I made a startling discovery at an early age, when my younger brother and I had a conversation that went something like this:

“You can’t borrow my book,” he said. “You always break the spine.”

“The what?”

“That part on the end that holds all the pages together.”

“How could I break it? The book is really thick there. Let me show you . . .”

“Mom!” And he ran screaming from the room.

At that moment, I realized three things:

1) Apparently, breaking a book’s spine is A Bad Thing

2) I didn’t care

3) My brother was a tad uptight about his possessions

And that meant that my brother was (still is) a Book Snob. He reads a book half-open to preserve the spine, uses a bookmark (I do that only when they’re handy), and occasionally even keeps books in plastic sleeves.

A Book SLOB, on the other hand, is . . . well . . . me. I dog-ear pages, use books as coasters, and accidentally drop them into tubs. I don’t own plastic book sleeves. I have been known (gasp!) to leave a book lying open face-down. It seems this is bad for the spine (what is the big deal about book spines, I ask you?).

I know what you’re about to say: “How would you feel if we treated one of YOUR books like that?” Repeat after me. I. Don’t. Care. For me, a well-worn book is a well-loved book. If you loved my book enough to carry it into the tub with you, for me that’s a compliment. The books I own are all well-loved. Beat-up, but well-loved. Some people (and goddesses) destroy the thing they love. Apparently, I am one of them.

So, which are you, Book Slob or Book Snob? And do you ever loan out your books?

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