What do You Use as a Bookmark?

[Nokomis.FL]

Either the receipt that came with the book or $100 bills.

[Tone]

I've been using the laminated badge from a convention I went to years ago. It's just the right size and stiffness.
And you know what else if just the right size and stiffness? Collar stays.

[Trike]

Nokomis.FL wrote: "Either the receipt that came with the book or $100 bills."

That's so mean to the next Monopoly player.

[Tim]

Here's a fun one from ThinkGeek: The Liquid Bookmark

I don't own one myself, but I bought one for a gift to a friend who loves it.

[Trike]

I thought you were going to say, "Just spill tea/coffee/grape NeHi on a page to keep your place." that's much cooler.

[Tazzmann]

Yep, I'm right there with Tom as he mentioned in the podcast. I generally use the receipt for the book as its bookmark.

[Kristin]

I've come into a lot of extra envelopes, with all the holiday cards I'm sending. A coworker got me into re-purposing them as bookmarks!

http://gomakesomething.com/ht/recycle...

[Nels]

I use the BookMooch (http://bookmooch.com/) business cards that I got with a couple of my mooches. Haven't used the service in a while because my TBR pile will take me a few years to get through as is, but the business cards are very high quality and make great bookmarks.

[Rebecca]

I generally use the "hold" tag from the library, although sometimes I end up using whatever is handy like receipts or old shopping lists that have found their way to the bottom of my purse.

[Kerry]

Good old fashioned business cards. That means I always have one to hand out when needed.
On the iPad side of things, I simply use the electronic bookmarks provided in iBooks. No recycling woes.

[Don]

I'm the guy who folds over the page, because I can't be bothered to keep track of a bookmark. I've met so many people who take offense to this, but its my book isn't it, so I'll fold the page over if I want to. If you want to borrow my book, just don't complain about the fold marks, and feel free to fold over the pages, the tree is dead already. I'm now using e-books, so this is no longer an issue. I'm no longer killing trees to read my books, so I figure that makes up for all the poor folded pages I'm creased in my life.

[Scott]

I usually just turn the book upside down on my nightstand.

[AndrewP]

Thanks for all the replies everyone, some interesting comments but my basic conclusion is that not many people buy the 'fancy' bookmarks that you see next to the checkout in most bookstores. As there always seems to be a large rack of them, I wonder who actually buys them? Not us fanatic readers it seems. There must be a significant market for that number to even exist in each bookstore. Here are a few replies to various posts above:

@Paul 'Petzer': I have a UK train ticket from my last trip to England - yeah, good size.

@terpkristin: I have heard a couple of complaints about all kinds of things not syncing correctly since the advent of iCloud.

@Paul, @John: Yes magazine subscription cards are great. Need something to do with them since there seem to be 2, 3 or more in every magazine.

@Ben: IBM punch cards - I have a whole stack of those. Never used one as a bookmark, but my mother has been using them as shopping lists for 20+ years.

@Mike: Me too. I am one of those purists who hates the spine of a paperback book getting creased.

@Nokomis.FL: I have a fake $1,000,000 bill I sometimes use.

@Tom, Veronika and several others: The receipt is an old favorite, problem is it's pretty rare that I go to a bookstore and come out with only one book:)

As for eBooks, I recently saw an App that had customizable bookmarks but I have searched my iPad and can't find it now. I remember it had a fish as one of the options. It obviously wasn't one of the common readers, anyone know what I am talking about?

[Kate]

AndrewP wrote: " my basic conclusion is that not many people buy the 'fancy' bookmarks that you see next to the checkout in most bookstores. As there always seems to be a large rack of them, I wonder who actually buys them? "

I imagine many of them are bought as gifts.
My godmother bought me a beautiful Newbridge silver bookmark for Christmas.

[Anthony]

I have bookmarks from The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver. My favorite bookstore.

[Dave]

A Harry Potter book mark from around the time of Prisoner of Azkaban.

But now I have an e-reader its sitting there looking very lonely.

[Paul]

My grandma tears up preliminary watercolors of hers and then hands them out as presents for bookmarks. They work great.

[Marshall]

I cut a corner off of an envelope and slip it over the corner of the page.

[Allen]

I kind of collect bookmarks so I have several I use.

[Michael]

Wispersync is my bookmark! If I am forced to read a dead tree book though, I usually end up repurposing a receipt or an envelope.

[terpkristin]

I came across this link for an origami cat bookmark. I just started reading a dead tree edition of a book, I might make one these. :) http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/201...

[Officer_Friendly]

It's quite nice to open a book and find whatever it was that was relevant at the time - the entry stub from the historical village, the tag from my new pair of jeans, something my daughter drew. Every book has it's own individual bookmark, some are getting a little old, but they're as much of a friend as the book itself is!

[Joseph]

Got these from a friend and they work beautifully.

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Darts-50-L...

[Lia]

I Make my own with satin ribons with beads at the ends, to give it some weight and prettiness.

[Guy]

Never really used bookmarks. I think I have some kind of mental thing in that I have to finish a chapter before I will even close the book. So I am at a loss when a book does not have clear chapter divisions, then I just remember the page number/general location in the story.
The same stupid thing also forces me to only read 1 fiction book at a time. So unless I finish or discard one I will not start a new one. Same goes for comics, single player video games. And do not even get me started on not finishing movies/tv shows. So in general I am really bad at stopping any form of media intake if its not a certain point (chapter ending, end of movie/episode etc.) Probably seems weird but I've never needed a bookmark. For text books (university) I do use one, then its mostly A4 paper with course related stuff printed on it (2 birds 1 stone idea).

