Weird book habits

Today Debbie Ridpath Ohi blogged posted a survey on her blog asking about people's weird book habits. Unfortunately, she left comments off (by accident, I'm assuming), so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to add to my blog.

To answer Debbie's questions:

1) No, I almost never put a book face down on a flat surface. Maybe if it's a library book, and it's a hardback with a spine that's already well broken in. But that's it.

2) If you are on my list of people I'll lend my books to, you are either as OCD as I am, or I live with you.

3) Yes, I remove dust jackets while I'm reading the book. I'm a book collector, so it's been drilled into me: a book without a dust jacket with a damaged dust jacket isn't worth as much (not to mention incredibly ugly).

4) I used to write my name in my books, but I don't even do that anymore. The only exception was my school books while I was in school, but even that was difficult. I stopped doing it so much when I realized I rarely looked at my own notes afterward.

5) I am, as Debbie calls herself, neurotic about books. I'm not just a bookworm - I'm also an amateur book collector, and even if my books aren't worth a fortune, I'm still proud of the beautiful old volumes (some of them first editions!).

I was neurotic about books before I started collecting, though, so my hobby isn't the cause of my neurosis. In high school I developed a pet peeve against fingerprints on the covers of glossy paperbacks - I would actually make one of my best friends hold my books so that her fingers were on the corners of the spine, thus leaving minimal fingerprints.

While I'm not that bad anymore, I still am anxious enough about the condition of my books that I don't lend them to very many people - and not at all if they are first editions or antique or some other special edition. I only open my paperbacks about 90 degrees when I read them, and God help anyone who returns one with the smallest spine crease!!!