Book Cruelty!
 

I'm told that I'm too picky about my books. That paperbacks in particular are supposed to get worn down and look like they've been read. I can't stand it. I see a crease down the spine of my book and panic. I open it only so far so as not to bend the spine the wrong way or have it tilt. I try not to pack them too tightly so they don't end up wonky shaped.

My Aunt on the other hand, folds books in half to mark her place before putting them in her pocket. My dad gets books from the used bookstore and then tears off the pages as he reads them and tosses them in the trash.

So here I am, gingerly tucking my books away and taking care not to cause extra damage so I can read them again when I want to, or keep them in good shape so I can get more money if I trade them in (I'm a cheapskate and don't like shelling out for hardcovers). Books that are worn in an attractive way (not crooked, open without stressing the spine, etc) I don't mind at all.

So am I a little odd here, or do other people make attempts -heroic or not- to preserve their books? What about just letting them wear down to show signs of use or appreciation as some have it?

Oh, and to note: I'm not talking about mangling books for the purposes of art and such, just general wear and tear from reading or passing them around. I have a copy of The Da Vinci Code which has been around a couple blocks as I've loaned it out. I think I finally got rid of it though. No plans to read it again.

No, I wouldn't call you that odd Quiet as I do the same things to my paperbacks. I usually hold them halfway open so I don't crease the spine and insist on using bookmarks, no dogearing pages, thanks!

Even some of the books that I have read several times don't show wear. In a way maybe I'm too crazy about that, but I never feel uncomfortable reading them "carefully" in any case ;)

Um.... good thing we don't live in book-borrowing distance, Quiet. :p I actually find it kind of weird that I never knew that about you. You'd think it would have come up.

I don't really attach any sort of aesthetic value to my books. When I get a paperback, I reverse-bend it all the way so I can set it down and read it without holding it. I fold pages relentlessly to mark my place.

Granted, my father usually ends up reading them after I do and he's even worse about (half the books I lend him are missing their covers...) so it would be kind of pointless to even try.

That said, I do someday want a display copy of the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen, since they just look awesome sitting on a bookshelf, but at the moment, my collection of them is varied between paperback, trade paperback, and hardcover and American and British editions, besides.

Its something I can understand. I had a friend that was super picky about her mangas and wouldn't let me touch them unless I promised to wash my hands and not bend the spine. It was hard because my eye sight is bad so some times I couldn't read the dialogue. Part of me understands its for potential collectors value.

I personally very rough on my books, which is why I love getting hard back copies they tend to last longer. My first set of Harry potter books were ruined with in a month of me reading then because they were paper backs. I also frequent the library and was raised on Altered books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_book

Lastly I use the library so the books are already beat up when I get them. I just hate, dog earing a page.

I know exactly what you are going through.
I can't stand the way people treat books. I'm a nice person and loan mine out once and a while and then when people try to return them to me with what they call "normal reading damage" or "Normal wear and tear" I shrug and tell them to keep it. The next day I've got a brand new copy sitting on my shelf and everything is alright.
I do like to buy used books. I find some of my favorites that way. Things you wouldn't normally look for you find in one of those old book shops and fall in love with them. If the book is "pre damaged" I don't mind it much.. I'm weird that way. Its more of, if the book is damaged after I get it I freak. I don't like to borrow books from others, not even the library most of the time.
Normally I can keep my books in perfect condition without much thought in it.
Yet my favorite book has been read so much (I almost have it memorized) that its starting to show on the edges and spine. I figure I'll give it to a friend as a gift and get a new copy soon.
I got my love of books from my father as well as the concern for the treatment of the books. My mother on the other hand... shows no concern whatsoever. She's one of those people that could damage the book six ways to Sunday and not care...
Very few things in my life are important... the things i own normally remain in perfect condition long after they should. Whereas the love of my life goes through things like water.
-sigh-
It's gonna be an interesting life~

I can handle some "pre-wear" too. I don't mind buying pre-read books as long as the wear is light and the book is more or less in the shape - literal shape - it's suppopsed to be in. I hate it when spines end up at a slant, or books get flattened so much that the spine has apparently movied to the other side of the book and it opens more like a folder than a book. Ick! Can't stand pages falling out either.

Sheol, you think it would have come up but I guess talking about books doesn't take as much precedence as talking about what's in them. ;)

I do have a bit of a destructive streak too though. If a book I get is starting to look beyond hope, I have no qualms about taking my dad's read-an-toss approach or just ripping the thing in half and putting it out of it's misery. (So long as it's a reprint of course. ;))

In another instance of book cruelty, I once threw Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson violently across the room after being sucker-punched with a death scene. I fear the book has never recovered, though that may be my 5+ read-throughs of it...

Five reads and you still threw it across the room?

The most dire instance I've had happen to a book in my care was when one of my sister's dogs decided to select a book from a large pile, the book being Gregory Keyes' Age of Unreason (I think. Sequel to Newton's Cannon) and proceed to mince it beyond readability. I told my sister not to bother replacing it, though I know another copy can be found at a certain used book store where I picked up Newton's Cannon in the first place. Oh well. The dog was young and it saved me having to decide whether or not to keep it. ;)

No, no, this was the first read. And, admittedly, I should have seen it coming. It's obviously foreshadowed, I just missed it somehow.

I meant that reading it five times has put a lot of wear on the book.

Oh I get that much. I'm just curious that you would get annoyed enough with a book to toss it across a room and then read it again.

I wasn't annoyed. I was... heartbroken? I don't know. I was just so furious that the author killed this guy (something GRRM never managed to come close to for me). I love the story for that exact reason, though. Nothing else inspires that much emotion in me.

Ah. Gotcha. I remember being sad when I learned that a particular character in War adn Peace was going to die (the translator put a summery of events in the begining of the novel which naturally I read a little into). I had time to adjust to the idea though, so it wasn't as dramatic and evil as it could have been. Still made me sad though. :(. He's still one of my favourite literary characters. It was fascinating since he's so ignorable in the beginning of the book but shifts to a major figure later on.

Well, this just caught me completely off-guard. I was really invested in the character, and then, all the sudden, there's a yard of steel jutting out of his back. I honestly felt like the author just killed a close friend of mine.

Which pretty much instantly made him my favorite author. :D It takes a rare talent to evoke that kind of response.

Yeah. That's why I have to be appreciateive of Martin and how much I hate he who shall not be named in Game of Thrones. I can get emotional about books but that level of hatred is rare for me. I'm just going to stop now. Bristling already.

oh Sheol you remind me of one of my friends in high school. I have never been so attached to a character but she was for the Merrgy Gentry Series written by Laurell K Hamlition. ( before the series became an erotic mess) She got so angry she stood up in the cafateria and started to beat the book against the table. Luckily it was a hard back but it was still funny and sudden to see.