Monday, February 09, 2009

Musing Mondays-- The Bookmark Fiend Cometh

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about bookmarks…What do you use to mark your place while reading? Do you have a definite preference? Do you use bookmarks, paper, or (gasp) turn down the pages? If you use bookmarks, do you have a favourite one?



Somehow I feel this question was designed for me. I think my mother, the Librarian, trained me to use bookmarks from a very early age. Dog ears belong on dogs, not the pages of books, and the only times I've been reduced to using receipts or other scraps of paper have been when I bought books and couldn't wait till I got home to my bookmark stash to begin reading them. However, as soon as I got home, the scrap paper was exchanged for a proper bookmark.

I probably have at least 300 bookmarks. About one third of them I inherited from my mother. I have about every type of bookmark you can think of: leather, metal, laminated pressed flowers, paper....


Many of the older ones have tassels. Then I learned how to feed my addiction to bookmarks: I told traveling friends to bring them back for me as gifts, and...I started making my own. In 2003, 25 people who met online decided to travel to Seattle for a real life meet. I wanted to bring something that everyone could take home with them as mementos of the meet. Since all of us were readers, I asked everyone for a photo and a favorite quote, and made dozens of laminated bookmarks. I'll show you the one of my husband. (It's been a while since he's given me That Look.)


But as the years have passed, I've found that my dissatisfaction with normal bookmarks has grown. Tassels fall apart and leave trails of thread through the house. No matter what I do, normal bookmarks fall out of my books, and I have to track down the pages where I stopped reading. But a remedy was at hand for this bookmark fiend! I discovered the website of Magnetic Bookmarks. These magnetic bookmarks are small, they're easy to position on the page, there are dozens of different designs, and they stay put! These bookmarks are relatively cheap ($2 each), and the company always has some sort of deal going. I'm even thinking of submitting some of my own photographs to see if any of them can be used. I love magnetic bookmarks!


If you'd like to see what other participants had to say about the subject of bookmarks, click on the Musing Mondays graphic at the top of this post!

14 comments:

  1. I have a huge stash, too. But I really love to make my own. I've seen the magnetic bookmarks, but never tried them - having some made from your own photos sounds like a great idea!

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  2. I am another fan of the magnetic bookmark, as I mentioned in my post.
    But 300?? that is a lot of bookmarks....

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  3. Caite--it would be a mere 200 if I hadn't inherited my mother's. ;-)

    Joy--the company doesn't pay you for the photographs they use in $$, they pay you in bookmarks. I think they'd make pretty neat gifts, etc.

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  4. I'm cheap. Mostly I just use the library check-out receipts or post-its, but I do have a nice promo bookmark for Sean Chercover's "Trigger City."

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  5. I've got several promo bookmarks, too, Corey. Mostly for mysteries. (Imagine that...)

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  6. Now that is a collection. I am going to check out these magnetic booksmarks many are talking about.

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  7. I didn't know you were a bookmark fiend! I have a ton of bookmarks that I keep meaning to open an Etsy shop with. I really need to carve out some time to take the needed photos.

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  8. Nise'--they certainly solve the problem of bookmarks falling out of books. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Nicole--so many of mine are looking tatty and worse for wear that there's no way I could sell them!

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  9. Just be careful with the weighted bookmarks. Remember what happened to this lady? http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/17/Hillsborough/Tourist_s_crime_Totin.shtml

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  10. I have thought and thought but still don't get it - how can a magnet work on paper?

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  11. aww....it is actually two little magnets. the bookmark is creased and folds in half over the page and the two magnets engage each other. Ta Da!

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  12. Thanks for the explanation, Caite! I was having problems with the washing machine.

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  13. 300 bookmarks! Wow! You really are a fiend ;)

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  14. Pup...yes, I do remember that. Fortunately that's one of the only types of bookmarks that I don't have!

    Yes, Rebecca, I'm a vertiable fiend. "Hello. My name is Cathy. I collect bookmarks...."

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