Our book club's copy of 'The Secret History' fell apart mid-discussion

I mean, we were just getting to the part about the bacchanal when the binding on my paperback just gave out. Pages went everywhere across the coffee table. This was last Thursday at Brenda's house, and I had to hold the book together with both hands for the rest of the night. Has anyone else had a book literally disintegrate on you during a meeting?

3 comments

3 Comments

luna8917d ago

Oh man, that's rough lol. I had a copy of "The Bonfire of the Vanities" do the same thing at my old office book club, pages just started falling out like it was snowing. Brenda must have been mortified, but honestly those mass market paperbacks are built so cheap these days, it's barely a surprise. You'd think for the price they charge, they could at least use decent glue.

ray1897d ago

Did you try putting a rubber band around the spine before the meeting? I started doing that after my copy of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" started shedding pages during a discussion at my place. It helped keep everything together long enough to finish the chapter and then I just hit the library for a sturdier copy next time.

carr.gavin7d ago

Brought my copy of "The Great Gatsby" to a meeting once and the spine cracked so loud during the quiet part that everyone jumped. @luna891 hit it right about the glue, those mass market paperbacks are basically held together with hope and a prayer these days. I ended up having to borrow Brenda's copy for the rest of the night, which was awkward because she had all these sticky notes in it that kept falling out too. Sometimes I wonder if publishers are just testing us, seeing how many pages we can lose before we give up and buy another copy.