Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?
I try not to break the spines of the books I read … but I don’t try that hard. I fold pages. I wrap the cover all the way around the book. I leave books open with things like table edges between their pages. I throw them into my knapsack, and when I take them out, I throw them on the floor. Sometimes they get stepped on. Or sat on. Sometimes I mark up my books, though only in pencil.
Come on. Books are things. Their outsides don’t really matter.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Good attitude! (I mean it.) I’m becoming more easygoing with my paperbacks.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I wish I could be more relaxed about my books, but I keep them all looking like new (unless I got them used and, in that case, I can’t.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I’m with you, a spine-breaker from way back. I leave books lying open, I toss them around, and I love to underline passages and make notes (usually in pen). It drives my hubby nuts, but it makes me so happy.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Why pencil? Surely you don’t go back and erase; use pen!
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Oh! I think I’m going to faint! That’s like fingernails on the chalkboard to me!
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Amen! The cover isn’t what’s important… it’s the story inside that matters.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I use pencil so that I can erase later. When re-reading I don’t always want my notes or underlines telling me what I once thought important.
And while I don’t ‘try’ to hurt books, by use they do become more worn looking, and that is just the way things go. I do try to avoid spilling things like tea or coffee on books, but sometimes that is unavoidable… And can add character to some theological tome or other.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 11:14 am
YOu know, one thing I never thought of with my answer is that while I try to be careful with my books, my kids are another matter. Most of my books that are damaged, it’s from the kids. They find pens and draw on them, rip pages or chew on the books. Grr!
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I love my books to death! This pristine book cover and page thing is crazy. My good friend, Anna at Diary of an Eccentric, is a pristine reader, and if she saw what I did to books, she would surely cringe.
I love her dearly, but when I borrow her books, I have to be on my best behavior.
Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t like broken spines.
on Oct 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am
HAHA, yes they ARE things. You are so right. Books are not sacred, they are for us to enjoy and not freak out over
I love your answer!
Happy BTT!
on Nov 13th, 2008 at 2:22 am
[...] someone else. So that’s one of the reasons I elect to purchase rather than borrow. I tend to abuse my books a bit, and it’s nice to know that I won’t be fined or frowned at for doing [...]