I buy mass market paperbacks, and mass market paperbacks only. So bad is my obsession that I have 'gone without' books I really want, on several occasions, because I've been unable to find them in mass market. Trade paperbacks are taking over the world and I hate them with a passion I cannot express.
In case you're sat there wondering what the difference is, I can tell you that it's quite simply size. Mass market paperbacks are a beautifully compact, user-friendly and handy 17.5cm (H) X 11cm (W) while trade are an ugly, cumbersome, wrist-snapping 19.5cm (H) X 12.5cm (W) - sometimes bigger, but that's another format again.

In my opinion the mass market paperback is dying because of snobbery. Mass market PB are associated with the kind of trashy novels only available through the big supermarkets and the literary snobs out there (you know who you are) needed something that said, 'Look at me! I'm reading intelligent literature,' and so the trade PB was born to help distinguish between the two.

At this rate there won't be any books available for me to buy soon!

Related posts: fictionaddictionblog.com, rlaneri.blogspot.com, Guardian