buy the book, put it on your shelf as a nice decoration, and then read the plot from wikipedia

Genuinely curious why you'd want to avoid these? To me they make the book look read and loved. Maybe you could buy two copies, one to read and one to look pretty??

With thin paperbacks the spines often remain in good condition but with any thicker paperbacks the spines always get creased no matter how I pre-open the pages. If you want to read the books comfortably, I'd recommend that you either don't focus on the creases or buy hardcover books. With collectors editions you could always get the book and read an ebook version of the same text.

I am very anal with books. I want to leave them in the same condition I received them for the next person.

I just dont fold back the pages? I read the book at like a 75 degree angle.

I think it's just muscle memory because it's how I am, but I can go from left side lighting, to right side lighting without having to think about it.

I know I might be crazy but I hate cracked spines or any indication that someone came to this story before me.

Marginalia breaks my heart and I can't read the book, because someone is telling me how to read it

This is the way. When I was younger I was obsessed with keeping my books looking pristine for some odd reason. Possibly drilled into me when I would frequent the library and was taught to keep those books as if they were my own. My family had a bit of a joke that I would just "peak" into books when reading. Now that I'm wiser I'm much less concerned about this; creases and cracks in the spine show the signs of a well loved book.

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Mass market paperbacks are always going to get cracks in the spines, there's no avoiding it. They're not made to be durable.

On the other hand though, I don't understand how or why people crack the spines of trade paperbacks. I mean whatever, they're y'all's books, but I would have to try hard to crack them.

If you go first 15 pages, then last 15 pages etc to the center of the book you should crack the spine without it being seen. I do that with big Paperbacks everytime because i want my books to look beautiful

here is a video about the method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fN_odVFivw

I feel you, I think I'm just weirdly worried about cracking the spine, and so I never have. I'm reading Count of Monte Cristo now and am almost done, paperback, and even at page 1000, no crack.

That's not like an elitist thing, that's like, I'm just very opposed to cracking a spine thing

It might be also that I realized that when I touched and turned pages from the side, there's always yellowing or fraying, so I hold and turn pages from the top or bottom.

I do about the same and have minimal to no cracks in the spines of books I read. I don't make a conscious effort to avoid damaging the book, but I'm not one of those people that open the books so far that the left side pages wrap around to the back cover and they hold the book in one hand. I either read with two hands, or if the book is light enough I'll hold it open with my thumb at the bottom.

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Once I learned the method outlined in another post, open a few pages at the front, a few pages at the back, keep going; I have never visibly cracked another spine.

Trade paperbacks function in the same way as mass market paperbacks unless they have a crease down the cover. I hold paperbacks in one hand. Trades crack as easily as mass market paperbacks when you read like that, or if you fold pages back, or read books multiple times. (The no-crack spine trick works for trades as well.)

Gently

Understandable. My issue with mass markets is that they're usually printed with very little gutter (if that's the right word) so I have to break the spine to read the lines fully, which is an issue I don't usually have with trade paperbacks.

Haha but also I do want to emphasize I'm not trying to judge people for it!

100% agree

If you’re buying 2 books you should probably just buy a hardcover instead.

Hi there. Your post would be better asked in our Simple Questions thread. It helps us keep the main subreddit focused around broader discussion rather topics which only apply to an individual. Thank you!

I found this less of an issue with the method outlined; since you’re essentially breaking the spine invisibly. But this is definitely more of an issue with mass markets, and I get why it would be frustrating.

And from the same perspective; I get why you don’t like them. I adore them; but that’s a side effect of how I read; they make reading easier for me but harder for you. No judgement here, either!