Book issue “spine broken”

[LoserWinner]

An acquaintance lent me a book she very much wanted me to read - a well-used paperback which was subsequently going to the neighbourhood free book exchange.

I read it and returned it.

Within hours she posted a passive-aggressive message to the group WhatsApp apologising for the broken spine. Apparently, by opening it fully to read it and leaving a crease down the spine, I have damaged it.

YABU —> it’s vandalism to bend the spine of a paperback
YANBU —> paperback spines are meant to be bent when you read

It’s absolute bollocks is what it is.

Anyone reading her Whatsapp will just think she's bonkers!

If she's that precious about her books, she shouldn't loan them out to anyone.
I know some people get very pernickety about books.

I take more care with library books as they don't belong to me and I suppose I'd be careful if it was a rare book, if I owned such a thing.

In my opinion, most books that are available for purchase these days exist to be consumed and enjoyed. With my own books that I purchase myself, I bend the spine, I dog-ear pages, I leave open and face down, I spill crumbs down the pages...I can't get worked up about it.

To be honest that is not a good way to treat a book, usually means you have laid it flat facedown open. It causes the glue to break up in the spine and then pages can fall out.
So it would mean the book was knackered even if it was going to be donated.
Maybe do not do this with borrowed books?

I hate it when I break the spine of my books!

I don’t lend books for this reason. But I’m a re reader and the broken spine tends to leads to books falling apart more quickly. She’s wrong to publicly complain about it though as it is o e of those things that, if it does bother you, you know full well just isn’t a big deal to others so you keep the weird bit hidden.

So is it just creased or what does she mean by broken?

There are spine crackers and non-spine crackers (who can read a 500 page novel without so much as a crease).

These two groups should never share books.

I am a spine cracker.

There are two types of people in the world.

Fastidious idiots like me who go through the painstaking process of softening the spines of every book we read so we don't crack them.

And Godless heathens like my daughter who immediately crack the spine of every new book like a goddamn demon chiropractor.

If you are type two I think it's only fair to warn any type ones before borrowing their books 😆

(In all seriousness though, she's being very precious about a battered old paperback she was getting rid of anyway)

Most book spines are now made with very cheap glue. Opening the book out flat crack the spine/glue and cause pages to fall out. I would not crack the spine on a borrowed book tbh.

I am a massive bookworm and the first thing I do is crack the spine. I can't read them properly otherwise. I like the pages open! Not partially closed.

Haha! @MonsteraMama we should swap daughters!

I'm a prolific reader and I always break the spine of my books and turn the corners over to keep the page. I've even been known to use crisp packets as bookmarks. 😅 Books are to be read and enjoyed. However, I wouldn't do it to someone else's book. But that's why I tend not to borrow books from other people.

If she had certain expectations as to how the book should be treated, she should've conveyed those before she loaned it out.

I'm with you. Spines are meant to be bent a little when read! Its not like I'm bashing them about.

However my dh and dd think this is vandalism 🙄 and I'm not allowed to read their books.

Breaking the spine of your own books is on you, but it’s not okay for things you’ve borrowed. The passive aggressive way she dealt with it is out of order, though.

Bloody hell, you don't lend books out expecting them to come back looking unread. Folding the corner of the page over to mark your place, okay that's not on with a borrowed book. But getting a crease in the spine is difficult to avoid.

She shouldn't lend out books if she's that precious about them YANBU

Depends. Bending the spine is different to breaking the spine.

If you broke it, that means you left it face down or folded it backwards to the front and back covers were touching.

Personally, no I wouldn’t do that to someone else’s book. But I also wouldn’t lend someone a book as I can see how other people wouldn’t think it was a big deal.

If she lends you a kindle please do not read it in the bath

I never crack them. If I lent one and someone did I'd view it as part and parcel of lending a book to a fucking philistine

She sounds like a weirdo, especially since she was passing the book on anyway!

I read loads, I couldn’t care less if the spine is broken, I would give it less than no thought whatsoever. If you lend a book out it’s amazing if it ever comes back imo, whether or not the spine is cracked is of no interest to me.

My first serious boyfriend was a non spine cracker. I am a spine cracker. It was definitely a factor in our break up.

Just creased down the back. Pages all still very secure.

Don't understand the issue then! Books are creased when they've been read?!

Agreed. I have hundreds of books and none are collectors items. They are to be read and enjoyed.