MEME: Booking Through Thursday

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? I'm pretty sure I crack the spine


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? Whatever's handy will do as a bookmark. I have a few nice ones but if they're not around then I might dog-ear or even use a kleenex (thanks Dad for the wonderful lessons you've taught me)


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? Not really. I felt so rebellious the first time I wrote in a book - I grafittied my freshman Calculus book with sarcastic comments. I sometimes write my name in my book but lately I've been putting my name on a post-it note if I'm lending it. However, I did write my name in all my books when I was young, but I think that had more to do with claiming books and making sure I got them and not my sister.
   
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into book bags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect? mostly respect, but sometimes I'll toss it into whatever. And sometimes they fall on the floor at night if I doze off in mid-read.


5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place? Oh yeah.
   
6. Um--water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort? I've been known to read in the tub, but I've never lost one in the drink.


7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor? I begin lining them up, but then there is no more room to line them up, so they begin to get crammed and stacked. Then I organize, delete, rearrange and have them line up. Rinse and repeat.
   
8. Do you make a distinction--as regards book care--between hardcovers and paperbacks? no


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? Anne of Green Gables and the rest of the series are more than just books - they are part of a display in my living room with family photos and oranments. It is important to keep some favorite books just to pick up and remember how much I loved the story. As a child I always kept good care of my loved books and can now bring up from the basement my old Gordon Kormans and Great Brains, Little House and Judy Blumes for my own kids to read.


10. Any additional comments? I have a teacher's edition physics book at school. It's a wrap around edition and is very large and unwieldy.So I've taken to ripping individual pages out as I work out a problem at the board. It is now a large, large book with over 300 indivdual pages jammed into a case. Somehow, I've managed to keep everything in order and not lost any pages. but God help me if I ever drop the book or if a large wind were to blow through my classroom. It's well loved and written through.
I was horrified as a parent to have my first child eat a board book. I never imagined that books could be damaged.