Marque-Pages

Hey All,

This post is not directly related to any book I'm reading, but pertains to all of them.  It's about bookmarks.

What do you use for a bookmark?  I remember when I was a kid, I used to always have those bookmarks with the cotton string on the top that hung out of the book.  In the years since, I've used everything from pictures to postcards, coffeeshop stamp cards to leather straps.  I even went through a phase when, in an effort to improve my memory I didn't use a bookmark at all, and had to remember where I left off every time I reopened the book I was reading (I have a notoriously bad memory; ask anyone who has had to spend any amount of time with me).  I can't say that little experiment worked, but it lasted at least a year, and likely made my reading progress a little slower, as I know that I read passages more than once quite frequently.

My favourite bookmark I have ever used, however, is one that I made.  One Christmas, in a fit of inspiration, I designed, with a good friend of mine, bookmarks for all of my family members.  These weren't just any bookmarks, they were bookMarks.  As in, Mark, my little brother.  He's quite the colourful character when he wants to be, and there are a number of amusing pictures in my family's possession of him doing strange and funny things.  So I created six (there are six members in my immediate family) bookmarks with him on them.  I've no idea what the other members of my family have done with them over the years, but I get a chuckle out of mine every time I see it (yes, I made myself a little Christmas present that year).

Currently, though, and for the past two and a half years, I've used my business card as my bookmark.  I started using it because I had nothing else at one point, and then it just seemed to work well for me.  They are pretty dispensable, and readily available (I order them in packages of 250), so if I lose one, it's easy to replace.  And if ever I'm out somewhere and need to give someone my card, I can always count on having that one there as a backup, since I rarely go anywhere without a book.

For this little project I'm doing, though, this blog, my goal is to use only one bookmark for the entire thirty two books I will read.  So far so good, as I've used the same one for the three books I've checked off the list.  If I can keep that same one for the rest of the books, it would be quite the achievement for me, as I tend to lose these business cards fairly easily, precisely because they are so easy to replace.

Thus, I have come up with something that I think will help me keep this one bookmark, and also keep me honest (by that I mean, since the business cards are so easy to replace, I might very easily replace one if I lose it without even realizing it; if you don't follow what I'm saying, see my point above about my short, crappy memory): I gave Jenny, my girlfriend, the card I've been using, and asked her to write something, anything, on it.  It's in her handwriting, so I can't duplicate it.  If I lose that one, I'll know I've failed.

If ever we cross paths, ask to see the bookmark, and you can read what she wrote.  It's pretty cute.

Wish me luck.

-Bryan