Karen1 Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Sometimes if a book read over and over. The more likely it will become damaged. Ah but there's a big difference to a book being well loved (which it is if you like it enough to read it numerous times) and a book that's just badly mistreated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValenCina Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 When I read I just HAVE to underline and take notes on margins, and I don't really feel like this is "ruining" the book, to me this is all about making it mine. And I love reading my thoughts on a book years later I first read it. Of course, no notes or underlining if the book is not mine, that's why I try to avoid borrowing books as much as my finances allow me to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 When I read I just HAVE to underline and take notes on margins... AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!! *prospero runs through the thread screaming, and then her head explodes* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supergran71 Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 You do make me laugh Prospero. Not that I dont agree with you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyanddandy Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Prospero - have you thought about comedy script writing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Script writing's never been my thing but I've been told I make people laugh. Usually unintentionally though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyanddandy Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Perhaps you are missing your vocation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 I lose my power if I TRY to be funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelastwatcher33 Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hey Paula - Relax Missy, I dont want it back, please read it - enjoy it and pass it on. My favourite books are precious and rarely leave my sight but most paperbacks I am happy to pass on to others. I simply dont have room to keep everything and rarely re-read, so I like to pass them on. I joined Book Crossing and love the idea of it all - releasing books into the wild for others to enjoy. I left a book in the Canary Isles and its now in Sweden how great is that? It is better than them sitting sadly on my shelf only having been read once, books are to be enjoyed. Its like the idea of a pristine house not being a true home. HOWEVER - If I lent out a precious book I would be absolutley gutted if it came back with folded corners, a broken spine, marks or coffee stains, dog eared, written on or smelling of smoke:motz: - you get the idea..... I think where possible its great to buy and pass on second hand books. Whenever I get a book in a charity shop or at some kind of sale of work and maybe see a name inside the front cover, or maybe even a date, its nice to think of someone else enjoying this book, like a weird booky connection between me and someone else I ve never even met. (I need help I know). I d never intentionly damage a book though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supergran71 Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 I lose my power if I TRY to be funny. It is commonly believed that comedians are sad people Prospero I am sure that is not the case with you:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 The tears of a clown, supergran. The tears of a clown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedAlligator Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Oh dear bit scared to tell you my story. Personally, I'm not that worried about the state of my books as long as they havent been dropped in the bath or something like that. I cant really understand how people read books without bending the spine - how do you it. Anyway, I borrowed Lady Chatterly's Lover from my cousin - one of those old penguin ones with the orange spine and she was one of those that hated bent spines. In fact she didnt even like to have a crack in the spine at all, not even a wrinkle. So I took it, more fool me, and I was completely paranoid the whole time I had it and just couldnt bring myself to read it at all as I was so scared. I had it for a while and had every intention of giving it back to her as she gave it to me so I kept it on my bedside table to remind me. But in doing that I also forgot it was there and my OH made a cup of tea one day while I was reading in the bedroom (not Lady C) and without thinking I put the cup of tea on the book!!! OMG, the ****** cup left a great big round tea stain on the book that I could not get off for love nor money! And it wasnt like I could buy her a new one to replace it as it was the old penguin ones that were not published like that anymore!!! I tell ya I learnt my lesson - I never borrow books anymore if people are that protective of their books. I cant live with the terror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jude-not obscure Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 When I read this thread I first thought, 'Oh I don't treat my books with enough respect'...then I went and had a quick look at my book cases...and sure enough 95% of the books are sitting there looking pristine...no bent spines and certainly no dog ears (shudder). However the books that do look a bit sorry for themselves are the few that have been read on a beach or round a pool... This made me wonder if the quality of what is inside the book may influence the amount of care we take of the of the book itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 What happened RedAlligator? Did you give the book back? Did your cousin get angry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 She joined the Witness Protection Programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~V~ Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 It is