Comments on: Kensington’s Comfort View

By: Kaz Augustin

Kaz Augustin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:26:53 +0000

Mmmmmm….British mass-market paperbacks.

I’m actually serious. Given a choice, I go for the British binding every time. The product looks more polished and the paper seems to be better quality. And, in science-fiction anyway, the cover art is usually significantly better. (Yes, owned an s-f bookshop in a past life. Yes, polled customers on preferences.)

By: Jackie L.

Jackie L. — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:23:10 +0000

I have arthritis in my hands and the Christine Feehan book crippled me up for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, she went hardbound. I have book holders for mm and hardback, but that venti book didn’t fit either. I will never, ever buy another one.

By: veinglory

veinglory — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:04:47 +0000

They were all the rage for a while, they are taller, the print isn’t much bugger but theur is a bigger space between lines. I don’t find them any easier to read and much harder to fit in a bookshelf.

By: azteclady

azteclady — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:01:07 +0000

Liviania, that’s how I ended up with the one and only venti I have–it’s Nora Roberts’ Northern Lights. ’nuff said.

By: Liviania

Liviania — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:17:43 +0000

Ugh. I hate venti. Can’t afford it, end of sentence. It’s not a particularly attractive shape either. Trade paperback are often fun to hold and sometimes have wonderfully textured covers and pages, but I rarely (RARELY) buy them due to the price tag too. Mass markets are my friends, and I’ll stick with that size. Unless we switch over to British mass markets – those puppies are pretty sweet.

On Smart Bitches, many people seemed p.o.’d about the alignment of their books. My shelves are a mess of hardbacks, ARCs, mass markets (American and British), trades, and random other sizes. I just use a very creative system that I reorganize every year during book cleanout day. (I re-sale a few books for about $300 every year. I’m still drowning. See why I can’t afford that extra $2? It’s not because I’m cheap – though I am that – it’s because I’m a very well paying customer. Where do I even get the money for my book habit?)

But yeah, I own one venti because I got it used for uber cheap. I wouldn’t pick one up in the story unless I really had a jones for the book.

By: Leah

Leah — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:38:25 +0000

That explains the extra-tall pb I saw in WalMart the other day. It was tall enough to look odd on the shelf, but not so tall that it was a sore thumb–I kept holding other books up to it, because they looked like that too, only to find they were shorter. “Comfort View”–heh, heh–like the baby boomers can’t admit they need that large print stuff ;)

By: azteclady

azteclady — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:11:43 +0000

And we hated them with a passion, if memory serves :grin:

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:00:13 +0000

Catherine Coulter and Vince Flynn have both had books released with the wonderful price tag of $9.99. The product dimensions for these books are: 7.4 x 4.2 x 1 inches.

Those are the larger mass markets. They are taller and a tiny bit wider. There was a great article on the SBs about them. Nora asked the Bitchery what they thought of the "venti" paperbacks.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:15:35 +0000

That’s a hella long time to wait for a pre-ordered book. But you do save 5 whole %.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:03:39 +0000

Tilly Greene on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 am:

I think it might be referring to the book that's between the mass market and trade. At least a couple of years ago that is what was being described at one point as the â€œcomfortâ€ size. Slightly larger for larger print, but not as large as the trade so it wouldn't fit in your bag. The ones that have been released were priced at 9.99 [USD], between the 7.99 mm and 12.95 trade.

If I remember correctly Christine Feehan had one but can't remember any others off the top of my head.

Catherine Coulter and Vince Flynn have both had books released with the wonderful price tag of $9.99. The product dimensions for these books are: 7.4 x 4.2 x 1 inches.

By: Tilly Greene

Tilly Greene — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:25:05 +0000

I think it might be referring to the book that’s between the mass market and trade. At least a couple of years ago that is what was being described at one point as the “comfort” size. Slightly larger for larger print, but not as large as the trade so it wouldn’t fit in your bag. The ones that have been released were priced at 9.99 [USD], between the 7.99 mm and 12.95 trade.

If I remember correctly Christine Feehan had one but can’t remember any others off the top of my head.

By: Mont Blanc Ballpoint Pens

Mont Blanc Ballpoint Pens — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:57:52 +0000

I agree with Jill. It means large print.

By: Jill Sorenson

Jill Sorenson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:45:55 +0000

I think it means “large print” or easy to read for some other reason. Bold print?

By: Diana Castilleja

Diana Castilleja — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:42:06 +0000

I thought it had to with the glasses that Amazon is creating to enlarge print for readers. Digitally enhanced(?) or something, not actually configured by the lens but by sensors… Does that sound right, or did I catch the sci/fi channel during a bad dream sequence again?

By: limecello

limecello — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:37:15 +0000

Ack – I’m so confused too. I thought “pages” might help – and it says it’s a paperback, but there are no sizes! And then I found another one! http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Cookie-Comfort-Swensen-Mysteries/dp/0758229127/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207190182&sr=1-1