posted
Personally, I didn't take "special hell" as a particular reference to anything. I just thought it an apt phrase.
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: And yeah, I can have a few books going at once. When I put one down, I tell myself that I'm on page, say, 493. And then I tell myself why 493 is an easy number to remember. (Four sides has a square, and Nine is the square of Three, which happens to be how many children my parents had, for example).
Now, see. Who wants to take the time to devise and then later recall an entire rigmarole like that every time they put down a book? It's a lot easier to just put the receipt between the pages.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm not sure what the phrase "carnal book appreciation" means to everyone else, but I'm getting a very strange visual image out of that and I'm prompted to add that I will not be borrowing any of YOUR favorite books, thanks anyway.
I just want to be clear, this is "Oh my god what the [heck] barbeque!!" right? 'Cause I say that all the time.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Yep. Although I always take it as "Oh my god! What the [heck]? Barbeque!" It's sort of like one person is expressing surprise/confusion at barbeque. It's awesome. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I try to stop on chapters so I don't need a marker. If I can't do that, I read the whole book in one sitting. If that's not an option, I set the book open and face down, and then step on the binding to ensure that even if the book gets closed, it will likely just fall open to the right page on its own accord.
If I am not enjoying the book that much anyway, I will just set it aside and look at it twice more over the course of my life. Once to ponder what secrets it might contain and once again to put it someplace I can easily forget about it forever.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Feb 2007
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I suppose I should chime in as well. I'm in the bookmark-using-whatever-is-at-hand camp. Usually notepad paper, because I very seldom go anywhere without a notepad, much less if I'm carrying a book. Other times it's a receipt, a bank statement (I know, I should file it away), an assignment notice, a magazine, or even another book. If you're reading two books at once and don't need to carry them anywhere, they can serve as each other's bookmarks, at least with most large and not-too-bulky non-fiction books. Rama II is not ideal for bookmarking in this manner.
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Lavalamp: There's a worse sin than writing in library books. That is cutting the article you want OUT of the book or bound journal. Those people don't even merit hell. There's a special place worse than hell for them. If they are reincarnated, they come back as krill...forever.
Yeah, I can agree with that.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I'm also appreciating the ebook format. I mean, they can't replace the feel of a paperback book in your hands (sorry hardbacks, you have pointy, hard corners and are unwieldy for reading in bed or with one hand), or the smell of a fresh, new book, but it's nice to have a whole library in your PDA to choose from instead of being stuck reading a five year old edition of McCall's in the waiting room of your doctor's office.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Last night I heard someone talking about a "private Hell". Now, that sounds nicer than the semi-private or the open ward type of Hell. I mean, you probably don't want to hang out with all those other Hell dwellers, anyway. I hear that some of them are pretty tough characters.
It would be nice to have a "Do-not-disturb" sign to hang on your private Hell.
But I don't have to worry too much. I've been told that I have a special place in Heaven waiting for me. I bet there'll be cookies!
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Used to be, you couldn't even tell that my paperback books had been read. Even really thick ones. I never even creased the spines. I've gotten a little lazier in my old age.
Word.
I never dogear, and I never bookmark. I remember page numbers. It's both easier and harder now than it used to be. It's easier because I generally only have one or two books going at once (in grade school and high school I typically always read at least 3 at a time). It's harder because I don't read as often, so instead of taking a two hour break from the book I sometimes put it down for a week and a half. That, and my memory seems to be getting worse. I'll give the page number a glance as I close the book, mentally repeat it, and off I go. Ten years ago that was all I had to do to remember it (same with phone numbers). Now, I don't always remember it.
Though I am still good at remembering phone numbers.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: And yeah, I can have a few books going at once. When I put one down, I tell myself that I'm on page, say, 493. And then I tell myself why 493 is an easy number to remember. (Four sides has a square, and Nine is the square of Three, which happens to be how many children my parents had, for example).
Now, see. Who wants to take the time to devise and then later recall an entire rigmarole like that every time they put down a book? It's a lot easier to just put the receipt between the pages.
Well, it took a lot longer to explain it than to actually do it. It takes, like, less than a second to glance at the number and remember it.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I haven't read all three pages (so far!) of replies yet - I will later.
I dogear books that I own. My daughter Cayla is fanatical about using bookmarks, so I don't dogear her books.
I've got something worse than dogearing books: I once loaned some books to a neighbor in our apartment building (many years ago in Chicago). He returned several of the books with a piece torn out of the backs. He tore a piece off the back to use as a book mark so he wouldn't dogear the pages. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is that better than dogearing the pages???
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm currently reading Butler's Kindred. I was surprised and annoyed to find that the edition I am reading was used by a student and that there's a lot of really useless underlining and the occasional note.
I mean, honestly, these notes are some of the most stupid speculation about any book I've ever read. I don't know what Butler's motives were when writing the story, but I seriously doubt she went out and injected all kinds of deep meaning into the book. It seems to me she just wanted to share a story.
The kind of armchair psychology that prevails the notes in my copy of Kindred just show how stupid literary analysis is. I'm sure there are people who can really divine something from text, but it's a work of fiction, people! You're not reading some kind of puzzle whose true meaning lurks somewhere beneath the pages. Thinking that the world of Dana's existance is Godless because she felt alone and then being surprised that she mentions the King James Bible later is nothing short of stupid. Just effing read the story and enjoy it. If you need that kind of weekend warrior psychoanalysis, buy the Cliff's notes version. Someone already did all the work for you.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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I bought a used textbook once without flipping through it first to make sure that it was okay. The exterior was in such perfect shape that it looked new, and I was in a hurry. Whoever had had the book before me had underlined, and in the margins defined, at least 60% of the words in the book. I'm not talking about field specific terms, either. I assume that English must not have been the marginalia writer's first language. It drove me up a wall, because I almost complusively read marginalia, and the definitions kept sucking my attention away from the text itself, and doing so uselessly, since I am a native speaker of English.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm a facedowner, which my kids have picked up on. This drives my hubby NUTS! I also read in the tub. Library books, I use my library receipt for a bookmark.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: Last night I heard someone talking about a "private Hell". Now, that sounds nicer than the semi-private or the open ward type of Hell. I mean, you probably don't want to hang out with all those other Hell dwellers, anyway. I hear that some of them are pretty tough characters.
It would be nice to have a "Do-not-disturb" sign to hang on your private Hell.
But I don't have to worry too much. I've been told that I have a special place in Heaven waiting for me. I bet there'll be cookies!
If Sartre is right, there can be no such thing as a "private" hell. Hell is other people.
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: Last night I heard someone talking about a "private Hell". Now, that sounds nicer than the semi-private or the open ward type of Hell.
Even if you do get a private hell, though, you're still going to spend what feels like an eternity sitting with the rest of the damned on the Group W bench.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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And I totally can't take credit for it, you know.
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How is that better than dogearing the pages???
