I tend to buy books in hardback when I know they are good have read them before and loved them or have read earlier books in the series. Hardback books I treat with care, I usually remove the covers and keep them somewhere safe when I'm reading them .
However books are there to be read so paperbacks (and sometimes I do buy paperbacks or hardbacks if I'm going to be reading them a lot) tend to be well thmbed and well "battered" To me a well read book feels like returning home when you get to read it again. And them when it gets to the point beyond repair.. buy a new paperback and repeat the process. but I agree hardbacks should be kept nicer... <looks at books> "My poor books they look so old and worn out"

I cannot really add much which hasn't already been said - except to say that I must fall in the middle somewhere.
Many times I purposely buy a ragged paperback of something I love, to take on a trip, read in the tub or shove under my pillow as I'm falling asleep. Sometimes there are as many as three ratty copies of something in the bookcases, now that both my daughters are voracious readers. So now we might find Hitchhiker's Guide or Holes next to Green Eggs and Ham and Madame Bovary!
Our other books, some which go back 30 years or so are mostly textbooks, signed hardbacks, classic fiction hardback, coffee table or art books. Those seldom get taken out of their home shelf and must be kept clean. Then they get put back.

I want my kids to love books and feel comfortable carrying one around, and yet respect the wonder of the artform.I think we'd all agree those beautifully bound, white rag acid free pages are something special in their own right.

I fully endorse the view that books should be treated with great care. I've treated my books carefully, but some reference books are now showing signs of wear and tear after decades of use.

My mind goes back to my early years and to my parents' house. To say that I was 'brought up' to treat books with care would be misleading. It simply went without saying that anything of importance or of value (sentimental or financial) was treated with care, right down to minor items of clothing. This also applied to anything that was of little value in itself but awkward to replace. Carelessly losing the odd sock was not really acceptable, for example.

In the case of books there was a complication, if that's the right word for it. In the sitting-room there were shelves with late 19th and early 20th century editions (c.1880-1905) of the collected works of a fair range of authors, and also several individual works. I became aware that these books were strictly for reference only. My mother occasionally looked something up, sometimes jotted down a line or two on a piece of paper and then replaced the book on the shelf at once. Most of the books were in very good or excellent condition, with the exception of various novels by Dickens which showed signs of wear. The edition of Shakespeare's collected works also looked used and there was an edition of Byron's collected works, published in 1842, which looked more used than the others, but then it was older (and of course there was a time when Byron was enormously popular).

When I reached the stage where I needed to annotate texts in order to write about them, it never occurred to me to use any of these copies. I got my own cheap copies of the books I needed to annotate. At school and university it was also important to use the prescribed or recommended edition.

One evening, when I was 16 I had to write an 'appreciation' of Goethe's 'Erlkoenig' for homework. I was already well past the half-way mark in my work when the door opened and my mother entered with green, leather-bound copy of Walter Scott's poetry. With a smile she said, 'I think you should know that there's a famous verse translation by Sir Walter Scott', whereupon she placed the book on my desk with a bookmark at the relevant place. It was one of the very few occasions that any of those books left the sitting-room ... I was able to include a brief mention of Scott's translation in my essay, towards the very end.

I love the way a well worn book reads.

I'll admit that I'm not too kind to paperbacks. I take my paperbacks on mushing trips for nighttime reading after all chores have been done, and they can sometimes get nose prints (my lead dog has a fascination with books), dirt smudges, wet spots from melted snow, and occasionally I'll find a tuft of dog hair in them.
I do try to take excellent care of my hardbacks though. I never take those out on any trips. I also try and treat some of my antique books with as much respect as I possibly can. I have a special little bookshelf with doors on it for those and some of my special hardbacks.

The two issues for me are "format" and "adding value". Most of my books are non-fiction. I make thorough marginal comments, underline important phrases or sentences, and fill the endpapers with summaries, chronologies and other general notes. Years later, coming back to the book, I often find these comments a valuable trigger for a train of thought, or simply a reminder of a point I'd forgotten. Besides, the simple act of writing related material helps me remember the content. I've even done that with one work of fiction - my copy of "Pride & Prejudice" has headers on every few pages as a quick reference to where I am in the story, and quite a few marginal notes, especially cross-references to other passages. (btw, I really miss these "running heads" in non-fiction these days - publishers seem by-and-large to have stopped chapter and section heads, but rather to put the entirely unnecessary book title and author at the top of every page, as if you needed to be reminded!)

