I'm thinking of coining a new phrase and making a little hashtag out of it; a book nymph. The phrase aptly describes one of my favorite pastimes while combining a few of my favorite terms. A book nymph is one who enjoys reading in spots of nature. Like the mythological nymphs of yore who inhabit rivers, woods, and the sea--these less mythological sisters bring their books with them into the outdoors to read for a moment in nature. If you find yourself enjoying a novel in the woods or quiet orchard, you might also be a book nymph! Truthfully I'm more of a book-windowseat sort of plebeian most days, but I do often have a book in bag whenever I head out and every so often I find myself in a quiet patch of grass or apples and a chance to read. When I was younger I much preferred paperback books to hardcovers--and I have not always been very protective of my books either; I pencil scribble in the margins, underline, and gasp! fold down the corners of pages--but lately I really like hardcovers and have been keeping my copies fairly pristine. The weight of hardcovers used to really annoy me, but I suppose I've gotten so used to carry a heavy camera (and occasionally the tripod as well!) around that now one hardcover book doesn't feel like anything at all. I can't promise to keep from the scribbles or dog ear-ing habit (but they are my personal books, not library copies!), but I have got myself a few bookmarks that might help at least partially cure me of the habit...I just tend to want to make note of more than just where I was reading. I like to mark pages that had a pretty turn of phrase I want to go back to a few times! If I was using a bookmark at every page that I wanted to be able to find in a flash I'd need more than a dozen and they'd be constantly falling about! Perhaps I should return to another old habit, which was a book journal where I scribbled down favorite lines and passages so then loads of my favorite authors and words were all collected and rubbing elbows in one very crowded journal! What are some of your good and bad book reading habits?
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