A Bookworm’s Struggle With Bookmarks

As much as I’d like to read every book in a single sitting, not putting it down until I reach the very last page, the reality is that at some point I’m going to have to close the cover partway through the novel and set it down so I can go and do other important things like work and eat and sleep. Which of course means that I need some way of marking my place so that the next time I pick the book up, I can easily find where I was. In ebooks this is so easy, because it’ll open right to the page you were on when you last left off. But most of the books that I read are paperbacks, which of course don’t have this handy feature. At times like these, one needs a bookmark.

I own at least dozen bookmarks of all different types. Some are decorated with gorgeous, hand drawn artwork. Some are souvenirs, brought back from holiday. I have a leather bookmark a friend made me once, which has my name stamped on it. I own a fancy metal bookmark given to me as a gift. And of course I have a stack of those generic ones that you get with every order from Book Depository. But, for all that I own so many bookmarks, do you think that I can ever find a single one when I want to mark my place? Of course not. It’s like they know you need one and hide on purpose.

Because of this, I tend to use a wide variety of things to hold my place in a book. Pretty much anything and everything that comes to hand, if we’re being honest, as long as it isn’t going to leave sticky marks over the pages. There are few things worse than opening up a book only to find that two of the pages are glued together mysteriously. The list of things I have used in the place of an actual bookmark is extensive. But it includes:

• Post-it notes
• Shopping receipts
• Torn scraps of paper

All pretty self explanatory. They’re pretty close to close to actual bookmarks, just a little less fancy. But they do get the job done. Simple but honest solutions. But then there are:

• Pens
• Empty envelopes
• Clean tissues

Slightly less bookmarkish in shape, but they suffice in a pinch. It’s certainly easy to see where you were when there’s a large envelope hanging out the side of your book. Though it always pays to make sure the tissues are clean, and the pens are capped before you use them. And then you have the other end of the spectrum with:

• A phone
• A glove
• Another book

I mean, when all else fails, why not use another book as a place holder? Bonus if the two books are keeping place for each other. Double duty, right? Although it does get a bit awkward when I need my phone for something and can’t find it because it’s hidden inside a book.

These are just a few of the things I’ve used in place of an actual bookmark. I’ve used pretty much anything that’s come to hand at some point or other. If I could get a cat to sit where I wanted it to for more than three seconds I’d probably have used one of those as well. I’m not much one for dog-earing pages, personally. I have a compulsion to try and keep books in the pristine condition I first got them in, and bending the pages that way doesn’t sit right with that need. Same with setting a book open upside down to hold my place. Too many spine creases. Every other method is fair game though.

I’d love to know though, do you have the same problems with bookmarks, where you own a million and never have one close at hand when you need one? What is the strangest thing you’ve ever used in place of a bookmark?

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