Move over, Dewey Decimal!
Here's the sitch: my mom is staying with me for a month to lend a hand during the LASIK (which went fine and I no longer require space alien goggles) and to hang out for the 4th of July weekend etc.
Like mother like daughter, which means in my mom's copious free time (b/c I never untether from the PC) she likes to kick back with a book. She brought a suitcase full, but ran out within the first couple weeks (totally LM,LD!!) so I've been loaning her books from my stock. Yesterday she read Dean Koontz' From the Corner of His Eye and the day before she read Michael Crichton's Next. Today she said she wanted to read something that required less thinking, and didn't I have a nice murder mystery she could breeze through? Like, say, a Miss Marple?
No, no I don't, actually. (Although I have nothing against Agatha Christie, and Sleeping Murder is one of my faves.) Since I like thinky stuffs (like quantum physics and the ethics of biogenetics, see above), I don't really have many mysteries on my keeper shelves, simply because after I read them, I now know who dunnit, and lose interest in rereading. I do, however, own maybe 30 Mary Higgins Clark novels and every single Sue Grafton paperback, so I was able to point Mom in that direction fairly easily.
Until.
Mom flips open the first page, gives a disgruntled look, and tosses the book to the table in disgust.
Me: Er... Everything OK?
Mom: Oh, it's just the stupid type. Why do they print the text so tiny?
Me: Well, some say the book's physical size matters more to a publishing house than the contents' legibility. They need to fit a certain number in the slot at the registers.
Mom: So they print it so small it's practically Morse Code?
Me: Not always. The converse is also true. If the wordcount comes up short, they're equally likely to bump up the font size a notch if they think that'll make the book (size) more attractive to buyers.
Mom: [eying the book on the table] So... if I compare that book to the other MHCs, some of them might have bigger text?
Me: Sure. Lets grab 'em and experiment.
[fast forward through the painstaking comparison of 30 MHC novels, and their subsequent division into stacks of Normal Type, Tiny Type, and Morse Code]
My mom demolished my carefully alphabetized library and has now rearranged my book collection in descending order of font size. Just wait. I think it might catch on.
YOUR TURN: Ever notice the difference in font sizes in your books? Ever organize them by said font differences? Ever choose to read or not read something based on the size of the font? Holla back!
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15 comments:
Font sizes are becoming more important the older I get. I haven't gotten to the point of choosing a book based on its large type, but putting one down because it's too small is happening more the past few years. But organize the books by font size? My dear, we've got almost 3,000 books in the library - it's tough enough keeping them alphabetical!
~Vicki Eldredge
I hear you. I used to be OCD about my library and having everything in a very particular order (3 distinct sections, all alpha by author) but lately it's been looking a little... casual. Heh. I'm always looking for inventive new ways to procrastinate, however, and "reorganize my library" seems like as good an idea as any...
I happily pay extra for the HQ books with larger print. I'm reading Lifelines by CJ Lyons that has TINY print and it's killing me. This is with new glasses, too!!!
I'm hoping to be able to afford an electronic reader for my mom in a few years, once she starts having trouble with font sizes. I think she'd like it once she understood it and supposedly you can increase font size with the touch of a button.
Not the same as having a book sitting on the shelf waiting for you, but still.
Sarah
Mary: Do you find that a good percentage of the books you want to read are available in large print? Or is it still pretty limited?
Sarah: You know, that's an excellent idea. I think I just figured out what to get my mom for Christmas...
The organization in my library means trying to stack them all so they won't randomly fall off the shelves. Font size, ack!
Jody W.
E, you are an utter laff riot this morning! What is causing your good humor to bubble up like this? (As if I couldn't guess!) :)
Tell your mom that ambient lighting makes a difference. I find that a paperback in direct sunlight is perfectly legible, while the same book under fluorescent lighting (ick) gives me eyestrain from the oscillating light waves.
I think most mainstream hardbacks these days come in both sizes, but you pretty much have to go to a library to find the large-type versions.
If anyone remembers the oblong magnifiers that used to come with the compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (set in Morse Code font), I find that particular utensil is invaluable if I have to spend a lot of time in involuntary confinement where the lighting is poor(jail, jury duty, and the like). Maybe you should invest a few bucks in one for your mom and others who don't boast your new 20/15 vision. :)
Erica, I don't see many large prints aside from Harlequins.
Bill is dead on about the light - I can read fine sitting out back. But one thing I like about e-books....I can adjust the print!
I hate to be the librarian here (which I am) but Large Print books are so the way to go. I have really bad eyes and rather thick glasses, which I only wear inside the house when no one else is around. (Seriously even though the lenses are shrunk they still don't fit the frames.)
Since working in a library I've come to realize the wonderfulness of Large Print books. I can read them without my glasses. I can't recommend them enough.
And being a librarian, yes my own collection is er...OCD is a good word!
Bill Clark said: Tell your mom that ambient lighting makes a difference. I find that a paperback in direct sunlight is perfectly legible, while the same book under fluorescent lighting (ick) gives me eyestrain from the oscillating light waves.
And I'm agog. Wowee-zowee I had no clue about this. It sure explains a lot. I am actually doing a little happy dance in the living room as this posts!
Jody: Heheh. I resemble that. Oh how I miss my OCD days...
B.C.: Too bad it's been lightning and spitting rain the past week or so. I actually just got lawn chairs, so theoretically reading outside is now possible at my house. I suppose with the umbrella blocking the "sun" on the other hand...
Mary: Very true re: e-books! A definite bonus.
Christine: My mom swears by LPB, too. Her only complaint is the difficulty in finding them for anything other than mainstream bestsellers (and even then...) As a librarian, what percentage of books would you say are available in LP?
Vicki: Let us know if you notice a big difference!
I do notice font sizes, but they don't really bug me. What gets me are the books that reverse the title/author bar.
I'm reading Dead to Worse right now (love it) but having the book title and Charlaine Harris's name on the bottom of the page has thrown me for a loop - for no really good reason. Even folding the top of the page over at the end of a read feels wrong somehow.
Your mom cracks. me. up.
/waves
This post is hilarious. And the comments are even better. My bookshelves are lucky to have books standing with their spines out. Oh wait...
As a librarian, what percentage of books would you say are available in LP?
I'd say 70% (very unscientifically of course). You can get more than the bestsellers, but they just don't print the mass markets in LP unless it's a bigger name. For instance, Mary Balogh or Julia Quinn are in LP but some of the newer romance mass market writers aren't.
Amazon has the LP listed but they’re still expensive there. If she’s a library user she can always give the librarian suggestions or eve ask what their buying policy is ad make suggestions that way.
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