This is a longstanding complaint really, but I’ve been reminded of it today by Paperback Reader‘s lovely shelf of beige books. See those Salman Rushdie books? This is the source of my displeasure. Because I like Salman Rushdie quite a lot. In fact I am thinking it is probably time to read Shalimar the Clown, one of two of Rushdie’s books that I’ve been saving. I like Salman Rushdie a lot, and I like these editions of his books (link is to The Moor’s Last Sigh, the other of Rushdie’s books I’m saving for myself). But they don’t have my two favorites in those editions! And any future books he writes won’t be in those editions!
I prefer my editions to match. I will go to some trouble to have the proper copies of an author’s work. For instance, I have all of Hilary McKay’s Casson books, and recently several of them were up on Paperbackswap in hardback. I do prefer hardback really, but I didn’t buy them because if I had one in hardback, I’d need them all to be in hardback. Which is inconvenient and unnecessary, and it runs to expense.
BUT I ACTUALLY CANNOT GET Salman Rushdie’s books in matching editions. IT MAKES ME UNHAPPY. It doesn’t matter how much I like those editions with those covers. I can get The Satanic Verses. I can get Midnight’s Children and even The Moor’s Last Sigh. But can I get The Ground Beneath Her Feet (my favorite)? And can I get The Enchantress of Florence (my second favorite but Salman Rushdie needs to write some proper women characters or just leave it alone like Chaim Potok)? NO I CANNOT.
HMPH.
Please tell me I’m not alone. Do you like having matching editions? It’s not just me, right?