Casually strolling when I stumble upon Jason Pargin's page (aka David Wong, author of John Dies at the End and othe books) where he's explaining that several books have been changed to update the pop culture elements.

Edit to add this post covering the Kindle "Modernization" already on the forum and full of very good points

He uses Pretty Little Liars as an example, when the line went from "Come watch Fear Factor at home tonight" to "Come watch this tiktok at home tonight" here is the link of his video He's much more articulate than me about why reading old references in books is still part of the journey, but I'm also flabbergasted at the thought process of even changing references.

Is the publisher thinking that a book that did quite well will suddenly be dropped cold because it mentions something outdated ? Years ago there were "emoji version" of Shakespeare plays (this did kill something in me at the time) and it feels like the same idea : readers can only understand and appreciate what is immediately known. No time for looking up a reference, no time for learning to just roll with a vague reference that isn't even that important in the context. And as Jason says, it even makes no sense. Changing a reference from decades ago for a more modern one might not work because the world is different and modern readers will raise a brow at the absurdity of the situation described.

Are we really dumbing down books ? Is the plan to make it impossible to have something last and span over decades and become itself a reference ?

I mostly buy paperbacks, hardcovers are just sooo heavy in my hands lol. I’m having a recent problem where my paperback covers are ripping at the corners of the spine???? It’s happened to both Heated Rivalry and now the Hobbit and I need to fix the problem before any other beloved stories are taken victim. I don’t think it’s like regular ol wear and tear on the spine cuz I’ve only read each of the copies once (not even 100 pages into the Hobbit :,)).

Anyway. Has anyone here considered reinforcing their paperbacks with mylar covers or book tape?? Or have any tips and tricks for doing so/getting good materials? Or even an idea why on earth my paperbacks are suddenly falling apart! :,) This is not my department at the library 😅

An important note to add is that I am so conscious about how I hold books because my family is full of freaks who will get actually upset if someone creases a spine 😭