@Sherri I will do this for comfort’s sake, but I *always* ask the lender if they have any rules about their books, and I don’t do this if I’m asked not to.
As an author, I’m always scribbling in my books. I like to underline or highlight beautiful metaphors, great turns of a phrase, or especially creative details. If the book isn’t well written I might scream at the author in the margins. When I go back to the book, either for inspiration or to recall the story, my notes put me back in quickly. To paraphrase Lesley Gore, it’s my book, so I can write in it if I want to.
@Nancy I like your post, my father felt books are tools use them, he was a professor. He has passed on, but I still pickup books he wrote in, left messages, statements, arguments etc. It is always fun to run across his notes.
@Nancy AGREE. Had this discussion w my book club. I am careful to put my name in my books so they share my insights and understand I invite their comments. And am careful (often frustratingly) to only do it to my books.
@Nancy They are your books, so do what you enjoy with them. I sometimes find used books with other people’s notes in them and love having their comments as I read.
Of books I own? Anything goes. I personally always break the spines, dog ear pages, highlight, take notes, etc… Other people’s books, I try to keep in the same shape it was given to me in. I will add sticky notes sometimes but always take them out when returning.
for some books that I completely love, I have a ‘working copy’ that is a well loved version and then I have a nice copy hahah. I have three different copies of Walden
For books you borrow or check out, no bending corners, writing, underlining, and for God sakes please don’t eat over them. One more thing, smokers please please don’t smoke with a library book. I’ve had books that are so permeated with the cigarette smoke that they make me nauseous. As for your own books, do whatever you want with them, they’re yours. Go for it.
@Ruth I don’t care what you do with your own books but you wouldn’t believe what we saw in the books returned in the book drop at the library I worked at. I always wondered what their homes looked like.
Please return your library books. We used to have people with overdue books who would hang on to the books for nearly a year until the amnesty period. This was just to save the $3.00 maximum fine. #Really
I had no idea so many people don’t dog-ear books. Personally I love to find dog ears in books that I buy second hand. They make me feel like the book was loved before me.
@Belinda, I loan a 1,000 page book to a “friend” once. She left it in her mailbox (?!) during a rainstorm (yeah, I don’t get it either) and you know by the time I saw that book it had swollen to twice its size!! ? NEVER AGAIN!
Leaving them all about the house. Living with four children who love books mean I find them : in their beds, in the bathroom, under the dining room table, behind cushions, on the side, on the stairs.
I love that they read, but dagnamit pick up your book and put it somewhere safe.
@Graham baby you are more than welcome to read to me while I relax, but skipping ahead to something I haven’t read yet makes me want to cut off your tongue. I still love you though!!!
Don’t push your books on friends and then complain when they keep them for a long time. Everyone has their own favorite books to read. Don’t expect them to drop everything to read your favorite.
@Denise I’m going to be really honest and say I have been guilty of this. I’ve loved a book so much that I’ve been all ‘read it read it’ and then ‘have you read it yet???’ Wake up call for me!
Kristen Elizabeth I don’t have a problem with my friends recommending books. Just don’t put the actual book in my hands with expectations I’ll actually read it. ?
TALKING TO SOMEONE WHO IS READING! I have found that non readers have absolutely no consideration for me when I am reading. Would you interrupt someone when they are in the middle of a phone conversation? Or if they are enjoying a movie? I understand that they may have something to tell you, ask you, etc. But why does a non book reader think it’s perfectly acceptable to start a conversation with you when you are in a quiet spot and are deeply involved in a book???????
@Leslie at work at lunch I would take my chair and pull it over to a corner table with my back to everyone and still people would drag a char over and sit down and start talking to me and asking questions. I would usually get asked “what are you doing?” That seemed to be a challenge for everyone. They would sit down and not shut up for the whole lunch hour. There were two occasions where I ignored them and kept reading and they got really offended and said something snooty and walked away. I started bringing a headset to work and plugging that into my kindle or phone as soon as I sat down. *sometimes* that worked.
I heard some comments that me ignoring everyone to read was rude. Finally one day I said, “this is my lunch hour. I want to relax and read, not talk about work.”
