I have been reading paperback books for many years. I learned to read with Gothic Novels,and Hard Boiled Detective Fiction like Mickey Spillane,John D. McDonald,and others. Times were much simpler with Mike Hammer on the Job.
I Discovered Science Fiction and am still addicted to this day. I almost stopped reading in the early 21st century as publishers kept putting out fantasy and clogging up the racks for the Hard Science fiction fans. You can only kill so many dragons,rescue the damsel,and stop evil. Basically gothic novels with wizards,magic and no bodice ripping,or pulsing thighs.
Enough of my twisted reading habits. The paperback book industry has lost their way or they have been blackmailed by the VCR shelving manufacturers lobby.
Exhibit 1
On the left is a ‘standard’paperback. In the center is a ‘standard’VCR Tape. On the right is a new paperback. Specially Designed for Comfortable Reading. 
Specially Designed my ass. They have taller pages,wider margins,words spaced farther apart,yielding less words per line,making them thicker,and using more paper and being heavier. The ink smears real easy also.
Coincidentally,they just happen to be the same size as a VCR tape. Hmmmn. It could be a conspiracy to re-use all that tooling left over from the days of VCR tapes…The good news,is I don’t think they will gain a lot of traction. The bad news is that there will probably hundreds of NewBook furniture designs arriving soon.