The Sword and Laser discussion
What do You Use as a Bookmark?
I just remember where I am in the story normally only takes me a few secs to find the right place. Maybe I am weird but I thought everyone did it this way. My wife does exactly the same so guess we make a good match......
When I was a kid I was as obsessed with the special book marks as I was with books. Every time I was able to buy a new book (and those were special occasions) I always bought a new bookmark to go with it. Dragon Riders of Pern had bookmarks with dragons on them. Sometimes I would color coordinate the bookmark to the cover of the book. I especially loved the ones with tassels. And the sayings or quotes on each bookmark were also very important to me. :)In my collage days I was scrapped for time and terminally broke, and to be honest I would either dog ear or shove in some random bit of paper.
Today I rarely use dead tree editions and have electronic means to bookmark my electronic books. But, in the case were I have to use a physical book, I've been sticking with random scraps of paper.
I've used bus transfers, torn notebook paper, the paper liner from a tin of mints (made the book smell nice), receipts of all sorts, and anything else that might be at hand when needed.
Alex wrote: "Actually, I don't use bookmarks. Since I never re-read, I just rip the page right out when I'm finished with it. That way, I always know my place and the book gets lighter as I read it!"Im going to start doing this too. Plus you would have plenty of scrap paper around for building papermache volcanos!
Micah wrote: "Alex wrote: 'Actually, I don't use bookmarks. Since I never re-read, I just rip the page right out when I'm finished with it. That way, I always know my place and the book gets lighter as I read it!'Im going to start doing this too. Plus you would have plenty of scrap paper around for building papermache volcanos!"
You are both history's greatest monsters.
Alex wrote: "Actually, I don't use bookmarks. Since I never re-read, I just rip the page right out when I'm finished with it. That way, I always know my place and the book gets lighter as I read it!"Can't tell if trolling...
Anyway, I have a Neville Longbottom bookmark :3 which makes me look like the biggest geek in the world when I'm reading Harry Potter. When I have another book or books on the go I generally grab the nearest bit of paper/thin thing.
Alex wrote: "Actually, I don't use bookmarks. Since I never re-read, I just rip the page right out when I'm finished with it. That way, I always know my place and the book gets lighter as I read it!"I'm sure he's trolling but it reminds me of a story about a Christian group that found a huge success smuggling tiny Bibles into the old USSR. they were in hot demand, even though the Bible was banned.
Then they found that many found it to be the right size and thinness to use for wrapping cigarettes. Many did use it as a bible.
Don't worry about people who tear or dog ear pages. Just make sure more get printed. And if a single copy, digitize and spread like the Dead Sea Scrolls and other rare texts..,
If I'm reading a hardcover I'll often used the dust jacket flap. Otherwise, I use bookmarks from the store I work at, or random scraps of paper. Which is amusing, since I collected bookmarks for years. Somewhere I've got a box of about 100 plastic tassled bookmarks with unicorns, kittens, and dragons on them. People give me bookmarks sometimes and I'll use those until I lose them or loan out a book with the bookmark still tucked in the back where I left it when I finished the book.
Post it note, folded in half so there's just some of the sticky stuff exposed to hold it in place.
A bit of scrap paper, that is if I even use a bookmark. I've always liked folding the corner of the page over.
I vary widely on what I use as a bookmark. Right now I am using a magnetic one from the Jefferson Memorial giftshop in DC- a hinged piece of cardboard with magnets at both ends that meet and pin together on the page. I have all sorts of old book store bookmarks- my favorite being from the grand opening of the Borders on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. I have one with the local library schedule on it that I like.
Anything card stock is great. I have one from my High School days 30 some years ago that still makes me smile- a bright yellow rectangle with a Banana I drew on one side and "This isn't a book mark it is a flat banana!!" written on the back by one of my friends. Lunch table humor.
Playing cards are really good for the purpose.