Dog earring the pages, breaking the spine, not returning a borrowed book or writing in a borrowed book. Borrowed from the library or a friend, it doesn’t matter.
Don’t say rude things to readers such as “You always have your nose stuck in a book.” I dumped a husband over this and married a bookworm twenty-eight years ago.
I personally love books that have broken spines and dog ears. All of my books are second hand and it just reminds me that someone else has loved them. However I would never damage a borrowed book and my biggest pet peeve is a hardcover that is missing its slip.
Two of my Anne Fadiman essay collections went away like this. I had to buy new copies. But lost all the highlighted lines because of that. Now I just gift books and don’t prefer lending. It is a shame, because I want more people to read my books and enjoy them, but I want them to come back 🙂
I’m one of those folks. It’s usually because someone thinks I need to read and love a book I have no interest in, and insists I take it. I once had a friend who did this. When she passed away several yeats later, I realized I still had several of her books and would probably never read them. If I ASK to borrow a book, however, I read and return it promptly.
Don’t blurt out spoilers. Return borrowed books in pristine condition. If you own the book, make all the notes, highlights, & dog ears you want. Don’t belittle others’ reading choices or opinions.
I love writing in my own books and underlining but I would never do that to someone else’s book (and am not really a fan of other writing in mine), my boyfriend folds entire pages like in the picture only worse and i HATE that, he’d never be allowed to do that to mine ? but thank god i always read in English even though it’s not our native language so he’d never read them ?
My mom used to fold page corners ? I tried getting her book marks, but she kept them aside and kept dog-earing the pages ? Then I gave up. I don’t dog-ear pages or even use bookmarks – I can always get back to where I left off – but I highlight lines all the time, and sometimes I write in the margins in pencil. I love doing that.
My mom (an avid reader) had a rule-no books at the table. I bend this rule in my house by reading the paper at breakfast but do actually consider lunch and dinner book-free times.
No bending the cover of your paperback around the book while reading.
I lent someone a book and that was the first thing they did. It was very hard to not snatch it back.
@Sherri I will do this for comfort’s sake, but I *always* ask the lender if they have any rules about their books, and I don’t do this if I’m asked not to.
NO DOG EARS!!
Yes!! Book maltreatment!!
Rachel Wood No more books for them!
no highlighting or notes in the edges -unless its a textbook perhaps
As an author, I’m always scribbling in my books. I like to underline or highlight beautiful metaphors, great turns of a phrase, or especially creative details. If the book isn’t well written I might scream at the author in the margins. When I go back to the book, either for inspiration or to recall the story, my notes put me back in quickly. To paraphrase Lesley Gore, it’s my book, so I can write in it if I want to.
@Nancy I like your post, my father felt books are tools use them, he was a professor. He has passed on, but I still pickup books he wrote in, left messages, statements, arguments etc. It is always fun to run across his notes.
@Nancy me, too!
@Nancy AGREE. Had this discussion w my book club. I am careful to put my name in my books so they share my insights and understand I invite their comments. And am careful (often frustratingly) to only do it to my books.
@Nancy They are your books, so do what you enjoy with them. I sometimes find used books with other people’s notes in them and love having their comments as I read.
Is this for a book you own or borrow?
Of books I own? Anything goes. I personally always break the spines, dog ear pages, highlight, take notes, etc…
Other people’s books, I try to keep in the same shape it was given to me in. I will add sticky notes sometimes but always take them out when returning.
Same!! My books are well loved and I like them that way. Friends books though, I’m very careful.
for some books that I completely love, I have a ‘working copy’ that is a well loved version and then I have a nice copy hahah. I have three different copies of Walden
I have borrow 2 books before and its very stressful to take extra care of them?
Reading with your mouth open????
If you are reading and enjoying it, nothing else matters.
My main pet peeve is when people borrow books and never return them.
That is why I quit lending them. I only lends those that I don’t care if I get back or not.
For books you borrow or check out, no bending corners, writing, underlining, and for God sakes please don’t eat over them.
One more thing, smokers please please don’t smoke with a library book. I’ve had books that are so permeated with the cigarette smoke that they make me nauseous.
As for your own books, do whatever you want with them, they’re yours. Go for it.
