Book Meme

I got this meme from Flitting through Canadian Fiction and it looked fun (since it's about books), so I thought I'd answer it and pass it on.

1. To mark your page you: use a bookmark, bend the page corner, leave the book open face down? I'm pretty picky with my books, so bookmarks only. My daughter and I like to make beaded ribbon bookmarks (I'll post some pictures on here).

2. Do you lend your books? Rarely, unless it's a duplicate copy.

3. You find an interesting passage: you write in your book or NO WRITING IN BOOKS! Absolutely no writing in books. I cringe when I see some of them where I wrote my name or embossed them with my initials back when I started buying books.

4. Dust jackets - leave it on or take it off? Always leave the dust jackets on.

5. Hard cover, paperback, skip it and get the audio book? I much prefer hard cover when I can get them. They're so much more durable and most of my books I keep forever.

6. Do you shelve your books by subject, author, or size and color of the book spines? No particular order, except I try to keep authors together, but it isn't always easy. My signed books I keep in a special shelf in my room, though.

7. Buy it or borrow it from the library later? Libraries as much as possible, unless it's one they don't have, or I'm collecting the author.

8. Do you put your name on your books - scribble your name in the cover, fancy bookplate, or stamp? Never, since I learned that it devalues the books.

9. Most of the books you own are rare and out of print books or recent publications? Both. I buy bargain books, book club editions, library sale books, but I do have some signed editions of special authors that I collect. I've told my kids that these are the books they should keep if I croak.

10. Page edges - deckled or straight? Straight - deckled edges feel kinda funky to me.

11. How many books do you read at one time? I'm a 1-at-a-time person so I can make sure I keep all the details and characters straight.

12. Be honest, ever tear a page from a book? No, although I have owned (and still do) books where the pages are falling out due to broken spines.