Marking Books

Okay, okay, I admit it.  All my life, with library books too.  Hang head in shame.  All those turned-over-corners.  I did it.  You can blame me.

The days of embossed leather bookmarks are of course long gone and 62% of people in the poll admitted they turn the corner of the page to keep their place. “I consider that mutilation,” said Simon. “I would never do that, what’s wrong with using bookmarks – tickets, pieces of paper?”

Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, admitted he had bent the truth. “My first degree was in theology, I got a 2:1 at Durham. I’m embarrassed to say I never finished the Old Testament.”

The results are based on 1,342 responses to a survey on the World Book Day website, and Douglas said that in many ways the results were reassuring. “It shows that reading has a huge cultural value in terms of the way we present ourselves as intelligent and engaged people.”

He said he was far from surprised at the turning down of pages or the 14% of people who admit writing in a library book. “I used to be a librarian and I can tell you books come back in the most horrendous condition. Turning down corners is better than surgical stockings hanging out of Tolstoy.”

From the Guardian piece, Our guilty secrets: the books we only say we’ve read.

Been there about those unfinished books, but what about book marking?  I’m curious — you librarians out there — what sort of stuff have you found being used as book marks? (Or do I really not want to know?)