By now, I'm hoping that you've become a little more acquainted with my new every-once-in-a-while feature, Hardcover Lover Confessions. These posts are kind of like discussion posts, wherein I share a little bookish secret or two of mine. Every few weeks (or whenever I find something I want to share), I'll post my thoughts on something going on in the book blogging world or just general bookish thoughts.
I'm encouraging all of my followers to join in and discuss your thoughts on each topic with me and with the other bloggers/people who leave comments. Don't be afraid to reply to a comment made by someone you've never spoken to before! I can promise you that all of my followers are kind and outgoing, and that you might even make a new friend after commenting.
HCL Confession on Dog-Eared Books
Here's something that people might not know about me - I hate seeing when people dog-ear books! Gasp! I just find it cringe-worthy to see someone purposefully deface a book. Strangely, I didn't always feel that way...
When I was a senior in high school, my English class was reading Tuesdays with Morrie. As usual, everybody got a copy of the book to take to and from class. One day, we were reading silently because our teacher needed to grade some of our stuff. When the bell rang, I gathered up my things. I was the last person to leave class, and of course, I was busted folding the page. My teacher wasn't mad, but she wasn't happy. She handed me a bookmark and told me that I was only ruining the book if I dog-eared it. I haven't folded down a page on a book since that day.
Before that moment, I'd never really given dog-eared pages much thought. I didn't have an extensive book collection then, and if I didn't have a bookmark, I'd just fold down the page. Now I'm pretty anal about trying to keep my books in pristine condition, but I LOVE finding used books with dog-eared pages. Weird? Yeah... I'd say so. But... I'm kind of a freak.
What Do You Think?
Now I want to hear your thoughts on dog-eared pages. Are you okay with folding down a page to mark your place or when you find a quote or passage that you really enjoy? Does seeing a dog-eared page make you cringe like me? What do you think of my weird habit of finding dog-eared books? Do you prefer to fold a page or a bookmark?
Feel free to leave a comment to let me know, and be sure to interact with everyone else who comments. I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who have some of the same habits as you, so don't be shy - say hi!
I never dog ear pages--I don't even like cracking spines on books and I carry books inside my purse in a plastic bag so I don't ruin them. While I have some beat up books that are very loved in my collection--I prefer to know I am not making their condition worse (similarly I don't buy used books unless they look new). But I also am a serious bookmark collector so of course I need a reason to use all of them!
ReplyDeleteDog ear pages are definitely a no-no for me, I don't think I ever did this even when I was in school. I love books, an try to keep them in as good a condition as I can, so no dog eared pages in my books.
ReplyDeleteIrene
Eeek I can never dog-ear pages. I have such a huge collection of sticky notes, bookmarks, and tabs that I really will do just about anything to avoid it haha. I love having books in mint condition!
ReplyDeleteI won't even use sticky notes on my books anymore because the acid ruined a few of the pages in my Margaret Atwood books. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm all for just reading them, and then letting them sit without anything in them to deface them.
I definitely don't do it now, especially because when I think about how much books cost. I want them to last.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of putting them in a plastic bag before. I just stow them very carefully in my purse.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have a few books that are in pretty terrible shape, but those were mostly novels that I had to read for British literature classes. Everything else either stays on a shelf or in plastic crates.
I'm all for buying used books, but they do have to look good. I almost bought a hardcover of The Book Thief the other day, but the spine was cracked and I decided against it.
Yeah books aren't cheap, especially the one's in my own language (dutch) they are double the price of English books..
ReplyDeleteBTW, what a great teacher you had for learning you early on not to mess with books lol
Oh wow! I knew books were more expensive in Europe, but I can't imagine paying double.
ReplyDeleteShe was a pretty cool teacher. Unfortunately that was my senior year, and the school didn't give us bookmarks. I'll make sure to stock up on bookmarks so kids don't do that to their books.
I used to dog ear books when I was a little kid but now I refuse. I use folded book marks in my literature books and sticky notes in my school books (although there is a lot of highlighting in my school books). I hate it when people crack the spines of books. It makes my skin crawl.
ReplyDeleteI hate dog-earing my books! My mom used to do that and I would go crazy and grab all of my bookmarks and tell her to pick one and keep it, haha! If I pick up a book from the library or a used bookstore, and I see that it is dog eared, I'll get upset, shake my head and try to flatten it out. I'm weird like that. :) Great post, Erin!
ReplyDeleteWe weren't allowed to highlight in our school books, and if we did, we had to pay to replace them. Those things are expensive, even the novels because the school only bought library bindings. My friend found out the hard way. :(
ReplyDeleteOMG! That's hilarious that you would actually give your mom bookmarks! I have a plethora of them available to me now, and I just love them.
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad that people dog-ear library books. Those things are supposed to last. I can't even tell you how many I came across in school that had ripped corners from people dog-earing them. :(
Oh man, that sucks. At my school we had to buy all of our books (including textbooks) and were expected to take notes in them. They wanted to train us for college life apparently.
ReplyDeleteMy parents wouldn't have been able to afford to send me and my siblings to high school if we had to do that. The three of us were all really close in age.
ReplyDeleteI can see how it's good training, but I like that the district provided our books.
I'm very specific about when I dog-ear books, now that I think about it. My personal reading I won't dog-ear at all - I have a huge collection of bookmarks and I like to use them anyway because they're prettier than a paper fold. But my school books... yeah I just dog-ear away. I even write in those too *gasp*
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh Erin I'm sort of guilty for dog-earing books. I like to do it sometimes because I like to go over my old books and search my favorite parts (which are usually dog-eared). My books are dog-eared in half its pages, but I don't know -- I used to be bothered by it, but not really anymore :P
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love this idea!
Oh - I definitely wrote in and dog-eared my college textbooks, especially if we had open book tests. I think that's just the college way, and it makes studying so much easier. That I am totally okay with. I just never dog-eared my literature anthologies.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Don't feel guilty! It's totally a personal preference. I probably would dog-ear pages with some of my favorite passages if I weren't so afraid of ruining my books.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted to buy a bestseller in dutch I would have to pay 12 euro's or more.. not many books below the 10 euro's if popular authors are concern, that is one of the reasons I read English books were I can buy paperbacks for 5 euros if I am lucky...
ReplyDeleteThe other reason is that I like to read the books in its original language.. So if the author were dutch I just have to pay a lot more (so I try giveaways...) LOL
Oh wow. I would have never thought that bestsellers would wind up being more expensive.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for wanting to read books in their original language. If I were bilingual, I would totally do that.
I am guilty of dog earing books. Not all the time and when I do I always make sure they're my own books but I definitely do do it sometimes! I've never been a person who treats their books as treasures in the first place - ie I don't really care if it's not immaculate or if there's a fold somewhere. That just isn't who I am as a reader so sometimes I'll be too lazy to get a bookmark and just dog ear the page. It's a bad habit I know because then my pages get all wonky but my laziness is always wins.
ReplyDeleteI'm am totally okay with people dog-earing books, but it's just not something I do anymore. I definitely don't treat my books like they a treasures either, but I do like to keep them in nice shape. I definitely have some that are well loved and have bent corners or broken spines.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a library book or someone else's book, I would never dog-ear the page -- because it's not my property! But if I own the book, I'll do whatever I want with it. Crack the spine, throw it against the wall, read it in the pool and drop it repeatedly in the water -- treating books as precious things can intimidate people from the entire hobby of reading; they're entertainment, cardboard and paper, so I definitely bang 'em up as I please.
ReplyDelete