Do You Abuse Your Books?
I'll never forget the day my father-in-law looked at me in horror and said, "You dog-ear your pages?"
I know I looked at him blankly. "What?" I'd never heard that phrase before. Turns out I'd been abusing my books my entire life, bending the corners of the pages, wrinkling their spines when I set them pages-down.
Oh the guilt.
I tried to use bookmarks. I really did. But they always got lost.
Do you "abuse" your books? What do you think about dog-earing? Any pet peeves about what people do to their books?
I know I looked at him blankly. "What?" I'd never heard that phrase before. Turns out I'd been abusing my books my entire life, bending the corners of the pages, wrinkling their spines when I set them pages-down.
Oh the guilt.
I tried to use bookmarks. I really did. But they always got lost.
Do you "abuse" your books? What do you think about dog-earing? Any pet peeves about what people do to their books?
Comments
Here's one more confession...I even have dog-earred library books. Every librarian's worst nightmare! I do it without even realizing it.
There are books that I use for reference that I do make notes in and an ocassional page will have a tea stain, some cat fur and a folded corner!
Donna, the cat fur part is TOO funny!!! Good for you for keeping your books so nice like that. That's pretty awesome.
Every once in a while I'll remember to pick up a bookmark, but it's rare. More often though, I do the "lay the book over" and I know, I know, not good for the spine...
But they're my books and I can do it if I want to!! :-p
My precious.
Hope that answered your question. ;)
~ Wendy
Wendy, heehee. My Precious...that made me smile.
I hate the thought of marring books, so I use a bookmark or sear the page number into my brain. If it's something I'll need to reference, like a craft book, I'll use the little sticky tabs, or just scraps of paper. I can't bring myself to highlight, either.
This is all true but for my Scriptures, I've just realized. It has notes in the margins and highlights all through the text. I wonder why this is different?
Dog eared pages... *shudder*... cracked spines... *shudder*... writing in the book... *faint*
I'm a bit of a book Nazi, if you'll excuse the term. I like my books to look perfect, so I can feel like walking into a bookstore every time I look at my shelves. I have a certain way of holding my books that ensures the spines don't crack, and if anyone wants to borrow my books, they have to promise to use my method and return the book in the exact same condition it was when it left my shelf... *dun-dun-duuuuun*
Faith, wow, another careful book reader? There are more of you all than I thought? *grin* Your comment is hilarious!
CKHB, you would hate my books then! I probably abuse the pages more than the spines. I like your point about the book needing to show the wearing-down type of love over time.
Sarah, isnt' funny? So do you use a bookmark with fiction then?
The librarian in me just horked up a lung!!!!!
NO! no! nonononononono!!!!
I don't dog ear books. I don't lay them open face down. I don't lick my finger before I turn a page. I don't write in books. If I own a hardback book with a dust jacket, I remove the dust jacket and leave it in the book's place on the shelf until I return it there so the dust jacket doesn't get wrinkled or torn.
Sigh. I am a fanatic bibliophile.
I use bookmarks all the time.
There. I feel better.
Recently I've started using bookmarks, I reallt never thought of it before.
You horked up a lung? I've never heard that phrasing but it gave me quite an image. LOL
I'll admit that I've always hated wrinkling dust jackets.
Other than that....*ducking in the face of Mrs. Vetsch's horrified enragement!*
Elana, but you use something besides the book itself to hold your place. Smartie. :-)
No library would want my books. Not only are they dog-eared, but marked with pen, markers, and comments. I even neatly underline in my favorite Narnia books. Just the best of the best there.
I'm even giving a speech on this topic soon - how to "get" the material.
I do have a few "pristine" hardbound children's books I don't mess up. Thanks for sparking such a good controversy.
I try and use book marks now--I do have a few that I bought but I also use folded post-it notes--I still find those are the best. :)
If it isn't abused and sits pristine on the shelf, well, the book must be boring because no one's touched it. Don't you think?
Don't even get me started on how ugly my favorite cookbooks are...
I work in a library and am in charge of fixing books when they're damaged, so I'm pretty gentle with them ... but I have been known to dog ear when there's no other way to save a spot. *shamed*
As for bookmarks, Jessie, I guess I know what to never get you for a gift. SNORT! (Inside joke there ... I know you're taking care of my pets...heehee).
Oh, and I can't STAND watermarks on books ... but coffee stains on magazines? Well, now that's a whole other thing. (Inside joke #2--ha!). ;)
Dara, great tip about the post-its! Thanks. :-) And funny about dogearing the bottom of pages...
Love your analogy of the favorite rag doll. So apt. ;-)
Anita, you better not ever stop sending me those very cool bookmarks! I try to use them but when I don't I still like to look at them. :-)
And yeah, coffee stains are special. They should be autographed by special people. *snicker* (and that's my inside joke, heehee!)
I do, however, underline and write notes. Sometimes I journal, but if I write right in the book, it's so much easier to find my thoughts. *grin*
I dog-ear my pages and even throw them in my beach bag and they get all sandy and bent, too. I'm horrible.
But when I carry them, I cradle them like a baby...
So a loving but perhaps wild mommy here.
GREAT post as usual!!!
If I were going to sell them to a book dealer, your fil could give me a nasty look. But I read them, then give them to others.
This isn't abuse.
The only book I mark is the Bible. I've got notes everywhere, which is why I use mine until it totally falls apart.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Jennifer, that is horrible! I do have a pet peeve about sand in my books. :-)
LOL Patti! You do sound kind of wild. I love how you slipped "hugged" into that list.
Deb, as usual, you have a way with words. :-)
Susan, I underline and highlight in my bible too. :-)
Eileen, you're guilty? Gentle you? *grin*
Oh my days! My name is Emma and I am an abuser of books.
:-)
Catching up now.
I abuse books, I turn corners down, bend spines, and scribble notes in the margins. I love them and show it.
I make bookmarks to go with the cards I make, but never make them for me, they would be wasted. LOL
I use the phrase dog-eared, I heard my Grandfather say it and 'borrowed' the saying.
I like to think of my books as friends who are waiting patiently with corners gently folded, hanging on a minute face-down on the pillows, holding my thoughts (those pencilled-in margin notes) for me till we pick up and start again. Never even thought of it as abuse, more as true love. I'm a lover of books, so much so that we get to know each other and hold hands and endure tear splashes. I have a select few old friends who are duct taped at the spine because I couldn't bear to replace them.
Mind you, library books are a different matter. Having seen the horrified librarians' comments above, I promise to keep library book corners unmolested herewith.