Discussion post

Bookworm Confessions: Weirdest Things I’ve Used as Bookmarks

Fawn's Book Blog

I often find myself needing to save a page in a book I’m reading but I very rarely have an actual bookmark. I think I’ve owned a few over my reading lifetime, but I often misplace them and don’t have one on hand in the crucial moment. So I’ve taken to using some  odd items which work to varying degrees of success, so I thought it would be fun to share some of them.

Hair bands

This is probably my most common bookmark as I almost always have one or two hair bands around my wrists. I carry them constantly as they are always good for hair and apparently book emergencies. Generally they work pretty well!

My phone

This is my second most used bookmark as it is often at an arms length so I don’t need to get up. The problem is that once I come back to my book I have forgotten that I used my phone in this way and then spend 15 minutes searching for my phone. The amount of times this has happened is embarrassing.

Random bits of paper

My bookmark strategy is often to grab whatever looks like it won’t damage the book and is very close to me. What can I say? I’m quite lazy. So random bits of paper often find themselves in my book. My most recent piece was a Pizza Pizza frequent user stamp card, I’m not picky. They generally work pretty well but sometimes they can slip between the pages so finding my place becomes difficult.

Ribbon

I actually really like this method as it’s thin enough to work really well, but textured enough not to become lost. I started doing this a week or so ago when I had some ribbon scraps laying around my room as extras from gift wrapping. It’s a really pretty, cheap and effective bookmark so overall I would recommend this method.  I might actually pick up some more to make some pretty, real bookmarks!

The Sock Monkey Bookmark

This is the only actual bookmark I currently own and it is terrifying. I really don’t like sock monkeys. I do not understand why people feel the need to give them to children, and I don’t like how they look at me.  In my day to day life I can be somewhat vocal about my fear of them. So naturally, I am often given sock monkey themed items a20180217_133638_HDR.jpgs gifts.

I use this monkey solely for saving my page in horror books because I feel that is appropriate. It would work pretty well as a bookmark save for the fact my cat really loves attacking it. So she will often grab it out of the book and run around my apartment eating him. Which I allow, but makes reading a bit harder…

 

If any of you have any odd things you’ve used as a bookmark I’d love to hear about them!  Also if anyone is also afraid of sock monkeys please let me know!

Published by Fawn's Book Blog

A lover of all things magical

36 thoughts on “Bookworm Confessions: Weirdest Things I’ve Used as Bookmarks”

  4. The phone! I hadn’t realized any one else might do that, but it definitely happens. One thing I end up using often, from books I’ve recently purchased, is the receipt! Especially since its usually the first place it gets put after buying the book, so its right there to grab! I also appreciate that I didn’t see dog ears as an option here, I can’t stand folding the pages, even a little! Not to shame those who dog ear pages though, to each their own ❤

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      1. Receipts are an easy grab for sure, and it doesn’t feel right, does it? I cant intentionally upset the pages like that, it’s like nails on a chalk board!

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  5. I LOVED this post! I am known for grabbing whatever is closest… often my phone or a pen… scraps of paper if there is one nearby! I have tons of bookmarks around here, from Swag Packs I have received, but they are NEVER handy!
    I love your sock monkey bookmark! It cracked me up! I think they are adorable, but can completely understand why you might find them awful! Using him in horror books is amazing! Thanks for the laugh!

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  6. I’ve used receipts, train tickets, shoe laces, my phone, another book, bottle caps, and chewing gum sticks (not chewed). There may have been other things as well. God, it feels good to let it all out :))

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  7. I, too have “lost” my phone when it’s doubling as a bookmark!

    My most common bookmarks are paper – receipts, movie tickets, airline boarding passes, straw sleeves, those super-thin napkins that a lot of restaurants and coffee places have nowadays. If I purchase a book (versus using the library), I often leave the receipt inside, and it can make a fun little memento, especially if I purchased the book on a trip.

    On a more practical note, I like using those little Post-it flags or small sticky notes for bookmarks, especially for longer books. They re-stick easily, don’t fall out, and last a long time, through several reads!

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  12. I have also used pens/pencils, napkins, (clean) tissues, subway passes, a ribbon, charging cable, and am really guilty of leaving the book open, pages down, spine all distraught. I do this less now with my kids around, because the likelihood I’m going to lose my page is just too damn high. I also couldn’t leave bookmarks sticking out for the longest time, because curious little hands would pull them right out. When I was a big underliner/margin note taker (mostly as a teen and young adult), I had sets of flat pens/pencils designed to double as bookmarks.
    This was a fun concept for a post. Thanks! Shannon

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  13. I have lots of beautiful bookmarks but they have all mysteriously vanished (or, more likely, I have put them away somewhere so safe that I can’t find them). Currently I am using a clothes tag for a bookmark but often I will use receipts or most likely a train ticket. I can’t dog-ear my books, so I guess it’s better than nothing!

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  14. I actually love sock monkeys and I’d be happy to have one as a bookmark. I use tickets , subway tickets, theatre tickets, movie tickets, boarding passes from air flights,they all seem to have enough weight to hold a page.

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  17. Love the Sock Monkey bookmark! I have lots of bookmarks laying around my house because my kids have made me some in school and I have a cute little used bookstore in my town that always gives you one or two when you buy a book from them. Yet, I often can’t find any of these when I need them. I usually will use whatever random piece of paper I can find. Oftentimes this is a business card (my own or someone else) OR a sticky note from my desk folded in half. I’ve also been known to use ribbons and even a paperclip a time or two.

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  20. Maybe you should use your cat as the bookmark 😉 Mine has a habit of sitting on the book while I was trying to read , so I guess that’s a good way of keeping my place – get to the car and stop. Except she has a habit of chewing on the corners of the page ….

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