Are you like me? Do you collect bookmarks? Surely I can't be the only one.
Yeah, I've been collecting them at will, for years. This pix shows a bunch of 'em. Well, you know my book greed, now you know another facet of my personality - bookmark greed! Mostly these are bookmarks I haven't paid for. They're more fun in you get them for free. Two of the best places to get them for free - outside the largess of your friends - are book conferences, i.e. Bouchercon, etc. OR
Book Expo America if you happen to be lucky enough to attend.
Sometimes my friends, knowing my propensity for the things, will send them to me - usually tucked inside a book. Other times I pick them up in bookstores and libraries or wherever. I've been amassing bookmarks for awhile. And not just for show either, I use 'em. I don't like to 'dog-ear' books, even paperbacks. I mean, I have, occasionally. I just don't do it as a matter of routine.
Far as I'm concerned, certain books require certain bookmarks. Am I wrong? I mean, my Amelia Peabody books (Amelia is a Victorian woman of gumption and daring and also a pseudo-archaeologist who spends most of her time in Egypt digging up mysteries) get their own special Egyptian-themed bookmark. My vintage crime books get theirs. My romances - theirs. I never use a mystery bookmark when I'm reading 'literature'. I mean, my goodness! And when I read non-fiction, those books get their own 'serious' bookmarks. I know, I know it all sounds awfully finicky, but there you have it. It's my own little, teensy, weensy phobia. Harmless enough.
The main problem with the things is where do you keep a bookmark collection?
Mostly I store them in a basket. They need to be handy - who knows when a book will require its own ultra-special, super-duper bookmark?
So, how do you feel about bookmarks? Can you take them or leave them alone? Yeah, I used to be that way too, once upon a time.
