Matching the book to the bookmark (or is it just me?)

[Offred2]

I’ve probably got around 30 different bookmarks and whenever I am about to start a new book I have a ‘ritual’ of finding the right bookmark that matches the book. (I’ve never got into kindles etc so all my books are paper copies)

For example for a book set in Italy I’m likely to use a bookmark I bought in Italy ages ago. Or for a 1920s set novel it would probably be my Art Deco pattern bookmark. A book set in a gritty urban environment is likely to get the bookmark of the New York skyline.

Other times it might just be that the colours of a particular bookmark go nicely with the colours on a book cover.

So, am I completely alone (and a bit crazy) or does anyone else do something similar?!

Well let’s just say you are a rare creature. I use a kindle.

You’re not alone. I don’t have quite that many bookmarks and do own a kindle BUT I have been known (sit down and take a stiff drink) to have to find a different bookmark after a few pages as I’ve been using the wrong one.

That's a lovely thing to do!

Incidentally, it's much harder to find a decent bookmark these days in my experience.

I like a nice straight forward leather one; with or without tassels. I don't want some kind of giant paper clip thing that ruins the pages and makes the book lumpy.

Any suggestions for finding some?

Watching too tobee. The one thing I really wanted to buy at Disney Florida last year was a leather bookmark. Not a one.

Haha. Meant to be.

Probably just you.
I mainly use my Kindle but when I do read a ''real'' book,I never use a bookmark,I always end up losing them.

I don't use bookmarks, I remember the page number. I do sometimes use a Kindle but probably at a ratio of about 6:1 paper:Kindle.

I do have many bookmarks, but usually lose them among all my books and tat. I'm afraid I don't care much about them.

@Wolfiefan I assumed the lack of bookmark at Disney meant you took to drink

@tobee it was a full on family holiday. Of course I took drink.

Another who doesn't use bookmarks. I'm known to friends and family as being a compulsive reader, so I often get bookmarks as a present, annoyingly!

@wolfiefan I actually asked in the big shop in downtown Disney when we in Florida where the bookmarks were....they looked at me like I was insane. Just kept repeating the word bookmark like it was some strange thing. It took 3 members of staff to establish they don't sell them . Got one from NASA though where they had a large selection, make of that what you will

Good to know there is at least some other bookmark appreciators out there!

None of mine are particularly nice or special bookmarks, a lot are souvenirs from various holidays & trips. I think I part of the reason I have so many is that I lose them and then find again at a later date.

I’m impressed some people can just remember what page of a book they are on. I’d be hopeless at that.

@Wolfiefan now you’ve got me thinking - should I be reassessing my bookmark choice during the course of reading a book!!

How quaint and old-fashioned. I don't remember owning a bookmark.

I am a kindle person, but if I read an actual book, I just turn over a corner.

That is a totally understandable and very natural thing to do.
I do have a number of bookmarks, but as a rule I do not match them to the book. Though favourite books do get special bookmarks.

I'm with you! I bought a pack of feather bookmarks from Amazon. I pick one that matches the cover if the book - god knows why!

Offred I collect bookmarks, and have a lot. They are cheap souvenirs of places I have been and I love looking at them all and picking the right one for the book. At the moment i’m using one from Kew Gardens where we had a lovely day out earlier this year.
You are not alone.

Just you then

I collect bookmarks and have a few favourites I like to use, including ones of Sylvia Pankhurst, Claudia Jones, Mary Wollstonecraft, Frida Kahlo and a few other heroines and heroes, also an imprssionist painting one by Rousseau and an owl. I do like to use appropriate ones if I can, for example Sylvia Pankhurst in a suffragette one, Mary Wollstonecraft in one about another aspect of women's history. But I don't necessarily have appropriate ones for every print book I read, eg I read lots of historical fiction but I also like quite a wide range of books and I don't have an obvious choice for eg chicklit or contemporary ficton of most kinds.

When I read a proper book rather than on the kindle the bookmark is whatever comes to hand - frequently the receipt. I couldn't turn the pages though!!

I'm so glad I'm not alone, Offred. I also have to choose the right bookmark for the book I'm reading - and if I get the wrong one then I won't enjoy the book! And though I do also read on Kindle, I miss the sense of 'bookness' - the actual physical paper and cover, and the ritual of using a proper bookmark are part of the pleasure. I would never, ever dog-ear the corner of a page. My teenage son says I'm mad - but I notice he memorizes the page number he's reached and also never turns over a corner . . .

Oh, I think that's lovely! It's like when I choose a stamp for an envelope that either is a match for the envelope or the recipient.
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I'm very casual about bookmarks. I grab whatever is at hand, which at times has ended up being money - which can be a surprise later on.

I don’t often browse this topic, but this theme caught my eye.
I save attractive pictures from cards to use for notes and bookmarks. Sometimes I match the picture to the book!
Nice to know I’m not alone.