But it does depend on the type of book. I like to keep books whose value depends on their presentation, like histories of art (no, not colouring books - wipe that impudent grin off your face! ), as pristine as possible, because the presentation matters as much as the words.

The only books whose spines I bend back are piano scores - there's no other way to make them sit flat on the piano!

I lend my books indiscriminately, and I even get some of them back, occasionally!

Anselm

I reckon that I'm pretty good to my books. If I dont have a bookmark I remember the page number. I'm really good at that.

I must admit that I dont take care of dust jackets. If the book has a dust jacket I use the parts folded into the book as bookmarks. But, I HATE it when people dog ear pages. My friend does it so i gave her a bookmark and she STILL does it. It gives me the shudders.

I also can't write in books. Not even if its a school text book. We had to in drama and I wouldn't do it. But I have this friend that if you get him a book he makes you write in it who gave it to him and when and if he buys his own book he writes in it from Himself to himself and when.

Quote:

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if he buys his own book he writes in it from Himself to himself and when.

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My goodness - I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Lol it's a bit like that.

I don't purposely batter my books but I don't mind if my paperbacks look a little worn out because they looked loved. When I was younger I hated it when my books got bent or whatever but now not so much. You could probably tell which books I've read the most if you took a gander at my book shelves. I do, however, treat hardbacks more carefully. Maybe because they're more expensive? And is it weird that I was excited when I got my first hardback book?

Computer manuals must be beaten into submission. Its a necessary part of the learning process.

But all other books, including textbooks? I take as much care as I can because I've found many wonderful authors who never gained famed and sadly their books have gone out of print.

Wasn't F.Scott Fitzgerald was almost one of those authors?

But ones like a Stephen King paperback? So many of the those things printed that I don't mind reading them in the tub. I'd read them in the shower and not get too upset. So many copies get printed that these mega-bookstores now remind me of a tree crematorium!

Perhaps these 'over published' works could have a mainstream printing on super biodegradable paper. Perhaps Martha Stewart could be consulted as to how to turn them into attractive Christmas ornaments, curtains or a casserole?

Library books are sacred though. They are a trust.

Good thinking, trifle. I have always thought romance novels, National Enquirers and the like should have an actual life span - say six weeks or so - then they implode into powdered fertilizer, or maybe cat litter.[ might be a little gooey -or too ambiguous ingredient - wise to use in cassaroles, though]

When I was going through my "I am Sylvia Plath reincarnated" phase (now come on, who hasn't had one of those?), I borrowed a highly tattered copy of Letters Home from the College Library. In the first few pages was a photo of Otto, Sylvia's father, and someone had very neatly penciled in the appropriate lines from her poem "Daddy" underneath: You stand at the blackboard, daddy/ In the picture I have of you. This immediately made me feel a link to whoever had written that, as well as a further link to Sylvia (like I needed one!) The writing also looked so much like that of a friend of mine, but he hadn't gone to my College, so I was a bit confused. It turned out that someone who went to the College had borrowed the book for my friend a few years before, and he had written in the quote as a pointer to those who followed. It was an amazing thing for me...okay yes, I had an enormous crush on the friend in question, but it would have been special anyway.

That said, I would never write in a book which wasn't mine (except text-books, and I never give someone a book as a gift without writing something in it, and will insist anyone who gives me one does the same). When I was a kid I wouldn't have dreamed of drawing in a book, and I used to cringe in horror watching friends turn pages in big books from the middle instead of the edges (that still drives me up the wall - and it actually takes more effort, so why do it?!? )

Up until a few years ago I wouldn't turn down a corner either, but now I do it all the time. I think it's because of the kinds of books I read now - non-fiction just cries out for markers to be left to look back at later (especially with writing quizzes in mind; just because I hardly ever go back and look isn't the point!) I also bend back the spines of paperbacks as I do most of my reading in bed, and put pointer stickers all through dictionaries and other reference books. And like some others, I always take the dust-jacket off a hardback before I read it. This is not to save it for putting back on later (I usually throw them straight out anyway) but because they are so derned annoying! Also they are invariably ugly and often cheap - nothing looks as good as a bound spine (preferably dark blue) with gold writing on it, and a whole bunch of them on a shelf can almost bring me to tears...

