Books you cannot find in e-versions

ficbot · 12-20-2009, 02:57 PM

I tend to buy new (to me) books as ebooks for the most part, but over the past year or so, I have been gradually replacing some of my p-books with e-editions if I have a large micropay credit and there is a sale going on to bring the price really low. I just bought six more and got back such a large credit due to a coupon/ereader 5% rebate/large transaction rebate that the six netted out at about $1.50 per book.

These were the last of the books in my list though. I still have half a shelf remaining or print fiction books for which I cannot find ebook versions in a format that is easy for me to deal with. I still buy all my non-fiction in print form but for fiction, I really hope to one day hit all-ebook.

Does anyone else have a little hoard of print books for which you cannot find an e-version? If so, I am curious what the books are. The short version of my list:

- A half-dozen Douglas Coupland titles. I did find his newest one at Kobo (but nowhere else). I would dearly like an e-version of Microserfs as it's one of my favourites, but on the other hand he does some creative things with formatting in that book so I am not sure it would work.

- The Last Unicorn and A Fine & Private Place by Peter S. Beagle. I love those books. A Fine & Private Place is one of my all-time favourites.

- Anything by Tom Holt. I have one book of his I like that is part of a series and I would love to read the subsequent volumes, but I refuse to buy them in paper.

- John Irving's fairly rare and out of print short story collection, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. It has a story in it that is one of my all-time fav short stories. No ebook though

- Early Timothy Findley. I have not explored his newer stuff much (4 of them are available in ebook) but I would love to have Not Wanted on the Voyage in ebook form.

- Anne-Marie McDonald. Those are hefty books, too. I would save a ton of shelf space if they were in ebook.

I have been buying the more recent In Death books by Nora Roberts in ebook but have not got around to replacing my earlier paperbacks. It'll be about 30 books, and I have a ton to read right now, so there is no compelling reason. Other than that though, I have either gotten rid of the p-books outright, or replaced them with ebooks.

kjk · 12-20-2009, 03:12 PM

I'd love to see some old childhood favorites, like Elizabeth Enright's Melendy family books come to eBooks. And C.S. Lewis, with Pauline Bayle's illustrations gracing the pages.

Also, John Barnes "One for the Morning Glory".

Blue Tyson · 12-20-2009, 05:17 PM

Kim Newman, written under his own name.
Terry Dowling.
Stephen Baxter's Resplendent.
C. L. Moore's Judgment Night

Many SF anthologies Dozois Year's Best, Hugo Winners etc.

All the Nancy Kress collections
The Best of Lucius Shepard

You can of course get parts of some of the latter

Kali Yuga · 12-20-2009, 05:29 PM

There's a few million paper books out there, not so many ebooks yet. A list of books that aren't converted yet would be rather large.

Fortunately, your paper books aren't likely to fade any time soon....

DawnFalcon · 12-20-2009, 06:22 PM

The vast majority of the American scifi I have except Baen's publications.

(Remembering I prefer second hand print books to DRM'ed ones)

Rumpelteazer · 12-20-2009, 06:48 PM

Quiet some books I cannot download. Not only because there isn't an ebook version out but also because of I live in the Netherlands and many ebook aren't available to me because of region restrictions. I can't download most Stephen King and Charlaine Harris books and I just got my pbook version of "Outlander" (after a tip on this forum).

Most frustrating is when I see an interesting book on Books on Board only to find out I can't buy it.

rwillmer · 12-20-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Most frustrating is when I see an interesting book on Books on Board only to find out I can't buy it.

Do you find the same problem buying ebooks from UK booksellers?
Rachel

jgaiser · 12-20-2009, 07:54 PM

I'm a cook by trade and by desire and there are very few *good* cooking ebooks. I doubt if my collection of cooking pbooks will be replaced anytime soon.

WT Sharpe · 12-20-2009, 10:15 PM

I'd like to see what my namesake, Tom Sharpe, has written. I hear he's pretty good. There are no ebooks.

brecklundin · 12-20-2009, 10:39 PM

Bugs me I can't get George Alec Effinger's Budayeen series in ebook form...they are some wonderful fun pulp/cyberpunk kinda SF...expecially "When Gravity Fails". I once emailed the publisher about 2yrs ago now and was told pretty much to not hold my breath.

Rob G. · 12-20-2009, 10:51 PM

Ian McDonald and John Fante are the two biggies for me. I've seen Fante on the Kindle outside the US, but I just tripped across that tonight and I'm in the US so...

brecklundin · 12-20-2009, 11:10 PM

I also just remembered one of the top three authors I have head, Edward Abbey is not to be had as an ebook. The man could flat out write....beyond his fiction, his books about the desert were supurb.

roger64 · 12-20-2009, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Fortunately

Yes. Congralutation for using the right adjective. It costs a fortune really.

Rumpelteazer · 12-21-2009, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwillmer

Do you find the same problem buying ebooks from UK booksellers?
Rachel

I buy from the BoB's UK store. Some books that aren't available to me can be bought if I change my location to UK. I can't buy them, probably because my billing address is in the Netherlands. Hopefully by adding a British address I can buy those books, I pay by using Paypal and hopefully that isn't linked to my Dutch location.

amjbrown · 12-21-2009, 06:32 AM

Books I have looked for since my first reader about ten months ago...

