Mariel suggested this week’s Booking through Thursday 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?
I keep my books in good shape. Some friends have joked, when I loan them a book, that it’s still new — they can’t tell I’ve read it.
I haven’t always been that way — I used to break the spines of paperbacks consistently. I don’t recall exactly what changed, but I know I made a conscious decision to treat books gently, and so I now do.
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October 30, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sally
We match, but I know why I changed.
October 30, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Alyce
I like to keep my books nice too. I always feel sad if I accidentally get food on my books. Which has happened now and then – one of my main times to read is at lunch time.
November 5, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Africableu
Have you ever read Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader? She has a chapter called “Never Do That to a Book” that is so stinkin’ funny. I am a book wallower (and obvious word-maker-upper)–I like to get comfortable between the pages and just squoosh around. Plus I carry my books with me everywhere–to the table (where they WILL get food splashed on them), to the bathroom (where I always manage to get toothpaste on them), in bed, where they end up at the foot, along with my kicked-off socks. I am the type you would probably find horrible beyond belief–look away, for I am hideous. I rarely borrow books from anyone other than the library or my mom (who is of my ilk), because though I am a book wallower, I never wallow in books that are not mine own. I’m a conscientious wallower.
So do we know who is Siloam’s new mayor yet? I live in Oklahoma, so I couldn’t vote, but I know who I HOPED would win . . .
November 5, 2008 at 2:15 pm
wordlily
Here’s a link to election results: http://co.benton.ar.us/election_results.html