Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

folding down the corners of a borrowed book

142 replies

Thatsnotmypiglet · 15/01/2015 17:18

I lent a recipe book to a friend and she had it for about two weeks. When I got it back I put it in the cupboard and thought no more about it. I just got it out to bake muffins for ds and several pages have their corners turned down. I don't turn the corners on any of my books and I wouldn't think to do it on a borrowed book. I know it's really not important but AIBU to be a tiny bit peed off? Smile

OP posts:
pictish · 15/01/2015 18:22

Same here marjorie - I think being all precious about ordinary books makes people seem more concerned with the possession of an object than the content of the book.

pictish · 15/01/2015 18:22

MrsTawdry exactly.

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 15/01/2015 18:25

I once lent some books to friend. They came back bent, folded, damp damaged and in one case he lent it to his fecking mil!
He is dead to me.

MaidOfStars · 15/01/2015 18:27

I think being all precious about ordinary books makes people seem more concerned with the possession of an object than the content of the book

Indeed, more about how it looks on your shelf than what its soul says.

Allthelittlefoxes · 15/01/2015 18:28

I can't believe how precious people are over their books! I love reading, have massive bookcases full, and it has never once occurred to me what they look like on the shelf or whether or not to open them right up Shock.
Surely books are for reading (or using in the case of a cook book) not looking at?! First editions and prized childhood heirlooms etc are obviously different, but a £6.99 paperback from the airport WH smith??!!

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 15/01/2015 18:31

Ali-dtwins once got hold of a second hand book and ripped up the dust jacket. (They climbed btw and it wasn't the only one) Nanny went 'eh, it was just an old book'
It was a first edition of Clockwork Orange that dh had found in charity shop. This knocked £300 quid off the value.

pictish · 15/01/2015 18:34

Yep...as a keen reader I don't feel compelled to keep every book I've ever read as a look-how-much-I-read display. I cba having them clog up my house. Only the special ones get to stay.
They are not to be looked at, but read and then preferably passed on.
All my books look as though they've been in a washing machine with a brick by the time I'm done.

hackmum · 15/01/2015 18:35

"I can't believe how precious people are over their books! "

I can't believe people who aren't! What other object do people treat like this? You borrow a scarf from someone, and you return it with a rip in it? You borrow a casserole dish and you return it with burn marks? etc etc. You should look after your own books properly but you should most absolutely certainly look after other people's.

WinterFire · 15/01/2015 18:38

I can't stand book jackets - waste of paper. I bin them immediately.

Fold corners down as well... Books are a tool to be used. It doesn't change the content.

Methe · 15/01/2015 18:38

My cook books are all foot splattered, creased, and oily with notes in the margin and folded down corners.. That's what they're supposed to be like Hmm

Sallyingforth · 15/01/2015 18:39

It's unforgivable to do this to someone else's book.

If this was a very close friend I would kill her.
If she was not a close friend I would kill her slowly.

WinterFire · 15/01/2015 18:40

And I'm happy to get rid of them once read... Don't understand the people who keep loads of books because they can't bear to get rid.

Amummyatlast · 15/01/2015 18:50

Winterfire, I keep my books because i reread them. And I have lots of books (which I never lend to anyone).

I am not precious about general wear and tear on my books, but folding over pages is a desecration.

Bettercallsaul1 · 15/01/2015 18:53

Not surprised to hear this friend is in your bad books, OP. Tell her to turn over a new leaf in future - her attitude speaks volumes.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 15/01/2015 18:55

I only ever keep books that I would want to read again and again, all others go to the charity shop (although I rarely buy books, I borrow from the library).

I like to keep the spines uncreased precisely because I want to read them over and over, I'll probably keep them for life. I don't want them falling apart.

My DM has about a billion books and she doesn't give a damn about what condition they are in. I hate opening a book and having the pages fall out on me, which they do after being well read but not well cared for.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 15/01/2015 18:56

Better Grin

Bogeyface · 15/01/2015 19:01

I dont get the uncreased spine thing at all. You cant read the book properly if you cant open it all the way. H hates creased spines so if I have a new book I will deliberately do it in front of him!

My books are battered and bashed and I love them all!

I should add though that I never borrow books because I dont want to risk getting it wrong!

Bogeyface · 15/01/2015 19:03

And regarding keeping them, most its because I will re read them but I just like collecting them. Its the closest thing I have to a hobby I suppose!

mrspremise · 15/01/2015 21:53

OP, you'd hate my recipe books! I fold corners down and even sshhh write in them! Grin But I would never treat someone else's books like that, your 'friend' IBU...

Backtobedlam · 15/01/2015 21:59

Are you my son? We had this exact conversation at bedtime tonight as I folded over the page of the book is been reading to him and he told me off. I said it was ok because it was our book, and he said 'you better not do that with any of MY books mummy'. He's 6 btw.

CatsClaus · 15/01/2015 22:01

i am totally not precious about books, i leave them open face down, open them wide, use them as coasters, some are propping up a sofa as the leg is off, cookery books are annotated and splattered...

BUT

turning page corners down is a fucking sin!

FightOrFlight · 15/01/2015 22:07

You should look after your own books properly

Please don't tell me how I should look after my own property.

you should most absolutely certainly look after other people's.

Agreed.

Better still, don't offer to lend anything that you can't bear to have damaged. Deliberate damage is one thing but accidents sometimes happen and it's very unfair to make someone feel bad about an item you have chosen to lend them.

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 15/01/2015 22:09

I would go mad.

What is worse is when the person fold the book breaking the spine.

BadLad · 15/01/2015 22:11

LTB! (Leave The Bookdamager)

Lynch the bookdamager.

Redhead11 · 15/01/2015 22:15

I would never fold the corner of a page on a book, except my own music books, to make them easier to turn while playing the piano. I certainly am not precious about the spine being creased, but i hate to see people bending a book back on itself Angry so i very rarely lend my books to anyone.