So what do YOU like most about the printed medium of books?

I must admit I love being the first to open a book. The spine is nice and smooth, the pages are all neat and straight. I love the smell of the ink, and the feel of the cover in my hands.

I love the little details a creative designer can put into a book, from the cover and dust jackets to the pagination and fonts, that make it like a piece of candy that you must admire before devouring. Young adult titles in particular can be amazingly creatively designed-- in Alisa Libby's The Blood Confession, the edges of the pages are actually lightly "blood-spattered" which is eerily beautiful.

I've bleated on about the smell of books ad infinitum here on LT but I think this is the proper place to mention the sound too. When I was in infants' school, two kinds of book always seemed to be covered in clear plastic that crackled deliciously when they were opened - these were the story books the teacher read out loud to us at the end of the day and the music books the teacher used when playing piano for a class sing-song. Whenever I pick up a plastic-covered book now I am transported back to those days where I can feel the sun streaming through the classroom window and smell the wax crayons that scented every room.

I like the heft in my hand. I like the various textures of the paper. Some is smooth, even soft; while some is rough and crude (especially WWII era editions).

I like old books that fall open of their own accord to certain places. I like crisp new books the crackle when opened. I like new gilded pages that you have to gently peel apart.

I like having the physical objects around. They reassure me, and they make a house a home. I know that I will never have to feel bored because I always have something to read, or re-read. I can look at them all and remember their stories. They make a room less echoey and remove the need for other decoration. I love them all, even if they are cheap, falling-apart paperbacks of no monetary value. The hodgepodge of books is not stuffy or pretentious but interesting.

Book smell aside, I'm with MerryMary on texture. I'm not a huge fan of the glossy stuff used in textbooks, but I can see the need for it.