People choose to consume books in many different ways — on their e-readers, on their phone, by audiobook and the old-fashioned way, via hardcover or paperback copy.
However, if Alex Christofi has a particularly long book to read, he prefers to chop it in half.
That’s right — down the middle. One half for now, one half for later.
“Yesterday my colleague called me a ‘book murderer’ because I cut long books in half to make them more portable,” tweeted Christofi, an author and editor at Oneworld, a publishing house in London. “Does anyone else do this? Is it just me?”
Christofi’s tweet included a photo of several chopped books, including David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” and Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “Middlesex."
The book-slicing question caused a stir on social media Tuesday.
“It’s definitely just you,” the Twitter Books account replied.
The Twitter account for SparkNotes considered Christofi’s admission to an offense worthy of emergency response.
Some considered the book-halving nothing short of a pulp abomination.
Some suggested Christofi just get a Kindle or e-reader, or a bigger bag.
Others mocked the admission — at this rate, why not cut the books horizontally, or into multiple pieces?
Some pointed out the “destruction” of books (usually after reading, not before) is not without some precedent.
It turns out Christofi’s calculated slicing had some unintended effects, which ended up undercutting the convenience factor.
Some did praise the practice — after all, shouldn’t you do whatever it takes to actually read the book?
Much of the conversation surrounding the book-cutting debate focused on “Infinite Jest,” enough to get the book trending.
But a bulk of the reaction to this premise was negative and/or pure revulsion.
Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
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