in bed lying on my side. I find a hardback too heavy to hold, apart from the fact that the Scot in me will not allow me to spend the money!

I prefer a paperback too as they aren’t so heavy. Having said that often new paperbacks are sometimes difficult to read as the margin is too narrow to be able to read the words in the centre. Do have an eye on the Christmas hardbacks though. The new R Galbraith for DD1, it will come back to me!

The usual thing used to be to bring out the hardback some time before the paperback - obv. with Christmas presents in mind - and it used to be the case that libraries would buy them, but I'm not so sure now.

When I worked in a library and we had to 'weed' shelves now and then to make room for new stock, we used to put the 'weedings' on sale, and I often had disagreements with a colleague who insisted that hardbacks should be double the price of paperbacks, since more expensive to start with. But people hardly ever bought them - they'd ultimately end up as landfill, which really used to grieve me. Surely better to to sell for 50p or even 20p, than not at all.

Just read Robert Galbraiths, Lethal White, brilliant!

I always received a hard back each Christmas. It was always looked forward to, and read with delight. Not any longer I'm afraid.
RIP Terry Pratchett.

Regarding holding hardbacks I have a ”bookchair “ which is also brilliant for holding the iPad, holding cookery books, for reading while eating (bad habit!) and can even be propped on a pillow in bed.
Wouldn’t be without it!

It is buying cut price new books from Tesco's, Sainsbury's, and Amazon which puts bookshops out of business, thus reducing access to many other publications.
I can honestly say I never do it, and I buy a great many books.

I used to read lying on my side, but do not do so now as it made my hip and shoulder ache and I couldn't sleep because of the pain.

Some of us don't have the option, and have to look for cut price books, eazybee. Often from charity shops, or secondhand stalls. Or free from the library.

I buy new books and I buy a lot of secondhand books from a wide variety of sources. It all depends on the subject and the circumstances. More secondhand than new books in my library.

I do keep them for a while Gillybob as I don't like to part with my hard back books. I am the organiser for an English Library here in France so they eventually find their way onto the shelves there.

I don't like hardbacks from the point of view of the weight, and manoeuvrability, but well with some authors the anticipation is just too much. We have been given "Lethal White" but my husband is hogging it at the moment, I'm next! Also bought Kate Morton's new book in hardback, "The Clockmaker's Daughter" because it was cheaper in Sainos than on the high street, one of my bad habits picking up a book with the groceries. Love her stuff and this one didn't disappoint, also nearly 600 pages so worth the price imo. I don't think slim pickings should be the same price as weighty tomes. We do pass a lot of our books on, just as well as they would take over if we didn't.

I sometimes buy hardbacks because I can't wait for the paperback to come out. I've just started The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse, I love her books. I buy from supermarkets, A****n and bookshops. There are at least 3 more on my list to buy.

Just noticed the new Barbara Erskine is out, do hope somebody asks what I want for Christmas. No problem reading hardbacks its finding somewhere to put them thats the problem.

A new Barbara Erskine! I'm sure I read somewhere that she only produces one every 4 years.
Many years ago I bought Midnight Is A Lonely Place for a dd - she had her nose stuck into it for much of Christmas Day, and Boxing day, too.

Eazybee, I do buy books at Waterstones, too. But also at the Oxfam bookshop, which reminds me - I have several of my own 'weedings' to take there soon.

I've just read Barbara Erskine's Ghost Tree. It's a genre I enjoy, time slip etc. I have always enjoyed her books but this time a bit less than usual. I found two of the main characters somewhat unbelievable, still quite a good read though.