I'm with Lothruin, and tend to treat some books . . . usually hardbacks . . . with great respect, and don't worry about cheap ones.

However, no one [oops--except ing] has yet mentioned if *writing* in books counts as mistreating them! I can't write in a book that I care about, and yet as a professor of literature for 30 years I often needed to. That's when I had one copy to keep as a sacred object, and another copy in which I wrote the notes I needed. It was hard to learn to do that, however . . . writing in a book (anything except a signature of possession on the flyleaf) still feels sinful to me.

Even though I treat my hardbacks very well, I have never felt badly about writing something pertinent within the covers...all the books my late husband inscribed to me at Christmas are worth even more because of those loving words. I have never flinched about writing a miniature 'journal entry' somewhere in the back, which tells where I got the book, year, and circumstances [ At one time I did museum research and would sometimes buy a new book if I needed to.] These short concise entries are wonderful to have as time passes and the details become blurry, and your memory goes south...

up until i was 70, i treated all books as if they were sacred relics which in a sense they are; however, i began to realize that some of my favorite reading was less that of the books but rather the comments written in--horrors yet fascinating. so the more i thought about it what i came to value is not just the book itself but the insights and opinions about the book that the folks who had read the book before me. for example, i would love to read any book that any ancestor of mine had read but only if that ancestor had filled the book with his/her opinions.
now tell me don't you read the side comments and emendations that other readers have given? even if you violently disagree with their opinions/judgments/doodles--some are so fascinating--agree?
ok, i was once a priest in the service of books, now i am a confirmed sinner feeling that if i own (note carefully that word own) the book then it is like a gift (a true gift is one where the recipient can do anything s/he wants to do with the gift/give it back/throw it into the trash, give to anyone/sell it/give it back as next year's present/etc./etc.
so if this is MY book it is my book to do with it as i choose. i now choose to write in the book if i have something to say, to fold the page into any shape i desire even if i just want to find my spot in the near future (i rather imagine that problem will be no problem in the future the "book" will automatically keep track of the last spot you were reading as well as giving you instant definitions and comparisons of whatever especially in relation to whatever else you have been reading both near time and long time.
back to subject: i do get carried away with speculations about the plausible futures.
so my treatment of books has changed from sacred objects to books that are mine because if the book is interesting enough i want it to be mine in many senses of the word.
i have read thousands and thousands of books (my dad kept track of my reading when i was about 12--had read about 2000 books that summer--an untypical day was a 2000 page history of science to 8 books by dumas they were about 800 pages each--of course i had read pretty much the whole day and night). re:my mom i had taught myself to read at 2 and i am now 73 and 10/12ths and read 30 books a week for 72 years=112 thousand books so thousands is actually accurate although i don't read 30 books a week nowdays.
well enough of this let's see what comment this will engender.
peacelovejoy
drbob

You ever seen the sun DrBob???? Amazing rate of reading there. I used to read a lot then along came the Internet and along came a child and other hobbies and things that seemed to need me more and now I'm flat out at a book a month.

I absolutely love reading the names, places and comments of my books' former owners. It's fascinating, like reading the victorian /edwardian postcards I collect. Who were they? Where was this town of Hillsboro, and why did they think Bobbie Smith was "such a pain?"[ especially since in the front of the book dear Bobbie's name is lovingly embellished inside a heart with an arrow through it?]

"I used to read a lot then along came the Internet and along came a child and other hobbies and things that seemed to need me more and now I'm flat out at a book a month"

How well I know that feeling, Copago. I used to read voraciously before coolcat90 was born. When she was little, I was just too busy to read, although now that she is older, I am reading a lot more, but still nowhere near my former levels.

When I went into labour, I grabbed my copy of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" which I had just purchased to read in the hospital. My obstetrician walked into my room, saw the book on the bedside table and burst out laughing. "Do you honestly think you're going to get time to read that?", he commented. Well, he was right, of course. I never got Chapter One finished and all these years later, I still haven't picked it up and read it.

With respect to writing in books, apart from inscriptions, I rarely do it. Just can't bring myself to "deface" a book. The only books I would ever write in, or highlight in, are those cheap course notes/books you get at university which are spiral bound. But even then, only with my very best writing! These books aren't in the same league as real bound books.