I am a book slob and your comments remind me of what my husband expects of his books
@Ruth I don’t care what you do with your own books but you wouldn’t believe what we saw in the books returned in the book drop at the library I worked at. I always wondered what their homes looked like.
No dog ears nor placing a glass on it
Definitely no smoking around library books.
Please return your library books. We used to have people with overdue books who would hang on to the books for nearly a year until the amnesty period. This was just to save the $3.00 maximum fine. #Really
Don’t fold pages – use a bookmark and don’t ever break the binding!
No damage at all. I do make notations in my cookbooks and in reference books.
Don’t read during sex
@James best comment on the internet today
@Kate Why thanks! ?
Why? Lol
@Johnny My wife says it’s annoying
@James AHAHAHHAHA
When people tell you the story while you are reading the book , spoiler alert!
Hand with care don’t fold the coners use book marks, and my biggest pet peeve is don’t lay book down open and leave it.
Trying to teach my son this. Work in progress
@Megan it takes time. I had to fuss at my son all the time. Now he buys his own books and he finally gets it.
I had no idea so many people don’t dog-ear books. Personally I love to find dog ears in books that I buy second hand. They make me feel like the book was loved before me.
@Becky my personal books are very much loved, bent corners, wrinkled pages from reading in the bathtub, bent spines…
Many years ago I took The Lord of the Rings with me to church, and my mother wouldn’t let me read.
Unforgivable! ?❤️
If someone lends you a book, return it within a reasonable time. Losing beloved books to a borrower is sad making.
Don’t dog ear pages.
Dog ear your pages, write notes in the margin. Let your book know you love it.
Definitely write your thoughts in the books. Lol! I know! Anathema! But, when I see a note from my Grandmother (1883-1966), I am gifted!
@Laurel if the message in the book is from a beloved family member long since passed then you are truly blessed. #Truly
@Elaine, thank you❣️
Laurel Jacobson I wish that I was so fortunate ❤
If it’s your book, do as you please. If it’s someone elses or the Library’s…..take the utmost care of it.
When you loan someone a book and they either don’t return it or take forever to return it after having to ask for it multiple times ?
@Belinda, I loan a 1,000 page book to a “friend” once. She left it in her mailbox (?!) during a rainstorm (yeah, I don’t get it either) and you know by the time I saw that book it had swollen to twice its size!! ? NEVER AGAIN!
@Barbara, that’s terrible!! I only lend books to reliable friends now!!
Crossing out words and replacing them with your own dumbed down and grammatically incorrect words IN A PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK!!!!! SMH
Leaving them all about the house. Living with four children who love books mean I find them : in their beds, in the bathroom, under the dining room table, behind cushions, on the side, on the stairs.
I love that they read, but dagnamit pick up your book and put it somewhere safe.
I love your children.
I love your children more. Can I adopt him?
@Maryann Definitely! He will happily listen to stories all day, but might throw an angry rampage every now and again ?
I have books all over my home. I pick up whichever is near. My son also has books everywhere. Lol I guess he gets it from me.
Bending pages, breaking spine, losing cover, NOT RETURNING THEM ? lol xxxx
My wife gets frustrated when I read her book aloud when she reads beside me. Don’t know why @Vickey ?
@Graham baby you are more than welcome to read to me while I relax, but skipping ahead to something I haven’t read yet makes me want to cut off your tongue. I still love you though!!!
Sounds like we need to add writing about your wife’s frustration when you are both members of the Silent Book Club to the list!
You two are very cute.
@Jean thank you.
bending the pages and breaking the spines
someone who borrows a book and returns it in shabby condition
…yes, or doesn’t return it at all.
Don’t push your books on friends and then complain when they keep them for a long time. Everyone has their own favorite books to read. Don’t expect them to drop everything to read your favorite.
@Denise oooh that’s a good one!!
@Krissy It’s happened to me many times.
@Denise I’m going to be really honest and say I have been guilty of this. I’ve loved a book so much that I’ve been all ‘read it read it’ and then ‘have you read it yet???’ Wake up call for me!
Kristen Elizabeth I don’t have a problem with my friends recommending books. Just don’t put the actual book in my hands with expectations I’ll actually read it. ?
