Via A Bluestocking Knits (which was via Mason-Dixon Knitting) I have discovered a blog that is all about memes about books. I enjoyed reading other people’s responses so I decided to do it too. This week’s is about how you take care of your books.

Booking Through Thursday

What kind of care do you take of your books? Let’s review, shall we?

1. Are you careful with the spines? Or do you crack your books open to make them lay flat? Not careful with the spines. I don’t purposefully abuse books for reading like I do books of piano music, but I don’t take any particular care.
2. Do you use bookmarks? Or do you dog-ear the corners? If you do use bookmarks, do you use those fashionable metal ones? Or paper? I dog-ear corners in magazines only. In high school (the last time I took a class that required me to read entire fiction books) I did dog-ear pages I was intending to quote from in my essays. Normally, I use bookmarks consisting of random scraps of paper, like the subscription cards in magazines, used grocery lists, or torn-off bits of tissue paper.
3. Do you write in your books? Ever? If you do, do you make small marks, or write in as much blank space as you can find? Pen or pencil? Highlighter? Your name on the front page? No. I probably should write in the non-fiction ones, because I like coming across remarks and it would be useful in book club discussions, but I can’t bring myself to do so. I don’t write my name in, either. In my coursebooks for school, I write with pencil (pen if necessary) in tiny letters. I don’t highlight.
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into book bags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect? I toss gently.
5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place?Yes. If the spine seems fragile I use bookmarks but more often, if I’m planning to come back to it soon, I lay books face-down.
6. Um–water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort? I don’t take baths. And I can’t stand the way pages crinkle up after getting wet, so even when I read at the beach I’m careful to dry my hands first and keep my hair from dripping onto the pages.
7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor? All of the above. Mostly lined up on a bookshelf, but the ones that don’t fit are stacked on top, and I sometimes have a stack on the floor next to the bed.
8. Do you make a distinction–as regards book care–between hardcovers and paperbacks? Not really.
9. And, to recap? Naturally, you love all of your books, but how, exactly? Are your books loved in the battered way of a well-loved teddy bear, or like a cherished photo album or item of clothing that’s used, appreciated, but carefully cared for? Clothing.
10. Any additional comments? I’m amused that I’m cavalier about mechanical damage to books but neurotic about writing in them.

Posted by Amanda in Culture |