I have liked to say that "The more bookmarks I leave in a book, the more the book has made its mark on me."
Because I grew up in a house with a certain fondness for books and etiquette around them. While I don't have misplaced reverence for the objects themselves, it just seemed to be good courtesy and behavior to treat them a certain way. I don't like the idea of writing notes in books, though I have made an exception in a books I planned to keep by highlighting passages I really liked. But that behavior mainly concerned Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, a book that was rather short, and would have yet been full of bookmarks otherwise. A lot of interesting things were said in that book and it entertains me that it was a snapshot of a time in Chesterton's mind. No revisions or anniversary revisitings of his Orthodoxy. Chesterton wrote books at the drop of a hat and in his life, a lot of hats fell off his vigorous head.
And as for "dog earring" pages? I suspected that I was being slightly inconsiderate to future readers of the book, and perhaps myself in making progress through it if I kept stopping.
And as for marking my place by placing it page side down? ... I am not perfect. I admittedly will use all kinds of things for bookmarks, but in the lack of finding any flat object close to hand, I have cracked some spines in my time.
But what brought this blog post to mind is that I have rediscovered a leather bookmark with my name on it in marker with a scripture on the other side. I do not recall for certain when I was gifted this bookmark, though I have a few ideas. It is a nice reminder that someone was thinking of me and crafted something. And that I am getting around to using it for its intended purpose rather than scraps of notebook paper or baseball cards which have lost their interest and value for their original purpose.
However, I will freely declare that athlete sports cards are a delight to use as bookmarks. Troy Nixon may not have made a long impression on the Boston Red Sox legacy, but he has held his own in many a novel. And just the name "Mo Vaughn" is an excellent reminder to keep moving forward, finishing some works I have started and having permission to discontinue ones that are not grabbing me. I can Move On indeed.
I know that I have left my original book/media blog go to seed for a while. But I have been reading quite a bit each year, just, not posting reviews about things for others to see. And so it remains unsaid unless I feel especially strongly about something and want to attempt eloquence to dislodge it from my mental craw.
I have finished over 100 books this year of varying length and while some of them stick with me as resonant, all the ones I finish leave some impression. And I am grateful for that.
