I usually skip 😕. I do read intros to short stories-- Neil Gaiman once hid an extra and now I'm in the habit. Plus curated anthologies usually have a good essay at the beginning or helpful background info. And I'll read intros to old af epics because there's good context for translation choice, etc. But novels- I skip bc they generally assume reader is already familiar with the tale and spoilers abound. Sometimes I go back later but usually I forget

Original art vs newer is pretty broad-- things released simultaneously in US/UK for example can have different covers. And even your example of HP -- the original UK or original US? And classics, sheesh! What even is the original art for some of those?? I don't feel like this preference question is quite answerable, I sometimes see different artwork on formats for newer stuff!

I don't often read paper books anymore, I prefer a slightly larger font on kindle because I hate using reading glasses. But back before I was all eReader, I preferred Mass Market as those were easiest for me to handle and didn't have a weird texture I hate like some trade paperbacks. I hate dust covers sliding around and mostly lost those anyway for hardcovers.

I thought IT was OK. It definitely felt like something a person wrote in their cocaine days and was. The Stand on the other hand-- gimme all the bloat, I'm here for it!