Mariel suggested this week’s question.
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?
Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!
Well, I do dog-ear books, but that is as far as I go. If I have dog-eared the pages for a specific purpose, say for a line or a passage I really like, I copy the line and then take efforts to get the page back to normal, which we all know is not possible.
The one thing that I absolutely do not do is keep the book upside down or fold the book. When my sister is reading any of my books and if I see her fold the book I surely give her a piece of my mind. She thinks I am crazy.
I don’t mind anyone writing relevant things in the book. I am all for it. But unnecessary scribbling is just not done.
I cover all my books with transparent plastic covers. Is that weird? I do it immediately I buy or get any book, so that I don’t end up with too many books to cover at one time.
Just the other day I was washing my hands in the wash basin and I had a book in the crook of my arm. Somehow, the book slipped and fell in the wash basin under running water. Oh…the horror of all horrors. The first 20 pages and the front cover were all wet. I kept the book under my bed for 3 days so that the pages don’t bend permanently. I still feel an enormous amount of guilt and sadness when I look at that book.
But all said and done, my books are in an excellent condition after reading too.
Book-Shelved 
I used to be nutty and worry about bending, folding pages and such but not so much anymore. I do take care of my books but maybe not to others standards,lol.
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I guess I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my books, hehe…
BTW, I’ve passed you an award. 🙂
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Oh Violet, you are a librarian at heart with covering those books of yours. What a good organizer you are!
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My books are in mint condition when I finish reading, too. If on the odd occasion they aren’t, I feel awful.
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I look after mine too. I don’t cover them with plastic but my father does with all of his, is it the sticky backed stuff? How do you do it without air-bubbles?
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Oh, I just hate it when books get wet!
I can never get used to bookcovers, though…they always seem to get in my way 🙂
Great answer!
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Pete: It’s not the sticky plastic cover. It’s a little think, so that it does not actually stick to the books, but covers it rather nicely 🙂
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I keep mine like new but I havent tried covering them (yet!).
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I’m changing from a ‘pristine’ book-keeper to a scruffy dude. Not that I deliberately wear them out, but I find that I quite like a battered old paperback!
I guess it depends on the book though… woe betide anyone who damages my Complete Works of Shakespeare, but I have most of the plays in Penguin Paperpack too, and I quite like the worn-look! After all, great books are meant to be read…!
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My books are all well loved but I really don’t like people writing in them. And I can’t tell you the number of books in our family that have fallen into the bathtub cause we were reading while having a good soak:)
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I hate it when books get wet, too. And I agree about the difference between relevant notes and scribbling. I do the same thing with dog-earing.
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This is a great question. I’m noticing a lot of nice, long posts.
Happy Thursday!
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I cover my books too – I even went so far as to order those plastic covers that the library uses to put on the hardbound books that I have. LOL.
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I like the idea of protecting books, but I find that those thick plastic sheeting they put on paperbacks at the library make it tough to get the books open. A lot of time I’ll read one-handed, like while riding the bike at the guy or something, and I need the book to be able to stay open easily (those stupid book holder racks on the bikes don’t work when the book has that plastic sheeting). There should be some kind of hybrid plastic invented… maybe I could get rich and famous if I found the perfect polymer that was both flexible and impervious to oil and water.
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I cover some of my books with plastic mylar, but only those where I’ve re-designed the cover with photo clippings. I like to read in a hot bath and am forever terrified of accidentally dropping the book in the water. Luckily it hasn’t happened yet, but I did drop a cordless phone once (and it recovered fine).
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I would like those plastic covers, but I like touching and smelling my books (is that weird?), and I find myself removing it when I borrow books from the library.
Oh and I’m glad to read about someone else who feels bad about water stained pages.
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Hi!
I use a bookmark now instead of folding the corners. But I used to bad about that. It’s a really hard habit to break. Take Care!!
Sherrie
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