It actually depends on the book binding. For paperbacks, I generally place a piece of paper or junk mail in it. Hardcovers I generally use the dust cover, the front half for the first half of the book and the back half for the rest. I have many different bookmarks, but I can't seem to find them when I need one...must be my kids!
Okay that is an awesome bookmark! I am going to have to get some...it would be nice to always have a bookmark.
Nice thing about my Nook is that I don't need a bookmark. When I do read physical books, I use the bookmark given away with purchases by my favorite used bookstore, Magers & Quinn.
I have a ton of excess Magic: the Gathering cards so I typically grab a random common from one of the stacks and use it until I lose/ruin it. Then I just grab another.
I use either the nearest flattish paper-like substance (often tearing a shred off of an opened envelope, newspaper or junkmail) or my wife's memory ("Honey, I'm on page so-and-so, remind me later").
Tim wrote: "Mind you, most of my new reads are in ebook format, and the pages of a kindle/iPad are much harder to fold..."I've been through so many Kindles like that. Major design flaw.
Once upon a time (pre-Bookdarts) I used to cut the corner off of a sealed envelope; that way I could slide it onto the corner of the page and it wasn't actually sticking of the book, nor was it likely to fall out.
Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "I use train tickets. UK train tickets are cards about 6x9 cm. Perfect."I use movie ticket stubs. They are a little bit smaller than that: about 5x6 cm. I never liked actual bookmarks as they felt too big in my opinion.
For non-electronic books, I generally use a Levenger Book Bungee. It's not that I travel a lot. Nope, I read in bed, and toss the book to the side to sleep. The Book Bungee keeps my place no matter how much I toss and turn. I'm reading more e-books lately, though.
To be honest I don't use anything as a bookmark. I do one of three things: 1) always randomly open it to the page I was on.
2) just remember the page number
3) remember the chapter number
I tend to use junkmail, and I never fold pages as the vast majority of books I'm reading I get from the public library
I'm a huge fan of 'whatever is nearby', including receipts, mail, and even other books!
I have a miniature "mexican" poncho I got as a freebie in a 5 de Mayo party hosted by Corona. Classy, colorful, and very durable :)
Time was I'd accept a strip of troll spleen but these days I keep my place with a nice ribbon of dragon tongue.
I use a Magic card. As in, the CCG Magic: the Gathering. Oh, yea, nerdy^2.
Splenda packets, old baseball tickets, post-it notes, and freebie bookmarks from the library...0 silk ties [work in surgery]...junkmail and post cards....
Definitely 3) or 4). Once I had a huge-ass pink bookmark with details on how important it is to get breast examinations (Not kidding here). It was given to me during some pink ribbon drive and I enjoyed passing it around to my dude friends saying "You can never be too sure, bro."I never buy bookmarks. My money is for buying books. PERIOD.
And never a valuable object. I have to tendency to lose bookmarks. Til this day, I'm not sure where did my breast cancer bookmark has gone to. I'm gonna miss that fella.
Mike wrote: "The receipt from purchasing the book or whatever is lying nearby. My wife folds the corner of the pages. Drives me insane. She also can't make it through a paper back without destroying the bindi..."
Yeah, I once lent a book to a douchy friend who dog-eared the pages. That son of a bitch.
As an avid comic reader, I get tons of bookmarks as promo items from the local comic shop. You know that when Batman or Wonder Woman are protecting your page number, it stays protected.
My mother is one of those crazy people who collects bookmarks. (As if I have room to speak what with my insane figurine obsession.) I, on the other hand, own precisely two bookmarks - one I got with a purchase that has a sign language primer on it and one I bought for myself in a moment of weakness years ago, with Sirius Black flying on the hippogriff and Harry and Harmione waving him goodbye. It has a small silver hippogriff hanging off it, which is the primary reason why I bought it.The hippogriff is currently placed in my copy of Infected which is a bit incongruent, I reckon.
Although most of the time I simply use whatever's at hand (several times I even used tissues -clean ones, mind).
