How do you treat your books?

You're right - I am new to this forum and this site.

When it comes to recycling unwanted "written words on paper", why not take it for the bird cage and share some of it with your pet ;-)

I still have my school books - at least those I had complete control over. Some of my old books just disappeared one day back in the times I did not have enough privacy in my room. Even the ones that did not have to do anything with school. However, I still enjoy reading the story in my High School English-book - "The man who escaped". This was my first contact with crime stories and ever since British crime stories are definitely favoured by me when it comes to books and movies/TV-series. I like - no, I love Agatha Christie (mainly Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot) and Elizabeth George.

By the way: is there an English equivalent for the German "written words on paper" as I like to say?

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Originally Posted by IrishCanadian

hemial ... I don't think I've seen you around before. I love your signiture and avatar!
Thats so sad to see books off to the dump like that. I threw out one book in my life and I still regret it slightly. But it turned out to be cheap pornogrophy with a loose plot ... so i had no idea what to do with it ... I recycled it anyway instead of throwing it in the garbage.

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I've taken to using the wrapping of tea bags as bookmarks, they give a lovely smell when the book is re-opened ;)

Apart from that I also use pencils to highlight certain passages in the book and I always have a extra piece of paper ready when I read to take down some additional notes or vocabulary.

I love my books like they were people (people that I appreciate) I make my own bookmarks from ribbons. They make a great bookmark! sometimes I put a little bead on them. I have a large selection so I can choose to match the cover or my mood. I try to keep my books in like new condition, but Im not afraid to loan one to a friend, but I always loan with the thought that It May Not Come Back to Me! I stack my books, as I am low on bookshelves. alot are in boxes. some under my bed, some even stored at other peoples houses...the problem... always trying to find a particular book, I find others I have forgotten about. There are just too many books to read and not enough time!!! I have the same problem of buying books on impulse and not getting to them right away, but when I do, it seems the book is relevant to me at just the right time. isnt it funny how that works out?

Beetrue2u — That's a good point about treating books like people. :) My philosophy toward books is the same as my philosophy toward people: They're meant to be loved, so don't treat them like glass, but also don't violate them.

Hemial — What is the word in German for "written words on paper"? The closest phrase in English, that I can think of, is "the written word," which is quite commonly used.

I treat my books better than I do most people ;)

I'm fairly obsessed with collecting books, Ive a few hundred and I'm 21 so its the kind of colelction which gets commented on, either in a waste of money or occasionaly somebody being impressed way.

I'm afraid other than the rare and beautiful books many are treated with a lot of respect but none are beyond the scribbling of notes, I'm also a page folder as I cant stand bookmarks for some unknown reason.

I do love books however and like nothing more than the site of a stack of unruly books about the place, face down half read ready to feed my head.

I have always treated my books with the greatest care. It can be described as an obsession I somehow obtained early in my childhood.From the comic strips I enjoyed reading as a little kid to the big acadamic books I am studying now, I can never stand any of my books being dogeared or written on. Once my junior school classmate has banteringly remareked that I must be a little bit mentally unhinged to be treating my books so carefully! As for bookmarks, I have always used them, because I find my memory to be quite poor in remembering page numbers, and if I do not put a bookmark in the book I am reading, I will always end up forgetting the place I have got last time!

Oh, I just love my books so much! I make sure that they are stored nicely, I avoid making creases on the page and I never open them too widely, in fear of damaging the spine. I dont fold the pages either to mark where I left off, I love using my bookmark or I just memorise the page number

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Paperbacks, on the other hand... I'll break their backs, fold every other page back, write down notes, use the empty pages at the back for a note book, shove them into my backpack, swat flies with them and possibly dump them in the trash afterwards if they're no good. Some people think that's disrespectful... but I kinda like the idea that when I've read a book, that book has been READ. I've physically wrenched every bit of knowledge I can find from it. That particular book becomes a part of my life for the time it takes me to read it. It's like getting the book signed, not by the author but by the reader.

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Beer good, I LOVED the way you expressed this and I totally agree with you. I often prefer buying second-hand books where another reader has already started off the “wrenching” process. A book that has been well broken in is like an old friendship where both of you have adapted to one another over time. It’s not disrespectful because wearing away the rough edges is part of the relationship (Not that I think of my friends as second-hand of course!).

I've rescued many books from people's garbage. As long as they are clean and desirable. My wife's books we don't save. She reads a lot of what I'll call pop books. I donate those either to a library or to a nursing home.

Well, as a collector, I have books that are very old. Paperbacks that are older than myself, and I'm 45. I use mylar book preserver bags to keep them in. The hardcovers I keep dusted, careful not to tear the dust jacket, use a DJ cover if the book is of resale value. Most of my books are for my own enjoyment. In my will, after my children take the ones they want, the rest are to be donated. Complete sets of various collections would be there, most in first edition paperbacks. You wouldn't believe the stuff on my shelves! I'm the mad hatter of collectors! :lol: :nod:

Well I am basically a minimalist. And getting more so i suppose. I seem to have developed the Mother Theresa syndrome. At one time I had hundreds of books and I still keep and treasure any first or second or close to that editions or any given me by my children.
The rest however I give away to enrich someone else's life once I am thru-except of course if they have become inseperable friends. those I shall keep and give to my children some day.
I don't lend either books or movies. you can start wars over ruined copies. So if someone wants to read what I have I either give it to them or buy them one of their own. I like to make beautiful leather or whatever covers and using calligraphy do the title, author and such on the covers and have them all look the same. It is this need I have of everything being subtle in earth tones and blending in with every thing else. I have no idea why I do that, have since a child.I love book marks and those little lights you attach to your book at night so you don't disturb others. Getting rather a collection of t hose.
I suppose by the time I die I should like to be like the saints of old-having given away everything precious so others can be blessed. I don't like having things even though I was brought up very affluent. It tires me out and seems such a burden.

Wow, you can make covers?? That is perhaps the coolest thing I've learned yet about you, rachel.

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Originally Posted by rachel

I suppose by the time I die I should like to be like the saints of old-having given away everything precious so others can be blessed. I don't like having things even though I was brought up very affluent. It tires me out and seems such a burden.

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Remember, you have that Madonna halo now! You're half way to saint hood.

Canonization is just red tape from here, milady.

I think I might be the black sheep of the Forum... I don't like collecting books (I used to when I was younger) - that is kind of a hoarding as well in my opinion - and I prefer borrowing them from the library if it is for reading for pleasure, which it mostly is for me these days. If I am reading it for my studies, then I buy the book and I don't mind taking notes or marking (pencil). And the more I like a book, the more 'read' it looks and I am rather fond of that 'read look'.

The books are to be read so I don't worry about them looking... well, 'read' once I finish with them. To me, doing otherwise is like not wearing shoes properly because you like them... Do you walk around gingerly in your new shoes, not stepping on them with all your weight? Or would you not sit in a chair comfortably because it is very soft and nice? Or not brush your teeth with your new tooth brush hard enough so that its bristles will not wear out?

Disclaimer: I am not advocating damaging books on purpose or setting them on fire as a pastime but I think it is OK to read books and make them look so.