"a Jewish farm hand in the Gentile heartland"
I really want to read Philip Roth's new book, The Plot Against America, partly because I love alternate histories and partly because people tell me I'll love Philip Roth. Lord knows I love the idea of Philip Roth, a real contemporary American prose stylist.
I do not, however, love the price of hardcover books. It's an affront to democracy and a miscarriage of free enterprise. I am patently against it!
The aristocratic nature of publishing really eats at me. Wanna buy a book when the buzz is hot? That'll be 26 bucks--belly up plebians, or go wordless.
Materials are not the issue. If you can get a hardbound copy of the 9/11 report for like 5 dollars, then there are some sizable profits being bandied about. Arggh.
It's a form of monopoly. Any one book should have to be in print at at least two different houses if it's to be in print at all. They then compete in regular, capitalistic cock-fight fashion, and the consumer emerges victorious.
It's not even like I need this book. I'm 20-40% through 5 different books at the moment. But I've just got a lot of love to give, and I want to give my love to The Plot Against America. I want to love it right now.
Sure, I could go to Amazon and get exactly 32% off of that price, but I am no whore. Besides, a man can not live by delayed gratification alone. Good day to you sir!
posted by Luke @ 1:41 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I was thinking about picking this book up as well. It's funny how you never hear about Lindbergh's anti-semitism or his isolationist speeches. Strange guy.
--Mike Sheffler
... turning to the 3-D map, we see an unmistakable cone of ignorance
The really odd thing about the publishing industry is that you are the only person who objects to paying hardcover price. I assume you are familiar with the bizarre popularity of The DaVinci Code (which is almost worth checking out just to try to figure out why people are so enamoured by one of the most obvious and poorly written mysteries I have ever encountered - and I have read the entire Cat Who...? series). Well, on a recent visit to a Barnes and Noble I saw a hardcover version of Dan Brown's earlier book (sort of a prequel I gather) on a display at the front of the store for 20ish dollars, or regular hardback price. Now this book is at least 3 years old, so I went to the fiction section and sure enough, it also existed in paperback for 6 dollars. But people were buying the hardcover edition, to the point that it made it to #2 on the hardcover bestseller list a week or so later. So, people, there's this thing in your town called a library...
--Aleah
It's fascinating.
Did you end up getting Angels and Demons (brown's first book with the protagonist of the Da Vinci Code)?
I think you'd--rather, I liked it roughly 11 times more than the DaVinci Code.
It's amazing how quickly 500 pages goes when it's vacuous and disposable entertainment.
Huh, maybe I'll check it out. I figured it would be worse because it wasn't as popular... no, wait, that makes no sense, popularity doesn't mean anything, never mind.
And if you want to read the Hitchhiker books AND get revenge on the publishing industry, I once found a hardcover edition of all 5 books together at B&N in the cheapass books section for $5.95.
--Aleah
You can end up waiting months for a popular book from the library. Sometimes that’s fine and sometimes I want a book NOW. Beside that point, I’ll admit that I’m one of the people that will pass up a cheaper paperback for a more expensive hardcover. And I don’t know why. The same reason I buy special editions of movies I already own and only skim over the special features. I don’t know why that is either. What I do know is that having only one edition of The Evil Dead available on DVD is exactly what Stalin would want. Exactly. Thank God, and President Bush (and NOT Saddam Hussein) that we have nearly a half dozen at Best Buy. And the one with the Book of the Dead sqooshy cover is the shiz-NITE.
-ben
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