Bookish Topic Tuesday
Don’t you dare fold that corner!
Today’s post just so happens to coincide with my 500th post! Wow time goes so quickly! There isn’t much left of The Sending, just a touch over a week left of posts remaining, with a wrap-up/predictions of The Red Queen afterwards. Following that I’d like to start a new book, and start a new project, which is working through some of the “The Classics” of literature, that I simply haven’t read before, and know very little about. I’ll be starting that (after a little break) with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which I know nothing about, and didn’t get around to seeing the recent film adaptation (because I refuse to until I’ve read the book). After that there are plenty of other ‘classics’ that I have waiting on my shelves to be read (like War and Peace, but we’ll see if I tackle that behemoth!).
Anyway, back to topic! It’s one of my pet peeves, people who fold the corners of books to mark where they are up to, or a page to come back to. Okay the people aren’t the issue (though I’d wish they wouldn’t do it), it’s the fact that they desecrate a perfectly good book, with a crease that just never goes away. And it’s not just folding the corners that annoys me, it’s the drawing in the margins, the excessive bending of the spines, and those terrible people who decide to rip out pages from library books! (If you rip pages out of your own books, that’s not my worry, though why would you be doing that?). What did the books do to deserve such treatment? Even if you’ve been forced to read it, it isn’t the books fault, it’s probably your teachers, so don’t take it out on the book!
I lament whenever my book accidentally gets a crease or the cover starts going open when it’s just flat on the table. I like the book to seem like it’s new, even though they are well loved, I want them to last in good condition so I can read them for years and not have them looking like daggy things that have been abused. The folding of the corners is a big thing, if you read the book over a few weeks, that will mean countless creases in your book, which are easily visible and deform the book. I’m sure I’m not alone in this ‘obsession’, books just look some much nicer without the creases. And it’s not like you even have to resort to that sort of thing, that’s why we have bookmarks! Or not even them, just random bits of paper, tickets from concerts/movies or receipts will do.
And please don’t bend the book’s spines so much, that just ruins them. They aren’t designed for that, and then the binding will come apart. I see people in movies/TV shows, reading books with one cover wrapped around to the other and I cringe. Maybe that’s just cause I’m a bibliophile, but it’s cruel. Even just reading them without bending the spines that much, results in the covers flapping open when they shouldn’t. Usually if they are squashed in between two books for long enough, that goes away, but it always annoys me, so I try to flatten them by putting things on them. I know I’ve been like this for years, because I would even try to pile up heavier books on one with this condition, and sit on it, hoping it would go flat once again.
As for writing in books, sometimes I’m torn between two opinions, I don’t like people writing in the books because they are basically grafting them, but at the same time sometimes it’s really interesting to see when someone underlines something or puts a comment next to it. Especially when it’s the same book you are writing about for English, and it has good notes inside. So maybe library books are the exception, since they can be written on and the combined knowledge of the readers comes out with the written notes. But, only if it’s relevant (or funny, that always wins me over, like the gravestone in a maths textbook I borrowed once, they suggested we return the book immediately or write our names in the gravestone, since it would be the death of us) and if it’s in pencil (it can always be erased!). But I would never write in my own books, the only exception (I seem to have a lot of those) would be getting an author to sign it, since they wrote it, they can do what they like with my copy!
It may seem trivial, but I can’t stand these things. So don’t you dare fold that corner! What are your pet peeves? What can’t you stand, especially if it relates to books.
daniel is reading 
I hate writing in books, as well. I remember way back when I was at school and did literature in year 10, our teacher made us write notes and underline stuff as we went. Very stressful. I also don’t bend pages any more (though I used to, once), BUT I will admit that none of my books are pristine. Clean, fresh books scare me. I’m afraid to touch them. I prefer them with a the spines a bit creased and a bit of dirt on the pages because then it feels like I can really enjoy them. Otherwise, I open them only a crack and have to crane my head at awkward angles to catch a glimpse of the words inside, and really, what way is that to enjoy a good universe? Having said that, I remember lending the odd book to my father back when he lived in the same state as me, and he took bending the spines to extremes. THAT irritated me.
I’d like to point out that most of my books are purchased at op shops and book sales and thus are second-hand anyway. This may be why I’ve been conditioned to tolerate imperfection.
Other than that, I’m boring. I don’t have other book peeves. (Many other peeves, but we won’t go into those :P).
Yeah I like my books just “under pristine”, with life of pi, I tried to bend it as little as possible, without it being impossible to read.
And lending out books can be a harrowing experience…
its funny I write in my books and turn down corners – however I only write my name in the cover to claim owner ship and I like to lend books to family/ friends this way everyone knows whose book it is and it come back to me. I also like cracking the spines though I try to hold off as long as I can… I do try to keep food and liquids away from them as well just cause I don’t like the discolouration. Also I am notoriously finicky about people returning my books in the conditioned that I lent them in!! (I have a checklist system lol) This has come about after I lent a book to a friend and her cat got to it and chewed the corner of it… the marks are still there can’t get rid of them, half the corner of the front cover is missing now.
my mother also wants me to go through my books and get rid of ones I don’t read or haven’t read for awhile – but I just can’t do it they are like my babies! A few years ago I thought about doing this whole bookswap thing where you leave a book in a public area and then post on this blogsite and then you track it and everything some books had made it from new Zealand all the way to Norway – but I just couldn’t bear to part with any of my books… it is a good idea though maybe its time to think it through again….