This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:
Do you prefer to leave book jackets on or off while reading?
Obviously, we’re talking books that I own or borrow from a friend, right? Because I absolutely leave the dust jackets in that film (plastic? polyester? mylar? whatever) wrap the library uses on all the time. I’m no vandal.
But if we’re talking about my own books, those jackets are off when I read (or, before I loan it out). And I treat a borrowed book the same. I’m the biblio-equivalent of the person that makes you take off your shoes before you enter their house. I try, for reasons I don’t care to examine, to keep those as pristine as possible–if I’m manhandling them the whole time I’m reading, they’re going to get torn, creased, frayed, etc.–and that would drive me batty.
Now, I used to know a guy who hated dust jackets. The first thing he did when he bought a book was to throw it away. His shelves were full of hardcovers, too. I never understood that. The cover design is all in the dust jacket (well, almost all of it).
What about you?
Bob Germaux