Do You Use Dog Ears?

I like to have a stash of books ready for the winter,  a kind of comfort blanket  for those long dark weeks when we are snowed in with power outages and only candlelight/torches to read by.   (It has only happened once in the last ten years, and then it lasted just a few days!)

The books in the photograph are all charity shop finds, several look unread.      Stuart MacBride and  Karen Rose are two (of the many) authors I really enjoy, but the others are new to me and I can't wait to get started on them.

The pristine books are, of course, a delight.   They are in such good condition that they could have come direct from a smart bookshop, rather than from a down-at-heel charity shop.  

Their condition is a bonus but they won't be quite so immaculate when I have read them.

I was trained very early on, not to fold the corner of a page over and it is still something which I absolutely will not do.    I wince when I buy a book which has had this treatment.     Much as I love dogs, dog ears in books simply will not do!

Creasing the spine of a paperback, however, doesn't bother me at all.   I cannot be doing with all this prissy nonsense about protecting the spine from creases.   I know, I know,  double standards.

I confess I am often guilty of leaving a paperback book face down...

No doubt this will cause some raised eyebrows and a few tuts.      

I think that creases (not cracks) in the spine simply show that a book has been read and (hopefully) enjoyed to the full.        But then  I often do prefer the slightly imperfect things in life.    Perfection is far too much for me to strive for!

Part of this need to have a fresh supply of books is undoubtedly down to the fact that I never re-read a book.   Again, I can imagine the shock/horror caused by that statement.     I know that many people get a lot of enjoyment from reading them again and again - and that is fine if it works for you.

I  read a book, then move on.     I wish I had understood this about myself years ago.   I could have saved a small fortune for I used to buy hardback copies of books which I had enjoyed.

This flaw in my character only applies to works of fiction.    I cherish my non-fiction books and frequently delve into them.

Old cookery books,  local history, church architecture, folklore, English history, plants and their uses, mushroom identification, birds, crafts and art, etc  these are my real treasures and I re-read portions of them from time to time.    They are old friends and I enjoy refreshing my knowledge of them.

Post it notes are used liberally, bookmarks too, but definitely no dog ears.