[Nicholas]

Depends.
I have a pile of bookmarks from local bookstores that I usually use.
Sometimes if I buy a book from a store without bookmarks and start reading it before I get home, I'll use the receipt.
If I'm coming right back to the book and don't have a bookmark, sometimes I'll lay something random on that page, such as my cell phone.

Also on a side note since some people are talking about stopping on a paragraph, I always try my best to stop at a the end of a chapter.

[Kevin]

I will dog ear the pages of a paperback, but feel terrible doing it to a hardback. For a hardback I'll use a magazine subscription card, business card, or receipt - whatever is handy.

[Esther]

Guy wrote: "Never really used bookmarks. I think I have some kind of mental thing in that I have to finish a chapter before I will even close the book. So I am at a loss when a book does not have clear chapter..."
I am always trying to squeeze in one more line of reading before I have to get off the train, get on the bus or get to my turn. I would love to stop at the end of a chapter but I can't resist that little bit more and sometimes have to stop mid-line.

[Kev]

I usually use whatever small paper product is handy. Sometimes the news release that came with the book or the receipt if I bought it. I have a couple of "real" bookmarks that have pictures of my oldest daughter on them (came with the school pics), and a laminated name tag that's the same size and shape as a bookmark - I got that one from a class I took that I really enjoyed.
If it's a hardback book, I often use the inside flaps of the dust-cover to make my spot.
Usually just a random scrap of paper though.

My wife used to dog-ear books - even library books!! Drove me nuts, until I explained that she was vandalizing the library books and ruining the experience for the next person to get the book. She stopped after that.

Now she just reads our own paperbacks over and over until they fall apart. That kinda bothers me, but at least their getting used and loved - and that makes it okay.

[Mary]

I have several bookmarks, collected when I worked at WaldenBooks, back in the day. My favorite, however, is the one I cross-stitched myself with Celtic knotwork.

I've also used a book bungee, but it doesn't fit every size book, so it annoyed me pretty quickly.

If I'm starting a new book, I will occasionally use a receipt or other piece of paper until I can find an actual bookmark...although if the book's bad, I usually don't want to sully my bookmarks in it...

[Dav]

For fiction I'll just use whatever is laying around.

For non-fiction I use this modified standard bookmark:

[Quasar]

I tend to just use old bus tickets. Or library receipts.

[Liam]

When my son was younger, we made a couple of bookmarks, one with a whale and the other with his initial. I don't know what I did with those bookmarks, but I used the whale for years. Nowadays, it's a Pokemon card for the books I read to my daughter, and I just read eBooks for myself.

[Mark]

Generally whatever is close to hand. Last time I organized my bookshelves (waaaay too long ago) I found books with bookmarks made from: Magazine mailing labels, holerith cards, post-it's folded in half, magazine lap cards folded in half, and 1 Domino's Pizza coupon exp. date 12/15/89.

[Trike]

Since I'm doing a 366 Project on Flickr this year, I should round up all the bookmarks I use and photograph them.

[Nick]

Whispersync. One of the best thing about kindle ebooks is whispersync. I love it. For real books I grab any piece of paper nearby. The heavier the paper the better since if I take it out of the book while I'm reading I don't want it to blow away or be too easy to loose.

[Brian]

Store giveaways and for paperbacks my thumb smudge on the outer edge of the pages.

[Colin]

I have been using a two month old bus ticket for...the last two months now.
But i want to start using the olde medieval book curses. Those things would make the best bookmarks.

"For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails [. . .] when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever"

Take that, book thief!

[Jared]

I hang on to concert tickets and use those.

[Brad]

Ebooks, built in bookmark.
Hard/paper backs: usually a post it.

[Kamil]

i used the map of middle earth

[Rachel]

I usually use the credit card size version of my library card (the one I use at the library is on my key ring). However, my favourite bookmark is of the One Ring (with a replica of the ring at the end) with the ring's inscription on the bookmark itself.

[Adrian]

Controversially it seems, I use ... wait for it ... a bookmark!

When visiting historic places on days out (UK here) a leather bookmark will generally be my only choice of souvenir from a gift shop. I have a small stack of them collected over the years.

[Tim]

For reference books ( ie work) I use thin strip Post-it's, onto which I write a brief annotation, since there can be many in one book.
For fiction or general reading, I use whatever is to hand, even my iPad on one occasion. If there is nothing to hand I fold down a corner.

I do have a massive drawer full of souvenir leather bookmarks that my dad collected while he was alive, but I never use them.

[James]

Cue shocked intake of breath. Folding down corners? I just threw up a little in my mouth! But then I'm very weird with books. Or so I'm told.

I've started using the Goodreads app, myself. Bookmarks would always get forgotten, left behind or lost. But my phone is always with me, so it's quite handy!

[Dave]

Any small bit of paper I bring to hand when needed but I generally just remember the page I was on and return to it when I pick up the book again. The second hand bookshop I buy many of my books from gives you a cardboard bookmark with every purpose, so I alway have at least one of those on me.

[Tim]

By the time I start folding the pages, I've already creased the spine, and the book is effectively dead, or at least mortally wounded. Mind you, most of my new reads are in ebook format, and the pages of a kindle/iPad are much harder to fold...

[terpkristin]

Adrian wrote: "Controversially it seems, I use ... wait for it ... a bookmark!

When visiting historic places on days out (UK here) a leather bookmark will generally be my only choice of souvenir from a gift shop. I have a small stack of them collected over the years."

I LOVE that idea for souvenirs. I might start doing that. Wish I had thought of it earlier....luckily I travel a lot. ;)

[Charles]

During desperate times, calling cards (usually my own).

[AndrewP]

Since WonderCon I can use the best thing ever.. the official Sword & Laser bookmark :)