The article linked to below discusses the grim future of mass market paperbacks. Mass market paperbacks were an essential part of my early reading experiences. I started reading adult books when I was 10 with mass market paperbacks copies of Bruce Catton’s Civil War books. I remember having James Michener’s Hawaii with an insert of color photos of the then-current movie from 1966. I had Ian Fleming’s James Bond books and novels by John Steinbeck. I remember the mass market versions of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm.
As I got older, I could afford hardcover books. It’s been a while since I got a mass market paperback. Still, they were an important part of my life when I was young.
Sad! 