Booking Through Thursday ... On Monday: Bookmarks and Marked Books

Well, another Thursday is upon us, and that means it is time for yet another Booking Through Thursday prompt. What will it be this week, you ask? Here you go…

Prompt: What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you’ve ever used or seen used?

I used to be of the mind that books, all books, were sacred texts that should be preserved and always kept in pristine condition. I used to be really anal about my books. Then I got into my undergrad English-Literary Studies program and I learned that books are texts to be used and not to be revered, so to speak. (The veneration of texts is what lead to the creation of the “dead white guy” canon that exists and is upheld by the likes of Harold Bloom.) So, where once books were held in almost reverential revere, now my books are marked up, dog-eared and written in. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In terms of unusual: I can’t really remember the strangest or most unusual thing I have ever used as a bookmark, but one of the most unusual things I have ever seen used comes courtesy of the Forgotten Bookmarks website: a 6” circular saw blade. (Bytheby, I highly recommend Forgotten Bookmarks, it is quite fascinating.)

As for actual bookmarks, it’s usually one of two: if the book I’m reading is a mass market paperback, then I’ve got a nylon book cover/case that I got through a military surplus store. It is waterproof, has a slot for a pen or pencil or highlighter, and it has a bookmark sewn in to it and so it is really easy to use. Though, really, if I need more than one, as I’ve been writing papers, I have had books marked with dog-eared pages, index cards, photos, napkins, post-it notes, playing cards … all in one book.

However, if I’m reading a trade paperback or hardcover book, I have a number of snapshots of my wife that I use. Here is the current one I am using (of my wife and one of her sisters) in Worlds That Weren’t: All-New Novellas of Alternate History (my wife is on the left, in the dress … isn’t she beautiful? I think so):