Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bookish Discussion Sunday! I missed you guys last week because I got overwhelmed and didn’t plan anything out. It’s really tough coming up with good topics every week, so if you guys have any ideas, please feel free to reach out, and I’ll credit you for coming up with the topic for the week. 

With that, I realized that we have talked about a lot of heavier topics, and I wanted to discuss a lighter idea that will still spark a lot of discussion. I can’t take credit for this week’s idea either, it came from my friend Kim, who you can find on social media as @pharmdpositive2. She’s endlessly entertaining and informational on TikTok and Instagram, and has quickly become one of my favorite people in the entire world. And this week’s topic is bookmarks, or more specifically, how you keep your place in your current physical read. And keep in mind, no matter which way you mark your place, I promise not to judge, but I can’t promise I won’t laugh if it’s something really unusual.

There’s so many different ways to hold your place in a book. The obvious choice is to use a bookmark. I have more bookmarks than I know what to do with, but I never actually use any unless I’m planning to take a photo featuring my bookmarks in it. Why would I use a bookmark for the express purpose of marking my place in a book, when there are so many other options? Let’s discuss some of them, and feel free to chime in with which ones you prefer, as well as any options I might have missed.

The first one that comes to mind involves no actual equipment, and is probably going to spark the most discussion. It’s dog-earing pages. I used to do this as a kid, because (a) I didn’t know any better at the time, (b) didn’t realize how much books cost, and (c) didn’t own the books I was dog-earing, because they all came from the library anyway. I’m glad to say that I grew out of that phase rather quickly. 

I’ve found that I read faster when I can hold something under the line that I’m reading, so I tend to use junk mail as my own bookmark. A piece of mail that is postcard-sized is perfect since it covers the text from side to side. It’s especially helpful since it hides the rest of the page, since I’ve noticed that my eyes tend to jump around, and if I see an interesting word, I’ll get distracted and it slows my reading speed. There are two more upsides to this: I find an actual use for my junk mail, and since they wear out quickly, I can always put my junk mail to good use. Isn’t that what upcycling is, or do I have that term completely wrong?

Receipts or scraps of paper work well in a pinch, although they have to be a certain size. I don’t know about you, but I seem to accumulate receipts and paper scraps at an alarming rate. They overflow out of my purse and reusable shopping bags, despite the fact that I regularly try to clean out all the receipts and papers after each trip and don’t use a paper list. However, a scrap of paper that is too small could easily slide out (I’ve had it happen), losing our place and leading to mass frustration. But too big of a receipt (I’m thinking a CVS-length receipt) could be unwieldy, sticking out of both sides of the book and hanging over. 

I’ve also used random items if I have to just stop reading for a minute and run out of the room quickly, and this is where it can get fun. Since I tend to grab whatever is closest to me, I have been known to use my telephone, another book, a remote, a pen (not clicked, of course), or any papers or mail that I have on my nightstand. Other items that I’ve heard people use include paper clips, which I can understand although I don’t know that I’d use them because I would be afraid of creasing the pages; and in one exceptionally strange case, someone said they used cat hair to mark their place. 

So what’s your preferred bookmark? What’s the most unusual thing you’ve used to hold your place in a book?