I’ve titled the comic above “The End Of The Relationship.” 
I’ll be in California (yay! no snow!) until late next week and won’t be taking my Wacom tablet, so Inkygirl will likely not be updated until I get back. While I’m away, however, I’m posting a survey to see how many of you are as neurotic as I am when it comes to books.
1. Do you ever put a book face-down on a flat surface?
2. Do you lend your books freely, or only to people you know will take care of them?
3. Do you ever remove the dust jackets off books to protect them? (protect the jackets, that is
)4. How often do you write in your own books? (other than your name, if you’re that reckless)
5. Other than the above, do you have any other odd habits having to do with your books or books in general that you’re willing to ‘fess up to?
You can also see what people have responded in Livejournal.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Augh, I’m sorry. I somehow managed to turn comments off when I posted. I’ve fixed this.
Do you ever put a book face-down on a flat surface?
Rarely and lightly.
Does this picture make you uncomfortable?
Yes – looks like a good hardcover treated rudely.
2. Do you lend your books freely, or only to people you know will take care of them?
I have lent them far too freely in the past and am now missing many. I hope they have a good home, but I would like them back! I need a better tracking system.
3. Do you ever remove the dust jackets off books to protect them? (protect the jackets, that is)
Rarely buy hardcovers with jackets. Too heavy to lug around or hold while reading.
4. How often do you write in your own books? (other than your name, if you’re that reckless)
I do not write in books and used to fight with my father about that as he scribbled all over books, including the ones borrowed from me. I just never bothered taking a book back after he did that, and threw out almost all of his books when he passed away.
5. Other than the above, do you have any other odd habits having to do with your books or books in general that you’re willing to ‘fess up to?
Yes, I panic if I realize I have left the house without reading material, even I am just running to a store for a few minutes. You never know what could happen, and I would hate to have nothing to read after it happened.
What size is your Wacom?
Survey Responses:
1. No
2. No and No
3. Never! You write your name?!
4. Sometimes I buy a book even though I may have no intention of reading it. I also use a lot of post-its when I read.
Have a great trip!
1. Do you ever put a book face-down on a flat surface?
Occasionally – it depends on the book and the surface. But it’s usually just for long enough to find something to use as a bookmark. (And I’m more likely to do it with a used book that already has the spine broken.)
Does this picture make you uncomfortable?
Not really – it’s just a picture.
2. Do you lend your books freely, or only to people you know will take care of them?
Only to people I know will *return* them. (And if they don’t take care of them, I won’t lend to them again.)
3. Do you ever remove the dust jackets off books to protect them? (protect the jackets, that is
No, I can’t say I’ve ever done this. But I don’t buy a lot of hardbacks.
4. How often do you write in your own books? (other than your name, if you’re that reckless)
In non-academic books? Never. In academic books? I will frequently underline or make notations in the margin in pencil. It is more ecologically sound than photocopying the whole damned book so I can make notes on it. *grin*
5. Other than the above, do you have any other odd habits having to do with your books or books in general that you’re willing to ‘fess up to?
Not really. I love books and I love reading, but I don’t worship their physical form the way some people do. I once belonged to a bibliophiles society and couldn’t understand all the discussion about having bought a book that you couldn’t read because it would devalue the book. For me, books exist to be read. Books don’t exist to sit on my shelf and look pretty.
(Of course, I contradict myself to some extent. My partner bought a second copy of a hard-to-find out-of-print book so he could take it apart and scan it (thus preserving the content and making it accessible to others) and I nearly had a fit. So I don’t know how that fits into things.)
1. Only if it’s a library copy or a beat-up copy of my own
2. I lend them pretty freely
3. I always remove the dustjackets when reading
4. My name, but only if I’m lending it to someone
I’m reposting my answers from my blog, since comments weren’t on last night when I wanted to answer this post.
1) No, I almost never put a book face down on a flat surface. Maybe if it’s a library book, and it’s a hardback with a spine that’s already well broken in. But that’s it.
2) If you are on my list of people I’ll lend my books too, you are either as OCD as I am, or I live with you.
3) Yes, I remove dust jackets while I’m reading the book. I’m a book collector, so it’s been drilled into me: a book without a dust jacket with a damaged dust jacket isn’t worth as much (not to mention incredibly ugly).
4) I used to write my name in my books, but I don’t even do that anymore. The only exception was my school books while I was in school, but even that was difficult. I stopped doing it so much when I realized I rarely looked at my own notes afterward.