- quite a lot of John Irving actually - only a few of his titles are available

- Joseph Heller's Catch 22 - quoted as coming by a new eBook compnay some months ago

- JK Rowling as well documented

- many of the JRR Tolkein titles promised, but not yet delivered

- most of Antonia Fraser's historical fiction

- Muriel Sparke's Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - I asked Penguin about this one as some of her other books are available, and they said that the rights owner had declined eBook rights

many, many more. Depressingly many.

amjb

12-20-2009, 02:57 PM	#1
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Books you cannot find in e-versions I tend to buy new (to me) books as ebooks for the most part, but over the past year or so, I have been gradually replacing some of my p-books with e-editions if I have a large micropay credit and there is a sale going on to bring the price really low. I just bought six more and got back such a large credit due to a coupon/ereader 5% rebate/large transaction rebate that the six netted out at about $1.50 per book. These were the last of the books in my list though. I still have half a shelf remaining or print fiction books for which I cannot find ebook versions in a format that is easy for me to deal with. I still buy all my non-fiction in print form but for fiction, I really hope to one day hit all-ebook. Does anyone else have a little hoard of print books for which you cannot find an e-version? If so, I am curious what the books are. The short version of my list: - A half-dozen Douglas Coupland titles. I did find his newest one at Kobo (but nowhere else). I would dearly like an e-version of Microserfs as it's one of my favourites, but on the other hand he does some creative things with formatting in that book so I am not sure it would work. - The Last Unicorn and A Fine & Private Place by Peter S. Beagle. I love those books. A Fine & Private Place is one of my all-time favourites. - Anything by Tom Holt. I have one book of his I like that is part of a series and I would love to read the subsequent volumes, but I refuse to buy them in paper. - John Irving's fairly rare and out of print short story collection, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. It has a story in it that is one of my all-time fav short stories. No ebook though - Early Timothy Findley. I have not explored his newer stuff much (4 of them are available in ebook) but I would love to have Not Wanted on the Voyage in ebook form. - Anne-Marie McDonald. Those are hefty books, too. I would save a ton of shelf space if they were in ebook. I have been buying the more recent In Death books by Nora Roberts in ebook but have not got around to replacing my earlier paperbacks. It'll be about 30 books, and I have a ton to read right now, so there is no compelling reason. Other than that though, I have either gotten rid of the p-books outright, or replaced them with ebooks.

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12-20-2009, 03:12 PM	#2
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	I'd love to see some old childhood favorites, like Elizabeth Enright's Melendy family books come to eBooks. And C.S. Lewis, with Pauline Bayle's illustrations gracing the pages. Also, John Barnes "One for the Morning Glory".

12-20-2009, 05:17 PM	#3
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	Kim Newman, written under his own name. Terry Dowling. Stephen Baxter's Resplendent. C. L. Moore's Judgment Night Many SF anthologies Dozois Year's Best, Hugo Winners etc. All the Nancy Kress collections The Best of Lucius Shepard You can of course get parts of some of the latter

12-20-2009, 05:29 PM	#4
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	There's a few million paper books out there, not so many ebooks yet. A list of books that aren't converted yet would be rather large. Fortunately, your paper books aren't likely to fade any time soon....

12-20-2009, 06:22 PM	#5
DawnFalcon Banned Posts: 2,094 Karma: 2682 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: N/A	The vast majority of the American scifi I have except Baen's publications. (Remembering I prefer second hand print books to DRM'ed ones)

12-20-2009, 06:48 PM	#6
Rumpelteazer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,100 Karma: 24047426 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	Quiet some books I cannot download. Not only because there isn't an ebook version out but also because of I live in the Netherlands and many ebook aren't available to me because of region restrictions. I can't download most Stephen King and Charlaine Harris books and I just got my pbook version of "Outlander" (after a tip on this forum). Most frustrating is when I see an interesting book on Books on Board only to find out I can't buy it.

12-20-2009, 07:54 PM	#8
jgaiser Omnivorous Posts: 3,281 Karma: 27978909 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Rural NW Oregon Device: Kindle Voyage, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle 3, KPW1	I'm a cook by trade and by desire and there are very few good cooking ebooks. I doubt if my collection of cooking pbooks will be replaced anytime soon.

12-20-2009, 10:15 PM	#9
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,073 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	I'd like to see what my namesake, Tom Sharpe, has written. I hear he's pretty good. There are no ebooks.

12-20-2009, 10:39 PM	#10
brecklundin Banned Posts: 1,906 Karma: 15348 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: mine	Bugs me I can't get George Alec Effinger's Budayeen series in ebook form...they are some wonderful fun pulp/cyberpunk kinda SF...expecially "When Gravity Fails". I once emailed the publisher about 2yrs ago now and was told pretty much to not hold my breath.

12-20-2009, 10:51 PM	#11
Rob G. Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 160 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle DX	Ian McDonald and John Fante are the two biggies for me. I've seen Fante on the Kindle outside the US, but I just tripped across that tonight and I'm in the US so...

12-20-2009, 11:10 PM	#12
brecklundin Banned Posts: 1,906 Karma: 15348 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: mine	I also just remembered one of the top three authors I have head, Edward Abbey is not to be had as an ebook. The man could flat out write....beyond his fiction, his books about the desert were supurb.

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12-21-2009, 06:32 AM	#15
amjbrown Addict Posts: 322 Karma: 1231044 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle app on the iPhone	Books I have looked for since my first reader about ten months ago... - quite a lot of John Irving actually - only a few of his titles are available - Joseph Heller's Catch 22 - quoted as coming by a new eBook compnay some months ago - JK Rowling as well documented - many of the JRR Tolkein titles promised, but not yet delivered - most of Antonia Fraser's historical fiction - Muriel Sparke's Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - I asked Penguin about this one as some of her other books are available, and they said that the rights owner had declined eBook rights many, many more. Depressingly many. amjb