Whale Child is eight and refuses to read, or contemplate reading, any dust-jacketed book with its jacket on.
We are about to move house. Preparing for the packers, I find I am finding a steady stream of bookless jackets all over the place.
There is nothing so forlorn as as a bookless dust jacket, I am also finding.
I ask myself: Have I failed as a mother or this a Sign of the Times?
I don’t like dust jackets myself, and pretty much all of my hardcover books are on the shelves without jackets.
Must be a sign of the times, I don’t like dust jackets either!
I also discard dust jackets – I find them annoying while reading, plus I like the look of book spines on the shelf, especially if they have gilt lettering.
I realize by discarding the jackets I am lowering the book’s resale value, but books should be read anyway, not used as museum pieces.
Also have you ever noticed that really fine editions of books (Easton Press, Franklin Library etc.) never come with jackets? Just a thought
I don’t discard dust jackets, but I do remove them while reading. Most of the time, the cover art is not replicated on the hardcover of the book, and the cover art is as important to me as the book itself!