Wednesday, December 29, 2010

'New Book' Ritual

Today I woke up with this nagging feeling that I need to go to the bookstore and buy a book.  So I went to the secondhand bookshop in the mall and got four books.  It did not cause a dent in my budget so it was okay (just a bit worried that the books might not be that good, crossing my fingers!).  The books are:


Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
A Dangerous Dress by Julia Holden
Back in the Game by Holly Chamberlin
Fat Hoochie Prom Queen by Nico Medina - I remembered this from Dash and Lily's Book of Dares but I thought this was just a made up title.  So when I found this in one of the shelves, I let out a chuckle and grabbed it. :D

When I got home, I do the first thing I always do for my new books:  
  1. Wrap the cover in plastic, for hardbound books with jackets, I use a double-sided adhesive to tape the jacket to the cover then wrap it in plastic.  
  2. Put my name in the front page and the year I bought the book.  
  3. Open the book in the middle, smell it (I am addicted to the smell of new books), open other pages again and smell them too, then run my thumb through the pages.  
  4. Turn the pages as fast as I can, checking the page numbers to make sure there are no missing pages, blank pages, or any other inconsistencies.
I've been doing this since I was in high school, and even did it for my school books.  So how about you?  What's the first thing you do when you get a new book?  Any practical or quirky ritual you'd love to share? 

10 comments:

  1. I love your ritual !!
    I hope you won't be disappointed in these books though !! Happy reading !! =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG! We are so freaky alike! I wrap my books too and I smell them as well! Haha! Glad to know I'm not the only one ;) Btw, they look so new. I only bought secondhand books on Booksale...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elodie: Thank you! I know, they better be great or else...

    Mia: I got these books from Booksale too! The branch in SM Valenzuela has some pretty great deals :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats on your new books! I hope you enjoy them.

    I haven't found a way to wrap my books to my satisfaction. Do you have a picture of one of your wrapped books?

    I usually smell my books too. Especially if they're brand new. I also check how long the book is and how long the chapters are. If I'm on my game, I also add it to Goodreads with the date.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Small Review: I took the picture of the books above after I've finished wrapping their covers with plastic. I also add them on Goodreads :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. HAHA what?! I don't do any of that! But I might start!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nina, we almost have the same ritual...Promise..One time, my father caught me smelling the book and he just went crazy! Telling me off that I shouldn't be that devoted to a book...He supports me and all but the smelling kinda drove him off the edge. Hehehe. At least I'm not alone. I love the smell of either old or new books.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice to know that I'm not alone =)
    I like it that you make that little note inside the front cover.
    And oh, I like to smell the pages too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The smell of a new book is the best!

    ReplyDelete
  10. When I buy new books I like to smell them in all their new awesome glory (It totally kicks New Car Smell to the curb) and when I get my hands on them I tend to touch them lot to make sure they are sill where I put them for the next few days. Its odd, because I never noticed until a few weeks ago.

    ~Kelsa :)

    ReplyDelete

I just have to tell you, ARGH feeds on awesomeness, so if you can, drop him some awesome here, and I promise to give some awesome back :D

Right now, because of my really busy schedule, I'm cutting back on receiving awards. So until further notice, me and ARGH would not be accepting awards. But thank you for thinking of us, we really appreciate it!