Important Poll

[coalescent]

Taking a brief time out from fba's party to resolve a vital issue:

[Poll #202178]

Comments

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

I do like using a really nice bookmark, although TBH I'll use any old tat that's handy.

[colours.livejournal.com]

Me too. I have some really nice bookmarks, including one with sheep which has "this is where I fell asleep" written on it, but I'm always too scared to use them for my book-to-read-on-the-bus, so they kinda don't get used. Which is a shame, obviously.

this is from someone who was initially unsure whether you meant the electronic or physical kind. oops :oD

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

this is from someone who was initially unsure whether you meant the electronic or physical kind

To be fair, the potential for confusion did occur to me after I'd posted. But everyone seemed to be figuring it out, so...

I like bookmarks. I'm not sure why. I've got about three dozen of the things, from bookstore freebies to actually quite expensive specialist items. My current favourite bookmarks:

- A small (~3"), pale yellow, soft leather bookmark, stitched around the edges and inscribed with '"Wisdom begins in wonder" - Socrates'
- A similarly sized thin brushed-aluminium bookmark in the shape of a stretched 's'. It says 'dreams are necessary to life' on it.
- A large (~6" - standard bookmark size) stiff card bookmark with a newspaper-cut-and-paste inscription saying something like 'Help! Please read more often. It's dark stuck between these pages and I'm claustrophobic'
- A similarly sized brushed-aluminium bookmark that is almost impossible to describe. It's divided into shapes based in rectangles and squares, some of which are coloured and some of which are holes. It's very very pretty. My fetishising of this bookmark on saturday was the reason for this poll. :)

Hmm. This may be a job for the scanner.

[colours.livejournal.com]

I love the sound of a claustrophobic bookmark. Could be a nice little tale in that :oD

Uber-geek alert

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that my favourite bookmark is a Star Trek: TNG one with a tassle. It has a picture of the Enterprise on it, and says "To boldly go where no one has gone before..."

I probably shouldn't have mentioned this in public.

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

Yes. Scan. Am intrigued.

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

I tend to have a couple of books on the go at any one time, so often find my 'good' bookmarks are already in use, but have a decent stock of postcards to fall back on if required.

I never used to use bookmarks at all, and relied on remembering page numbers or simply flicking through until I found the page I was last at. But then I realised it was easier and quicker to find my place if I marked it somehow.

I hate folding down the corners of pages though. That's just wrong.

[ajp.livejournal.com]

I hate folding down the corners of pages though. That's just wrong.

Wrong? It's plain evil...

[mosskat55.livejournal.com]

...as are people who lick their fingers to turn over the pages...

[ajp.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[kalorlo.livejournal.com]

I actually like the Thins and newer Waterstones bookmarks - they're not too long and thin so they don't get all bent, and you tend to accumulate lots of them :)

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

Yes. Vital issue. Huh. *backs away slowly from the scary dorks*

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

Bookmarks for hardbacks. I hardly ever bother using them with paperbacks (which, I freely admit, I leave bent open, or with turned down pages, or don't bother marking at all).

Even then a bookmark in my house can be anything from a sweet wrapper to an old post-it note.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

bent open, or with turned down pages

I weep for your books. ;-)

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

By far my favourite bookmark right now is the BBC Big Read Top21 one, because it has a list of the top 21 on the back, which is insanely handy when doing ordering, displays and the like with the big read stuff at work.

Easily the worst are the awful pewter things we've got in for christmas, but the less said about them the better.

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

Easily the worst are the awful pewter things we've got in for christmas,

Ugh, yes. I sold quite a few of those last year, but I have no idea why. Give me a piece of card any day.

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

That said, there is a certain satisfaction in the great wrapping process...

1) pick up bookmark
2) wrap in tissue paper
3) whack into tube
4) pop top on with a satisfying *pop* noise
5) charge customer £4.29 and ponder their sanity

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

Apart from the fact that in my case the process usually went something like this:

1) pick up bookmark
2) wrap in tissue paper
3) realise we had no tubes left, so run downstairs for some
4) find they had no tubes left downstairs, so run upstairs for some
5) find they had no tubes left upstairs, so run even further upstairs for some
6) run back downstairs with tube
7) whack into tube
8) pop top on with a satisfying *pop* noise
9) breathlessly apologise to customer for their wait while I was running all over the shop
10) charge customer £4.29 and ponder their sanity

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Are these the horrid pewter ones with lumpen animals or letters or some other poorly rendered sculpture on top of an insufficiently long thin-fit-between-the-pages segment?

If so, I had the same experience. Except we seemed to run out of lids more often than tubes. :)

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's them. I think they're supposed to 'clip on' to the page you're marking, as opposed to fitting in between, but that strikes me as having the potential for page rippage/mangling.

[brassyn.livejournal.com]

I have proper bookmarks but rarely use them that often - even though they are v. pretty.

Mainly, I just use whatever is handy - usually train tickets, or receipts. More common though is using postcards - current ones in use are a lotr one and a goldfrapp one.

[fba.livejournal.com]

Would that be Mippin?

Decorative *and* useful.....

[brassyn.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Given that I'm currently struggling with this book, it helps to have cute and pretty nearby to gaze at when my brain just refuses to process words.

[snowking.livejournal.com]

You just have to remember a number. You do that ALL the time!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Frankly, I have more important numbers to spend my time remembering. :-p

[snowking.livejournal.com]

Like the order of REM tracks?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

No, I don't know those any more, remember?

[snowking.livejournal.com]

You didn't go home and memorise them on Sunday? And you have the nerve to call yourself a fan!?