In The Margins {vol. 4 - Bad Habits}

We all have bad habits. Some people have more than others, but everyone has at least one.

And in regards to books? I'm pretty sure we all have a few hidden away that we'd rather not the rest of our reading community know about. Because, well, they're bad. 

I'm here to out myself on a few. Be prepared to tsk tsk me or to gasp in horror. 

Granted, I only do these things to my own books. Never one I've borrowed - be it from a library or a friend - just ones that are mine. 

I Write In My Books

This is a cardinal sin to some readers. I used to be oppose to it as well, but then I realized: they're my books. 

And I love being able to skim back through books to see passages that I've marked with asterics, underlines, a smily face, or the occasional ! when something is super deserving. I've written notes to myself about things I love in certain passages, things I wish would happen in books, or the random thoughts/realizations some passages have brought to mind. I've even started writing definitions to remarkable words in the margins (full, looked up definitions with parts of speech and such - GRE brain, anyone?) because I love that connection to the precise reason an author chose a certain word. Really. My vocabulary grows, my adoration of an author grows, and the book comes that much more to life. 

And then I think about the old books I've bought from yard sales or those that have been handed down to me. All the old notes scrawled in the covers, the passages marked before I was born, the things left behind in a foreign hand. Those things bring the book to life in so many other ways. I love when I turn a page and there's something there for me to discover. I guess, in my own small way, I'm just adding to that tradition. Leaving something there for someone else in the future to enjoy. 

So, scoff at me all you want on this one. I, Courtney, will probably always write in my books. 

I Dog-Ear Pages

Sometimes you just don't have a bookmark handy. 

And you need to mark your place for the time you pick that book up again (because shuffling through pages trying to determine where you were is just so obnoxious).

And sometimes you just don't have a pen handy.

And you need to remember the place of some sort of remarkable quote. Or something amazing happened and you need to be able to flip back to it at a later time.

So, yes. I dog-ear pages in books. Because sometimes I need to. And I can. 

I Bend Covers and/or Spines

I can be a librarian's bitter rival at times, it seems. 

I know it's awful for the books. 

I know, I know! Stop judging me.

But sometimes (especially with hard back books) you just want your book to lay flat on the table in front of you. Or you just want to wrap that cover of a soft cover book back so you can hold it easily in one hand. 

This one is harder to defend. But I do it. Sorry?

So, what about you guys? Any bad habits you need to own up to? Do you do any of these? Or am I alone in my bad habits?