commonly believed that comedians are sad people Prospero I am sure that is not the case with you:D It is Supergran, trust me on this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themightypuma Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I am generally pretty careful with books, and expect people to have the same attitude towards them as I. I have lent people books and been annoyed with the state they have been returned in - usually it is general bashed-ness that is indicative of a general lack of care - you can tell they have had coffee cups rested on them and have had pages folded over and similar. However the condition of some of my favourite books are quite poor, generally because they have been everywhere with me. Many of my favourite have even been destroyed and I am on copy no 2, or copy no 3. I am on copy No 4 of Martin Amis' Money, copy no 2 of the collected poetry of T.S.Eliot, Copy no 3 of the middle of the journey - Lionel Trilling, Copy no 3 of Huxley's Brave New World, copy 2 of Madame Bovary and others that I don't recall. I will write in some books to highlight passages and I have gone as far as buying a second copy to write in and kept one for 'best' Which I realise makes me sound mentally ill, but there you are. Generally of course I really like nice looking books in the best possible condition, but I do not hold it against a copy if through the years of careful usage and love it starts to look a little worn around the edges, as the truth about many pristine books is that they look nice because no one has read them. A tatty book which I have almost loved to death about which I can tell you that this spot was made by a glass of red wine, or that mark made by a gravy rip-tide when I dropped a big piece of steak back on to my plate, or that muddy corner of a page was acquired when I was not looking coming out of Kings Cross station and some girl in a fantastic green trousersuit knocked it out of my hand in to a puddle, is valued much more than 100 books that I haven't touched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyGrayUK Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 All my books are in "As New" condition (then again, I only have around 20! excluding school revision stuff). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirstykat Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I am generally careful with my books as I pass most of them on to charity shops,or swap them, so I like to think that they will look enticing. Often, though, the more battered a book is, the better the writer as people can't put it down and pass it on and is generally a well travelled book! I am not too fussy about the condition of books from Charity Shops - as long as I like the synopsis, I am happy to buy the book. However, if it is a fantastic story and a book that I can not see myself parting with, I often buy a New Copy and will not let anyone borrow it! (Probably why we are so short of space on our bookshelves:roll: ) I then return the original to a Charity shop. It is unfortunate, that sometimes my books end up a bit battered, but that is due to me carrying it around all the time. Still, like I said earlier, it shows that it is a good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Stark Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I really hate lending my books to other people. Maybe it's the control freak coming in be but i find that some people don't look after booksa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirstykat Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 You have a good point! However, the other question is whether or not you will ever see your book again -people move, forget etc. and it gets embarassing to keep asking for it back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ii Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 For me it depends on the book, I guess. I don't really mind with paperbacks and such, I do crack the spine (it's the only way to properly read it without haven your nose stuck in between!) and I do write on the books. I guess that's from school, there just wasn't any point in writing separate notes, it was so much easier to just write on the margins. That way when you were rereading for exam or writing an essay about it, you had your notes right there! One of my favourites books ever, The House Of Mirth by Edith Wharton, is also written in, and I love rereading the book and reading my own notes and thoughts. That all being said, we have some really old books, especially at the estate and in Paris that I practically worship. There's just something special reading a book that has pages of thick yellow paper, with leather spines and that old book smell. I do have some old Finnish ones, too, from my late great-uncle. They just... it's silly, but I feel smarter if I read Victor Hugo from an old leather volume instead of the latest Penguin paperback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I had lunch with a friend at the weekend who made me almost sick with her description of how she treats her books - the corners get folded down, the spines get cracked before she'll start reading, she puts them down on surfaces face-down while open to keep her place, etc. It was heartbreaking for an anal-retentative reader like me to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ii Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I guess I want my books to reflect the love I have for them and the look like they've lived with me. Kind of like in Prague, I loved how you can see the history and the past in the buildings. In Paris most buildings are all fixed up and pretty. I much prefer the lines and wrinkles (exept on me, of course!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 With books I've studied I've written in them. I leave the book open face-down and crease the spine, makes them look read and loved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.