I order most of my books from Book Depository and they usually include a bookmark with the order. With that said, I only use those bookmarks for fiction books and if they are laying around close to me or else I'll just use one of the many pencils I have around my bedroom because I underline the hell out of my non-fiction books.
I would rather vow to remember the page number or write it down (okay, what I really do is key it into my notepad app on my phone) than fold the corners of book pages.As for bookmarks, I have a bunch of paper ones with art on them. My local library has a design a bookmark contest every year, so I have a lot of those.
I do also have a fabric bookmark (cute, but annoying to use) with a mouse screenprint. And a metal Harry Potter one I got as a gift a LONG time ago.
Paperbacks I usually dog ear or use scrap paper. Sometimes I use a book cover and they come with a bookmark so I'll use that.Hardbacks I just use the dust jacket.
I make my paperbacks work when I read them. They get shoved in my purse; I open them as wide as I can so I can hold the book open with one hand. I'm always fiddling with the pages as I read, running the page under my nails, catching snags, messing with the cover... I guess I have a lot of nervous energy and don't know how to relax.
I definitely don't treat paperbacks as something sacred. It's the content that matters to me, not the medium. I'll buy used and don't really care too much about the condition as long as I can read the words and it doesn't smell like pee or something.
I like to use the freebies from independent bookstores. For years, I used an old freebie bookmark from The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver. Then I used a Harvard Bookstore one that I picked up in Boston. Now I'm using a bookmark from a Brazilian chain called Livraria Cultura - not independent I know, but it's exotic enough.
I have a tendency to use my library card as a bookmark for the books that I check out. For the ones that I have bought myself, I have a nice brass bookmark that I only use maybe once per book at the rate that I devour them.
Thankfully I have an E-reader and haven't had to deal with losing my page for a bit(though I tend to run the battery to 0% if the book is particularly good).
Definitely in the "whatever's around" category. A post it (which gradually stops posting), a business card, scrap of paper, bit of yarn...
I use receipts and a think geek sticker for my physical books, for ebooks I use the bookmark function.
My mom for the past two years has given me cards with bookmarks in them. One is semi-transparant purple and a lime green ribbonned bow with the saying, "No matter where you are, know that I am always love you, thinking of you, and wishing good things for you." The other is one of those where if you move it, the image looks like it moves/is 3D. It has a ton of bright butterflies on it and a turquoise tassel.
In the past though, I've used everything from random paper, pens, dogearing, and none at all!
I really read paper these days, but when I do I usually just use on my my business cards.
I used to collect bookmarks. I always got some as gifts, since everyone knows I love reading. But when I moved across the ocean I left most of them behind. I now only use a metal one with a dolphin and a felt owl my godmother made for me.Owl bookmark
I do own a couple of free ones, just in case, but usually don't get around to use them.
Zach wrote: "my bank deposit receipt."That tends to be a regular bookmark here as well.
Because I read a lot of my Kindle, I don't really use bookmarks all that often, but when I am reading a physical book I most often use an old out-of date credit card. It's a good size and it's sturdy enough that I can use it as a lever to open the book without it bending and sliding out making me lose my page.
I'm getting more and more into iPad/Kindle-only mode, but I've got a propensity for using amazon.com receipts and store receipts for book marks.
Usually use what I lovingly refer to as a $1 bookmark (otherwise known as a losing lottery ticket)
My current bookmark is a half a piece of notepad paper, it normally just anything that works that I don't worry about losing.
I try to use fancy bookmarks but since my books travel everywhere, they usually get pretty mangled. Most often, it's #4—tags from clothes, shopping lists, rulers, various other random items.
I usually use my library/book store receipts.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Into the Wild (other topics)Endymion (other topics)
A Blight of Mages (other topics)
Infinite Jest (other topics)
Other than that, I use the freebies from a favorite used book store. and I have a couple of real ones that I've picked up through the years. Two are from the traveling Harry Potter exhibit that hit Seattle last year. What? I couldn't afford a wand! LOL