TALKING TO SOMEONE WHO IS READING! I have found that non readers have absolutely no consideration for me when I am reading. Would you interrupt someone when they are in the middle of a phone conversation? Or if they are enjoying a movie? I understand that they may have something to tell you, ask you, etc. But why does a non book reader think it’s perfectly acceptable to start a conversation with you when you are in a quiet spot and are deeply involved in a book???????
@Leslie at work at lunch I would take my chair and pull it over to a corner table with my back to everyone and still people would drag a char over and sit down and start talking to me and asking questions. I would usually get asked “what are you doing?” That seemed to be a challenge for everyone. They would sit down and not shut up for the whole lunch hour. There were two occasions where I ignored them and kept reading and they got really offended and said something snooty and walked away. I started bringing a headset to work and plugging that into my kindle or phone as soon as I sat down. *sometimes* that worked.
Yes! This is my number one pet peeve.
@Laura It’s so damned inconsiderate!
I heard some comments that me ignoring everyone to read was rude. Finally one day I said, “this is my lunch hour. I want to relax and read, not talk about work.”
Dog earring the pages, breaking the spine, not returning a borrowed book or writing in a borrowed book. Borrowed from the library or a friend, it doesn’t matter.
Don’t say rude things to readers such as “You always have your nose stuck in a book.” I dumped a husband over this and married a bookworm twenty-eight years ago.
My partner just said this to me yesterday and I seriously thought about dumping him! How can you insult someone who reads?? Beyond me.
@Marie I couldn’t figure it out and it’s why I left.
Don’t insult another reader’s book preferences. Everyone has different tastes. Also, remember to return books to the owners.
Don’t dogear the page ? My mom used to do that all the time ?
Perhaps someone else has mentioned this, but when I see someone using a book as a coaster, I cringe!
SOMEONE in my family once did this to a NEW hardcover book of mine… With ICE WATER. The cover and pages became warped and I became angry.
@Alyssa I would have been livid! ?
Oh, I was. The book was also on the kitchen table, so there was no reasonable excuse as to why it was being used as a coaster in the first place.
@Alyssa I agree, no excuse whatsoever.
I personally love books that have broken spines and dog ears. All of my books are second hand and it just reminds me that someone else has loved them. However I would never damage a borrowed book and my biggest pet peeve is a hardcover that is missing its slip.
Never pupu on someone’s interpretation of the book, no matter how “far out” it is. Every reading is unique. And yes, some more valid than others.
Don’t write in it, don’t bend the pages, and for the love of god do not talk to me when I’m reading!
when borrowing from a friend, please do not keep it for months/years
Two of my Anne Fadiman essay collections went away like this. I had to buy new copies. But lost all the highlighted lines because of that. Now I just gift books and don’t prefer lending. It is a shame, because I want more people to read my books and enjoy them, but I want them to come back 🙂
@Vishy same here….thanks for “getting me”
I’m one of those folks. It’s usually because someone thinks I need to read and love a book I have no interest in, and insists I take it. I once had a friend who did this. When she passed away several yeats later, I realized I still had several of her books and would probably never read them. If I ASK to borrow a book, however, I read and return it promptly.
Only once have I not returned a book loaned to me and I still regret it.
@Joan me too. Just the one.
One Rule and one rule only, don’t talk to me when I’m reading. lol
Don’t blurt out spoilers.
Return borrowed books in pristine condition.
If you own the book, make all the notes, highlights, & dog ears you want.
Don’t belittle others’ reading choices or opinions.
Like the last one especially.
I love writing in my own books and underlining but I would never do that to someone else’s book (and am not really a fan of other writing in mine), my boyfriend folds entire pages like in the picture only worse and i HATE that, he’d never be allowed to do that to mine ? but thank god i always read in English even though it’s not our native language so he’d never read them ?
My mom used to fold page corners ? I tried getting her book marks, but she kept them aside and kept dog-earing the pages ? Then I gave up. I don’t dog-ear pages or even use bookmarks – I can always get back to where I left off – but I highlight lines all the time, and sometimes I write in the margins in pencil. I love doing that.
My mom (an avid reader) had a rule-no books at the table. I bend this rule in my house by reading the paper at breakfast but do actually consider lunch and dinner book-free times.