It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the folks at the Broke and the Bookish. This week’s challenge is a fun one. Top Ten Bookish Confessions. Their examples: “Anything! You dog ear, you hated a book but said you loved it, you have $500 library fines…anything goes!”
Can you handle my bookish truths?
1. I may a little too attached to my current bookmark. When I finish a book, I pull it out and the first thing I do when I pick a new book is put the marker in. The few times I’ve misplace it, I’ve wandered the house in an antsy manner until I found it.
I love this penguin bookmark…the book it’s currently sitting in is Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
2. I used to say that I loved my books to death. I would read some books so often the binding would wear and I’d get stains on the pages because I sometimes read while I eat. I just borrowed a book from mr. strivingcynic and had to make sure I didn’t eat with it/only read in certain places and times.
3. I have a really hard time making marks in books..even when I own them and it would be helpful to me to be able to make notes in them. It just feels to blasphemous.
4. I once made the mistake of bringing only one book to read on a long flight. I hated the book (Trilby, by George DuMaurier) but couldn’t put it aside because there was nothing else to do. I always now bring “dependable” authors or multiple books.
5. My first date with mr. sc involved going to a used bookstore.We’ve since been back there and make a practice of hitting the library book sales. We always say we shouldn’t get more books, but we always manage to get more.
6. My current pile of “to read” books is probably around 70. These are only the books I’ve brought into the house…if we count books of mr. sc’s that I’d like to read, it’s probably more like 100.
7. I have kept a book journal since 2001/2. As of the day I’m typing this (Sunday, August 26) I have read 289 books.
8. I usually read about 25 books a year. In 2003, I read 44 (I was unemployed) In 2010, I only read 17 (started dating mr. sc).
9. If I have to be at a conference, or somewhere people who know me professionally might see me reading, I make sure that they are “prestige” books (something I can sound intellectual/snooty about) as opposed to chick lit (which I love…). I am a little ashamed of my snobbery.
10. I am also snobby about the books I buy when I’m visiting the UK. I think the books there often have cooler covers than the US ones…I’m always happy to point out the books I “picked up in England.”
What are your deep dark book/reading confessions?
super list, zo!! thanks for sharing all these confessions!
#4 – ouch! yup, that is bad to have tons of reading time and no engaging book. i always take chick lit (jennifer weiner, emily giffin) on vacation so that i KNOW i will enjoy my reading time!
#7 – i love how long you’ve had your book log!! and how you know how many books you’ve read in a year (i like doing stats like that, too).
#9 – yup! i have learned…i took 50 shades to s’bux to sit and read and of course met people i knew, i tried to hide what i was reading by keeping the book flat on the table, of course, one person asked me what i was reading…
my confessions: i dog-ear pages to mark what page i’m on; when i was little, could read a nancy drew in one day; i have not read any harry potter, hunger games or twilight books!
That’s hilarious about the 50 shades…of COURSE everyone you know would come in while you were reading it!
When I started the log I used to write a paragraph or two about the book…that went away after about a year, but I do enjoy my ritual of closing a book after finishing and getting the journal out to write the book’s title, author, and date I finished.
Ah..so a dog ear is your bookmark (what do you do with library books? or do you dog ear them too?)
Ha! I love that you think about the book you will be seen reading in a professional setting. I can’t mark up books either! And now I am back in school and I never have even been able to mark up text books! I can copy the chapter and go to town writing on the copy however. I get so crabby about a bad book, especially if it is that or no reading at all.
Funny that you would copy a book you own to mark it up and leave the book unscathed (but I totally understand). Yep…I have my “prestige collection” for when I might be seen reading..not all classics or anything, but something that makes me look/sound smart!
I’ve had a tab at the library my entire life. I figure that I pay about 25-50 dollars in library fees every year. From the time I was six. Still, seeing as how I borrow hundreds of books every year, I figure it’s a pretty good price!
Wow…I have probably paid 5 or 6 dollars in my lifetime for library fees (although I also buy a lot more books now rather than using the library)…I love the idea of borrowing hundreds of books…
with reference to your number 4, once I went to Cuba for a week and took the advice of my non-book loving BF and didn’t even bring a single book. I hated my life almost the whole time I was there.
Oh…that does sound painful….not having backup was bad enough…but none at all?
I am just like you with #3!! This was a fun read Zo!
Glad you liked it…I’m always amazed to see someone writing in a book..especially if they’re using pen!
I get particularly fond of certain bookmarks too, my routine is very similar to yours, straight from one book into the next just to keep it safe. My current favourite one it one a made myself and my mum laminated for me lol
aww…that’s sweet, that you made it yourself and have it laminated. Glad to know I’m not the only bookmark protector out there!
Zo, I’m with you with having a hard time making marks in books. I’m very picky about the condition of my books. I love the “flags” you can buy now to mark a passage, but post-it notes work well for actual written notes. I find them in books sometimes and I’m surprised what I wrote!