Feb 28, 2022
Let’s start a war. Do you dog-ear books or use a bookmark? Do you ever make notes in your books?
Warning: My original major in college was library science. I volunteered as a library aide in elementary and high school, and I worked part-time as a librarian for a few years. There should be no surprise at my answer.
Please, please, do not fold the corners of your books! Especially not a library book. Find a piece of scrap paper if you need to mark your spot and don’t have a bookmark. A piece of napkin, or ribbon or yarn, and if it comes down to extreme measures, a tissue.
I’ve found postcards and grocery lists and recipes in books I’ve borrowed. All of those are perfectly acceptable. But I’ve also run across books with page after page of folded-down corners—not just one or two and I want to scream!
And let’s talk about making notes in books. I recently bought a used book – fiction – where on the first page, almost every sentence, almost every word, was underlined. And the second page was in similar condition. After that, nothing. I don’t get it. There’s no logic to it. Did the previous owner suddenly stop reading the book after two pages? But what was so gripping about those first two pages that didn’t carry through to the rest of the story. I don’t understand.
It’s not like it was a textbook. I can understand underlining, highlighting, and making notes in a textbook. But this was a mystery, part of a well-known series. (Not mine!) Can someone explain this phenonomen to me?
As you can tell, I am a proponent of book marks. I have lots of them, in different shapes, sizes and style. Don’t worry, I didn’t lose my place in any books by pulling the bookmarks out to take the picture. They all came from books I’ve finished. I have a habit of storing my bookmarks in a book instead of on a shelf or in a drawer. They are better protected that way. I’ve had some of these for twenty or so years.
How many bookmarks do I own? Who knows? I would have to flip through the pages of every book I own to see if I left one there. That’s not going to happen.
Bookmarks can be cheap giveaways, or they can be tokens of someone’s love. When it comes to your personal books, I’ll look away if you dog-ear or write notes in them. But please, for the sake of everyone else, please don’t do that to a library book or a book you’ve borrowed from a friend!
Let’s hear from the other authors on this loop. Just follow the links below. And you can chime in too, readers. Talk to me in the comments.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Feb 28, 2022
Let’s start a war. Do you dog-ear books or use a bookmark? Do you ever make notes in your books?
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