To break the spines of paperback books and treat them like they're nothing?

[ChasTittyBeltUp]

I remember someone telling me that the first thing to do to a paprback is break it's spine to make it easier to read. I also fold corners down.

I think a paperback is sort of disposable...can be recycled...unless it's a chershed gift or signed etc.

DH thinks I am very wrong to do this and he is (imo) ridiculously and annoyingly precious about them. He sits with them open three quarters so he doesn't damage them and all his look new.

AIBU?

No Kindles here. We like books.

Ooh I love a second hand book with crinkly pages, a damaged spine and folded pages

A spine breaking is a sign of keenness to read - a turned down page is the equivalent of scraping your nails down the blackboard.

This is why bookmarks were invented people.

It sets my teeth on edge.
Also, why pencil mark, there are now little mini post it tabs that do not damage the book.

This is why I no longer loan or borrow books! Aargh!

Sorry Librarian -
I have already inquired about buying said marked book and replacing it with another copy. (And I really am only person who's ever checked it out - very obscure book!)

Please no more chastising - I love books!

Love this thread. Yadnbu. Love a lovely well worn well thumbed book with a few crinkly pages where it got splashed in the bath. Barely touching does not = respecting in my book (d'ya see what I did there?)

:( Why are so many of you so rough with books, it's unnecessary and just... horrible behaviour, I think it's really sad that you think it's OK to basically trash them simply because you paid for them - it's like buying flowers then throwing them to the ground and stomping on them. Legally your right... but, just not what we do.

Rhonda - maybe we need our own thread :)

Librarian - we had a book returned to us recently with almost the entire first chapter covered in highlighter... I alternated between laughing hysterically and frothing at the mouth - literally almost the entire chapter was lined through in seperate colours, just the odd word here and there was missed out (which kind of defeats the point, surely?)

LauraIngalls - :)

Okay - I'll let you off this time. At least you're using the library - we should be grateful for that!

I can think of few things that make me sadder than an apparently unread book. Books should be loved and look like they're loved. All my books look like that, whether I've read them once or twice or many times.

DH is one of those who think books should look like they're new. I think it means than on a very subconscious level he values them more for their physical presence than for the ideas contained within them.

The paper and ink are not what makes a book valuable.

My mum was often on at my dad about leaving books open and breaking the spines; my dad just wanted to read without noticing the physical aspect of a book and so he did whatever he had to do to keep a book open and make it easy to turn the pages, find his place and so on. I'm the same. Don't want my reading pleasure interrupted by side issues.

I have a totally neurotic economic historian uncle.
Who opens books oh so gently and then rests a spoon across them. I think he'd explode at your spine breaking, corner turning antics.

YANBU - I also break the spine and fold over the edges of pages. I love my books.
I did once have a very nasty shock when reading a library book, only to discover a pubic hair inside it was a standard undergraduate text book, nothing to vet excited about IYKWIM

I don't like turning corners though. No idea why one is acceptable to me and the other is not. Still, at least dh and I agree on that!

Oh, I love reminiscing about old stains on books too.

Folded corners, sellotape repairs, slivers missing from creases.

I leave all my old improvised bookmarks in them too, so I can find receipts from 2003 for a twirl and marvel at yesterday's prices.

You can't beat the crunch of a new book when you first open it! Cor, yeah!

I don't set out to break the spine of a paperback, however when if it happens I don't get upset about it. My DH does though so I don't enjoy the experience of reading "his" books so much.

Our main issue is actually over the DSs' books - I accept that they will become tatty over time and would rather they enjoy the books without fear of being on the receiving end of his wrath getting a telling off. He starts to froth a bit when DS1 "pauses" a book by leaving it upsidedown open at the page he's on.

We do both agree that folding down the corners of pages is sooo wrong! He remembers which page number he's on (annoyingly well - I rarely manage to). I end up re-reading several pages to work out where I was use a bookmark. The best thing about my Kindle is the way it so helpfully remembers which page I'm on!

Ohhhh - yes I love the bookmarks found in second hand books. Old reciepts, photos, postcards etc. Always a great surprise

All my books look knackered well read, probably because I read them in the bath. I don't care if they look a bit ragged when I'm done with them!

And I have a strict paperback-only policy.

But, but...folding corners only effects a maximum of twenty pages (depending on the thickness of the book) but breaking the spine effects the whole book. And is damage that can never be undone, whereas with corners you could probably iron them flat if you were that bothered.
I'm not precious about books but there is no way I'd ever break a (book) spine delibratly.

OMG - this thread is a revelation...!

DH folds all the pages right back as he goes and I basically have to get the smelling salts out and leave the room before I faint dead away. It's all because my Mum drummed it into us to treat them reverentially - 'books are precious', 'the need to last a lifetime', etc, etc.

So yes, I sit there with them open 3/4 of the way and try to keep them as pristine as the day I bought them. I don't wear white dust gloves to read them, but I'm probably only one level of anal-ness down from that.

I didn't really realise it was so weird...!

I honestly don't know whether I can break the habit of a lifetime, but I do very much 'get' wanting books to look loved and looked at, as opposed to pristine and never-read on the shelf. Am aghast that people maybe judging my collection thus.

If there's a new unsullied pristine book that we both want to read, I let dh have it first so he can read it in pristine condition. Then I get it and break the spine ...

Took a few years to get to that compromise. Now we both enjoy unalloyed reading.

I'm sure I've been told that you should break the spine when a book is new and the glue is 'soft'. If you don't then the glue hardens and pages are more likely to fall out on subsequent readings.

Is this just an old wives tale? If so, I broke my habit of leaving books as pristine as I could for nothing although they're a LOT easier to read now!

Oh dear, I feel like I am being really precious but I hate to mark any of my books. I even have plastic covers on a paperback when I read it. My friend borrowed abook and 'someone' left a coffee mug ring on the front cover and I made him replace the book. I love pristine books, especially if I have read them many times.