Saturday, January 26, 2013

Bookish Pet Peeve

Disclaimer: I realize that not everyone treats their belongings the same and that what one person finds to be appalling another may not. I am not in any way trying to insult anyone who does the following. :)


I struggle seeing dog-eared pages within a book. I cringe even when it's not my own book, and I see quite a few of them working in a library. If it's your own book, and you want to do it, I won't argue with you (it is *yours* after all) ~ I will just inwardly cry every time I notice. However, I feel doing it to someone else's property is disrespectful to that person.

This is actually a book I own. I bought it at a used bookstore. I was disappointed when I noticed it had been dog-eared. I does not, however, effect the story. ;)

A Brief Story
Once, I let a family member borrow a book. It just happened to be book five in the Harry Potter series, which I not only loved but that was bought for me by my favorite aunt. I saw it laying on kitchen table, with no bookmark or scrap of paper and picked it up, thinking she had finished it. I was then that I noticed a small gap where the page she was on had been folded over. Now it should be noted that not only did I hand her the book to read, but I handed her a bookmark to go with it. (Yes, I can be a bit anal at times... I get that.) Really? I gave her a bookmark to use... not lose. So, I went and got another bookmark, placed it in where the page was folded over, smoothed out the fold the best I could and left her a note, which read something along the lines of, "If I see it again, you will no longer be allowed to borrow my books." (On a completely related note, she really was no longer allowed to borrow my books when I got the book back from her and found cigarette ashes inside... *shudder*.)

It's really not that hard to use a bookmark, is it? A scrap of paper? A post-it note? A business card? A receipt? A picture? A piece of string? A napkin? A tissue? If you're reading in the bathroom, a piece of (unused, of course) toilet paper?

Here's one of my favorite bookmarks. I've made a few of these (a couple book related, not family), but this one is the most recent and my current favorite. 

Yes, books are made to be loved. And sometimes the wear and tear on a book will show that love. But won't the love be able to be spread that much more if we take care of them? Just sayin'.

What are your thoughts? Are you a folder of the page? Or do you prefer to mark your spot with something - anything? What do you use?

Smiles,
B

8 comments:

  1. Great post! I feel just the same as you. I shudder at the side of dog-eared book, I always use bookmarks myself. I also hate crinkles in the spine or any other marks on books. I hardly ever lend out my books if I can help it, and if I do I worry all the time in which condition I get it back. I treasure my books and are always careful when I read them - I'm a lit manic, I admit.
    Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

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    1. I'm really picky about who I lend books to. I hate telling people no, but I'm nearly as picky about that as who can watch my children when I need someone. ;)

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  2. I had a book reader friend like that would dog-ear a page on almost every chapter. She was always careful not to do it with other books, but it's just so annoying to see the poor book like that! Something my dad always does is leave the book open, but turning it over so that the spine is (or close to) cracking. I get it back and my books won't lie flat anymore :(

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    1. No! Not the face down spot holding!?! That drives me batty too. I have a coworker who does that at lunch if someone walks in while she's reading. I want to just pick it up and place a scrap of something there for her. Really.. it's not so hard. :(

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  3. Aaaah. I hate both of the above mentioned atrocities (Too strong? I think not, lol). Very few people are approved to borrow my books (as you know, since you are one of the few ;) ), and I tell them all my condition is that they treat it like their firstborn child. I really say that +shrug.+ One for me, though I get *why* people do it, is highlighting/underlining. I just ... can't.

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    1. I do not think the word atrocities is too strong by any means. lol I struggled so much in high school/college when we were *required* to write in our books. Textbooks, okay... I got past it. But Huck Finn? Not so much. I still am sad I defaced a book like that. ;)

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  4. Dog eared pages tend to bother me. I don't dog ear pages in any of my books, and I tend to just use a post-it to bookmark my place. I have to highlight books for my English class, also, and it's so hard for me to do. Great post :)

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one out there! ;) Thanks.

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Thank you so much for taking your time to share your thoughts! I try to respond to everyone. :)