I checked in at the Booking Through Thursday blog, which is the host for a weekly book meme or blogging prompt. Here is this week’s prompt:
It’s time for summer reading, so … today’s question? What’s the worst thing you ever did to your reading material? Sand in the bindings from the beach? Dropped into the pool? Covers smeared with sunscreen?
And, if you’ve never done actual summer-time damage … have you EVER damaged your book/magazine/paper? Dropped it in the bathtub? Used it to kill a bug? Spilled with coffee?
Although I am very fastidious and meticulous with my books, I have my share of disaster. Once in Thailand, I fell asleep on the hammock and my book careened off my lap and fell right into the pool. Knowing I won’t be able to replace that book since it just came out in the States, I resorted to the most time consuming, desperate measure: to blow-dry page by page. I hardly go to the beach because sand is a problem. Sand gets into every crease and ridge. But I did manage to ward off sand from my books when I sit under the giant umbrella in Pattaya. Thailand again! Did I mention I really love Thailand? In Palm Springs I usually sit by the pool so the books stay dry. But I have to make sure I don’t leave books out in the sun because they would be dog-eared. As for sunscreen, I always wash my hands after applying sunblock. I don’t like that nasty sticky-icky feeling on my hands let alone on my books. As for food, I try not to nosh when I read because greasy fingers damage the paper. Kill a bug? That’s going a bit overboard, isn’t it?
Filed under: Meme, Personal, Reading | Tagged: Booking Through Thursday, Meme, Personal, Reading, Weekly Event |
A Guy's Moleskine Notebook 
I kill mine with neglect. The bug bit was a bit much as everyone knows you should roll up something disposable like a newspaper or bills. Here’s my post http://backchattingbooks.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/booking-through-thursday-summer-reading
I am pretty good with my books. They look completely unread when I am done with them, but there was this one time that I left my book in my bag, in the car and the girl spilled a bottle of water on it and didn’t notice. Later that day I went to retrieve it and noticed how bloated and warped it was. I still have it! It was an ARC of The Art of Fielding but I never did get to reading it. Now it’s dry so I might try to, but it’s a mess.
I left a copy of Baudalino by Umberto Eco outside for the duration of a category 5 typhoon (direct hit on the town I live in). Cover completely disintegrated but the book remained intact.