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?
Oh no NO! Spine breaking is about the worst thing you can do to a book! I accidentally put a crease in a spine of a book I was taking pictures of for a school project and I felt horrible! I just looked at it, poor book! I may have dog-eared in the past, but not for many many years, or maybe I'm thinking I used to do that and I didn't really! I would never do that now though!
I like to keep my books in the condition I got them in, if they were new they stay new if they were used they stay the same level of used. I would never buy a book with a cracked spine unless it was like 25 cents and I book I really wanted to read! It totally bothers me when I get smudges all over the covers but I don't know how not too. Sometimes with paperbacks the covers bow but once I'm done they go back into the shelves and straighten themselves out. I always remove dust jackets when reading a hardcover book. I do take a book on the bus with me but it has it's own pocket in my bag so it stays pretty protected.
You know it's funny, just the other day I saw someone dog-ear a page on the bus and I flinched!
How do you feel about the condition of your books?
Most of my books have come to me secondhand, so they are in all sorts of conditions, and I love that they have had a whole history before me. I tend to be gentle with my books, but I don't really care what they look like on the outside, as long as I can read what's on the inside! This is a good question. It probably reveals something profound about the reader's personality. Hmm..
ReplyDeleteI always remove dust jackets when reading a hardcover book. It's easier to read without the cover sliding up and down.
ReplyDeleteI agree - spine-breaking is the worst damage you can do to a book. Much nastier than writing in it or dog-earing. I also like to remove the dust jacket while I'm reading a book. I usually replace it with a home-made cover or one of those book sox thingies. It's possible I'm just a tad neurotic, I suppose!
ReplyDeleteI purposefully crack the spines on my books. I don't know why, but I like a book feeling loose and used. It's a bad habit.
ReplyDeleteI dog ear but mostly just textbooks. Only if I can't find any sort of piece of paper to mark my spot will I do it to a novel.
I have food smudges on a lot of my books. Or soda stains.
I'm really bad to books. lol
Not only do I not break the spine or dogear my pages, but I search through the bookstore's stock until I find the most pristine copy before buying. And in the rare cases I lend out books, I (probably a little too intensely) tell the borrower not to break the spine. I could be slightly OCD.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I try to keep my books as nice looking as possible. That's the way I am with most my stuff. But, that doesn't mean I won't take a used book or I won't lend my book out to someone else in the off-chance they should break the spine or fold down the pages.
ReplyDeleteI agree with NO! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, though I don't mind it when others dog ear books that aren't mine!
ReplyDeleteWhenever I read a hardcover book, the book jacket comes off. I am really picking about the condition of the book jacket. If I loan the hardcover book to someone, I remove the book jacket and give it to them.
ReplyDeleteI don't like reading trade paperbacks because I hate the way the covers curl. But I have to admit, that I break the spine on all my mass markets. I cannot help myself. I buy one, and open it to four or five sections and break the spine to make the book easier to hold and read. I am also a chronic- "mark the spot where I am reading by flipping the book over and laying it wide open"- reader.
Me also like to NOT destroy the books spine. And I like to keep them the way they come to me too :)
ReplyDeleteI don't go as far as removing the dust jacket when reading, but I do try to be careful with my books (no writing, no dog-ears, no breaking the spine ...)
ReplyDeletecharley- I have a lot of second hand books too, I usually try and keep them the way them came. It definitely says something about a reader's personality!
ReplyDeletesmilingsal- Exactly, they just get in the way!
jlshall- Hehe. I don't think I've ever written in a book, I think in the end I'd change my mind about what I've written and it would just make me mad it was there!
amee- If I crack a spine I think that's the first step to it falling apart. I usually throw anything flat into my book for a bookmark, I use a lot of scraps from my purse!
elizabeth encarnacion- I do the same thing! Sometimes if Borders only has one copy and it's kind of beat up I won't buy it! But then again sometimes you get slightly beat up books from Amazon and that you definitely can't control! I don't really lend out books cause who knows what someone would do to them, but it's not really a problem most of my friends read books I don't have!
a.- I agree with all of that except the lending of books. Most people don't ask though. My sister is kind of hard on books though so she usually gets them from the library.
J. Kaye- :D
s. krishna- I just want to shove a scrap of paper at people when they do that. I have tons of junk that they could use as a bookmark!
pikealicious- That's a good idea! They don't need the jacket to read the book! Yeah I don't like how the covers curl either. Mass market paperbacks are pretty much impossible to read without somehow bending the spine, that's why i hate them! I totally left a book open like that yesterday for hours but i think it's ok now haha!
veens-:D
dawn- I don't think I could get a good grasp on the book if the dust jacket was in the way. I'm pretty sure I'd end up dropping it! I'm a total klutz!
I totally agree with you! I'm obsessive about keeping my new books looking new. If I have a used book and it's looking worn, I can deal with it, though.
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
anna- Exactly! Sometimes books get a bit roughed up going in and out of my bag but for the most part they stay how i got them!
ReplyDelete