An article for all readers

 Book Marks or Dog Ears

By Cornelia Amiri

 Are you a bookmark or a dog-ears person?  Do you retain the page number in your head? Maybe you are a page open face down person?

At the top of the bookmarker devotees are readers who loyally use a special bookmark. A translucent, orangey colored one, that disappears like a chameleon when sat down on a table or desk. A red leather bookmark bought at the British Library some years back. A bookmark with your name embroidered on it by a friend. An  I-love-books bookmark.  Maybe a nice Zen symbol bookmark with a tassel on the end.

Among those readers who never have and never will fold the corner of a page are the Memorizers.  They keep their books as pristine as possible, but without using bookmarks. People who retain numbers easily in their heads can recall the page number they last read..

Another group of  readers who mark their pages are the Scrapers. They either make a scrap by tearing pieces of paper off whatever is near at hand or they use ready made scraps such as parking receipts, old envelopes, boarding passes, grocery store receipts, movie ticket stubs, folded pieces of paper,  a length of ribbon, or a forgotten to-do list.

Among the more unusual bookmarker people are the Postcarders. Basically they use picture post cards as bookmarks. Also there are the Clothespiners, readers who use clothespins to mark their pages. This serves the dual purpose of keeping the pages flat. 

Finally, we come to the Page Turners and Book Open Face Down people. Some readers feel bent corners and broken spines are a sacrilege. But, there are those readers who feel authors are flattered to see books so well worn. Among the dog ear turners are those who do this on paperbacks only. Many Page Turners feel the practice does not harm paperbacks, because if you then cram them together on a shelf it compresses them back into shape. The most shunned of the group are those who turn down corners on hardbacks as well as those who leave books open and face down. Some readers call this group careless, but some Page Turners and Book Open Face Downers feel the pristine bookmark people are too picky.

Whatever group you fall into you are a reader. If nothing else the bookmark or dog-ear question shows how varied readers are. And how many different types of people,  Page Turners and Bookmarkers, love to read.