Weekly Geeks – Mark It Down

10May09

Do you use bookmarks or just grab whatever is handy to mark your page? Do you collect lots of different bookmarks or do you have a favorite one that you use exclusively? If you’re not someone who uses bookmarks on a regular basis, have you ever used anything odd to mark your place?

When I was much younger, I used to make bookmarks, using stickers and color pencils. I aimed at making one a week, and had then in a neat stack on my bookshelf, so that they were always easily accessible. Grab & go – for everyone who ever needed a bookmark at home. 

Those days are long gone!

There was also a time I used hotel key-cards and old credit cards as bookmarks as well. Or, if I was on holiday, and had purchased one of those $20 phone-cards, they did the trick… Yes, I kept misplacing them, and yes – the people around me used to get quite infuriated with my carelessness… But, it just made sense at the time! 

I have a couple of bookmarks (both presents) which I tend to use, now-a-days. One’s an extremely adorable Winnie The Pooh one, that is commonly available at Waterstones, whereas the other is a souvenir from Switzerland.

However, more often than not, I end up using my travel card as a bookmark, as I mostly read on the tube. Of course, this ends up being painful sometimes, when I’ve finished a book but forgotten to take out my travel card. I’ll tell you this – reaching the station, and then realizing you’ve left your travel card in a book at home (or work) is one of the most frustrating experiences ever! 

I also try and remember the page number. Of course, this is not foolproof, and very frequently, I end up scrambling through a fair few pages, in order to determine where I need to start reading from again. 

Sometimes, when I get to work, and I’m in the middle of the book, I just grab a pen/pencil/stapler from my desk and place it between the pages. It’s convenient, and I don’t need to fumble around at all when the day’s done, and I’m ready to immerse myself in the book again. 

However, I don’t dog-ear the pages, nor do I ever leave the book face-down. I’m one of those annoying finicky people who likes my books looking brand new. Yes, I know – books are supposed to look used and read and enjoyed. But – I don’t know. To me, it feels realllllly wrong, as I think books are supposed to be treasured and valued and kept well. My copy of ‘The Fountainhead has been read about sixteen times (by me alone), and the book still looks almost brand new, and strangely (and geekily) enough, I’m quite proud of that. 

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