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Memage on book care
Feb. 10th, 2007 10:28 pm[ganked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mmegaera]
Booking Through Thursday, A meme about books and reading. Feb 8, 2007. [Well, ok, timezones, schmimezones, it's Saturday the 10th here.]
TLC
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?
Ahhhhhh! No, I only crack the crappiest of paperbacks that I've grabbed from a second-hand store in desperation. Of course, most SF mass-market bindings are so eh that you can't help cracking them, but I avoid doing so as much as possible.
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?
I use hunks of paper, like bus-tickets, used post-its and the like. However, since I try finishing on a chapter, and I have a visual memory for where I'm at in a book, I don't usually have any problems finding my place. If a book comes with a bookmark, it generally stays with the book until I lose it. And since I do lose them, there's no point getting nice ones. As for dog-ears, they are the curse of the devil (I sinned in my youth, and now I have seen the light).
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?
No, not even when I probably should. It's funny, the best country in the world (so far) for marginalia in library books has been in the UK. If I had an L/J while I was living there, I would have posted them, since they are great. I still think a blog for the purpose would be entertaining.
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into bookbags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect?
I treat my books fairly gently, but since they come out and about with me, they do get a wee bit the worse for wear. Still, I try not to munch them.
5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place?
Yes, occasionally, for brief times, and always in such a way that I don't crack the spine (unless it's already been cracked).
6. Um--water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort?
Yes, I bathe with my books. Really. I mean, who has a bath, bathes more than half an hour at a time, and doesn't? As for reading in the rain, WTF?
7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor?
I would love to be able to line my books up properly, but I don't have enough bookshelf room. Or room for another bookshelf. So, mostly lined up in double rows (my shelves are cheap metal ones, but they're deep - I got them that way purposely because of limited space), with books stuffed in at the tops of the shelves, and a stack of a couple of dozen books beside my bed.
8. Do you make a distinction--as regards book care--between hardcovers and paperbacks?
Yes. If I take the dust jackets off, hardcovers stand up to more wear and tear, and they're better to take out for brunch, since you can open them flat (without cracking the spines). However, some hardcovers I have are art books, or just generally special (beautiful stock, for example), so they don't go anywhere that might endanger them.
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?
Out of those options, like a piece of clothing. I use them, they go out and about with me, but I also like to take reasonable care. And some are definitely more precious than others.
10. Any additional comments?
mmegaera]Booking Through Thursday, A meme about books and reading. Feb 8, 2007. [Well, ok, timezones, schmimezones, it's Saturday the 10th here.]
TLC
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?
Ahhhhhh! No, I only crack the crappiest of paperbacks that I've grabbed from a second-hand store in desperation. Of course, most SF mass-market bindings are so eh that you can't help cracking them, but I avoid doing so as much as possible.
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?
I use hunks of paper, like bus-tickets, used post-its and the like. However, since I try finishing on a chapter, and I have a visual memory for where I'm at in a book, I don't usually have any problems finding my place. If a book comes with a bookmark, it generally stays with the book until I lose it. And since I do lose them, there's no point getting nice ones. As for dog-ears, they are the curse of the devil (I sinned in my youth, and now I have seen the light).
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?
No, not even when I probably should. It's funny, the best country in the world (so far) for marginalia in library books has been in the UK. If I had an L/J while I was living there, I would have posted them, since they are great. I still think a blog for the purpose would be entertaining.
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into bookbags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect?
I treat my books fairly gently, but since they come out and about with me, they do get a wee bit the worse for wear. Still, I try not to munch them.
5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place?
Yes, occasionally, for brief times, and always in such a way that I don't crack the spine (unless it's already been cracked).
6. Um--water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort?
Yes, I bathe with my books. Really. I mean, who has a bath, bathes more than half an hour at a time, and doesn't? As for reading in the rain, WTF?
7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor?
I would love to be able to line my books up properly, but I don't have enough bookshelf room. Or room for another bookshelf. So, mostly lined up in double rows (my shelves are cheap metal ones, but they're deep - I got them that way purposely because of limited space), with books stuffed in at the tops of the shelves, and a stack of a couple of dozen books beside my bed.
8. Do you make a distinction--as regards book care--between hardcovers and paperbacks?
Yes. If I take the dust jackets off, hardcovers stand up to more wear and tear, and they're better to take out for brunch, since you can open them flat (without cracking the spines). However, some hardcovers I have are art books, or just generally special (beautiful stock, for example), so they don't go anywhere that might endanger them.
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?
Out of those options, like a piece of clothing. I use them, they go out and about with me, but I also like to take reasonable care. And some are definitely more precious than others.
10. Any additional comments?
- When are each of the Bujold Vorkosigan books coming out in hardcover (not omnibuses)?
- Why are homeopathy books so bloody expensive ($300 isn't an unusual sum to pay, for something that's medium Bible-sized)?
- Hay-on-Wye is the best town in the world to buy books, contemporary and antiquarian. And they have a fantastic sheep's-milk ice-cream parlour there (yay, I can have ice-cream and not get sick!). And for a small village, it's as cosmopolitan as hell. In a gorgeous setting, with fantastic food all around. With the best book festival anywhere in late spring. Excellent arts/crafts stuff abounds. Not too far away from the best dance party in the UK (which appears to have grown in recent years). And one of my exes lives there and she's fucking cool.
- I realise that none of these comments were about book care, but I already said it all. Except:
- I only lend my books to selected people, or if I don't care about getting them back. For obvious reasons.