5) I am, as Debbie calls herself, neurotic about books. I’m not just a bookworm – I’m also an amateur book collector, and even if my books aren’t worth a fortune, I’m still proud of the beautiful old volumes (some of them first editions!).
I was neurotic about books before I started collecting, though, so my hobby isn’t the cause of my neurosis. In high school I developed a pet peeve against fingerprints on the covers of glossy paperbacks – I would actually make one of my best friends hold my books so that her fingers were on the corners of the spine, thus leaving minimal fingerprints.
While I’m not that bad anymore, I still am anxious enough about the condition of my books that I don’t lend them to very many people – and not at all if they are first editions or antique or some other special edition. I only open my paperbacks about 90 degrees when I read them, and God help anyone who returns one with the smallest spine crease!!!
1, Sometimes, with paperbacks after I’m about half way through and sick of losing my bookmarks and my page.
2, I lend books very freely…to people who are staying in my house for longer than it will take them to finish the book. Apart from that I give books away (the ones I’m willing to part with. This tends not to be non-fiction). If they ever come home again I’m always sort of non-plussed and not sure what to do with them. Sort of like parents with kids who come home after college, I suppose.
3, I do take dust jackets off, but more because they are a pest when reading than to keep them safe. I run the risk of having them thrown out by my clutter-intolerant spouse if I leave them lying by chair…
4, I used to underline, lightly, in pencil when I was studying. Nothing convinces me of a person’s unfitness for society than seeing them writing in pen in a book, or worse, highlighting paragraphs. Too many university library course books had distracting underlining done by someone who was researching a totally different angle… Grrr.
5. Other than the above?
I smell new books before I do anything else. I may riffle the pages to get the full whiff. I also look at the binding, wonder about the font and criticique the cover layout, but that’s a consequence of having worked for a company that made books.
Also I recently threw a paperback in the trash for the first time in my life. The author’s point of view and more, the terrible style offended me so much I didn’t want to give the book away lest anyone else read it. It was still hard to do though.
1. Nope.
2. Mostly freely. Most of the people I loan books to know that I like them to be well taken care of, however, I have a friend who bends and breaks the spines, tortures them, but I wouldn’t for a second hesitate in loaning her a book because she’s a close friend. So freely, even though my poor books suffer! :’(
3. During reading, yes, because they have a tendancy to get murdered by my laptop in a bag, however, I don’t tend to buy hardcovers because I’m paying college tuition at the moment >
Oops, the rest of my comment got chopped off:
4. For classes, definitely, in pencil, and for potentially open ended essay assignments that might occur in future classes. I’m an English major. I can usually tell when something might be handy in the future and so I make a little note.
5. I like to smell them, especially old books. Granted, sometimes they smell awful, but it speaks to me about their past lives.
1. Do you ever put a book face-down on a flat surface?
*shifty eyes*
2. Do you lend your books freely, or only to people you know will take care of them?
Let them out of my sight? As if! Ever since my copy of TLOTR came back sans abt 8 pages, my books stay with me.
3. Do you ever remove the dust jackets off books to protect them? (protect the jackets, that is)
Almost always. Glad to see I’m not the only one!
4. How often do you write in your own books? (other than your name, if you’re that reckless)
Never, EVER. If I simply must make notes in them, I buy a second copy to write in.
5. Other than the above, do you have any other odd habits having to do with your books or books in general that you’re willing to ‘fess up to?
Nothing particulaurly strange. I do refuse to use the library, though. Why? B/c the books there have been read. They have character, and the character changes the book. Nonfiction is different, but fiction needs to have a clean slate, or I won’t be able to read it the same way. There’s nothing better than a fresh, clean book- it’s like a new sheet of paper, a new canvas.
Oh, and one more thing; I give new paperbacks ‘book massages’ before I start reading them. Here’s how, if any one’s interested;
Take the book and begin rubbing your hands quickly along the spine. Do this for about 2-5 minutes- the purpose is to warm up the glue in the spine. When you think the spine is warm enough, take it and completely cover it with your palms. If your hands can’t cover everything, put it between your legs. Hold for abt 2 minutes.
Open the cover and gently run your hand down the center, where the binding is (as you might do to keep a magazine open). Flip the page and repeat on the other side. Do this every 2-5 pages all the way through the book.
What you’re essentially doing is creating a number of small creases in the spine, so that there is never a single point taking all the pressure. It only works on books w/ glue binding, but I’ve never had a spine break since I started doing this.