Sunday Salon - April 27

I recently picked up The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans. I have had a copy of this book for a long time, so this year I added it to the Chunkster Challenge, TBR Challenge, and What's in a Name challenge lists in an effort to read it. I made it to page 13, and then put it back down. I probably won't be picking it back up. Sometimes, I can tell right away when a book does not fit my reading tastes, and this one seems to fall into that category. 

As much as I probably would not like it if I continued reading, a little paragraph on the copyright page caught my eye. It is a note I have seen a multitude of times, but never really gave it thought until now (probably because I was more interested in reading the story than the copyright page!).

'If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book".

After doing a bit of internet research, I found this method of dealing with unsold books even has a name: book pulping. Unsold books, often mass market paperbacks, are often returned to the publisher, and are frequently destroyed and recycled into products like cardboard boxes.

What a shame! As a book lover, I am always saddened to hear of books being destroyed, whether through censorship or just because they didn't get sold. I understand publishing houses are a business, as are bookstores. But, if you're going to destroy a book anyway, why not donate it? Libraries, homeless and women's shelters, adult literacy and ESL programs, prisons - I'm sure any of these would be more than happy to accept these kinds of donations, even with a front cover torn off to prevent re-sale. Now, with the growing popularity of software such as Amazons' Kindle and other ways to read e-books, I wonder if publishers will start releasing e-books first to see how well they do before printing out large quantities.

Book coveting around the blogisphere:

• Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger, reviewed at Caribousmom for the Soup's On Challenge
• One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead, reviewed at Life by Candlelight
• Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim, reviewed at Musings
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, reviewed at A Written Word