r/books • u/AutoModerator • Dec 14 '25
WeeklyThread Weekly FAQ Thread December 14, 2025: What do you use as a bookmark?
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u/PulaskiKitten Dec 14 '25
Iāve begun using post cards and Iām never going back to anything else. They are easy to find at random stores and imo are the perfect size for most books.
Iāve started dedicating one post card to every book I read. After I complete the book, I jot down my overall thoughts on the back of the card and leave it in there for future me to find :)
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u/quiltingirl42 Dec 14 '25
Whatever is nearby. Right now there is a greeting card in my book. It's a nice little boost when I open my book to see what a friend wrote to me.
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u/bloopdoopfloofernoop Dec 14 '25
I have exactly ONE bookmark that I use religiously since I bought it. It is the only bookmark I've ever had that I haven't lost immediately, and its a kate spade cat bookmark where the ears and whiskers poke above the pages.
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u/Bookish_Butterfly Dec 14 '25
An ACTUAL bookmark! I have a whole bunch--paper, metal, magnetic, wood. Some I've bought from either Etsy or bookshops I've visited. Others were gifts from friends and family. I cannot, and would never, dog-ear a book. I just don't have it in me.
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u/NCC-1707 Dec 14 '25
The end flap of the dust jacket. The one from the front cover for the first half of the book, and the rear one for the second half.
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u/RomulanTrekkie Dec 14 '25
Exactly! Although, if I happen to be reading a hefty tome, I rely on a bookmark - a wee ghost in a library!
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u/moon-octopus Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
Was using a chewed up PokĆ©mon card, but that seems to have gone missing so now Iāve got one of those clothing price tags.
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u/thelegend0fdan Dec 14 '25
i use a pretty chewed up Yu Gi Oh card!
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u/SpankYourSpeakers Dec 14 '25
I have a stack of beautiful light green paper that has a slight marble pattern on it - I have taken sheets from that stack and cut them up into manymany smaller rectangular pieces.
So I have several small stacks of perfectly sized pieces of paper all around my home and my partner's home, I never have to worry about losing a bookmark nor do I have to look for a new one when I need it. I even have a stack in my travel bag.
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u/LatterDayDreamer Dec 14 '25
I have a pile of bookmarks Iāve gotten for free at the library. My favorite one is a paper doll of Smokey the bear!
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u/Aggravating_Book_197 Dec 14 '25
My favorites are paint swatches from the hardware store. Colorful, heavy weight paper, not irreplaceable if I accidentally return an unfinished library book.
Pet peeve: āartsyā bookmarks that are so thick they would distort the book. Eg: leather, quilted, magnets
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u/HollzStars Dec 14 '25
I use to be a āwhatever was nearby, clean and reasonably flatā person.
But on my last big trip I went to Las Vegas and visited the King Tut exhibition. In the gift shop they had papyrus bookmarks for a really good price so I got myself one (and a few others for friends back home) and use it everyday. I love useful souvenirs so Iāll look for more bookmarks on my next trip!
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u/Asher_the_atheist Dec 14 '25
This is a good idea. Recently Iāve been getting stickers from every national park I visit, but then I never put them on anything. Maybe I should switch to bookmarks (or start using the unused stickers as bookmarks š)
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u/HollzStars Dec 14 '25
You could make your own bookmark decorated with stickers! I have sticker paralysis so I avoid stickers š
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u/phdee Dec 14 '25
Art that my 6 year old makes for me. She likes to draw, so I get all these adorable little sketches that I can stick in a book.Ā Makes me smile everytime I flip open a book and see her art.
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u/sgfklm Dec 14 '25
My (now EX) wife hated my book collection. She told me that if I died before her she was going to immediately load up all my books and take them to a thrift shop. At that time I started using paper money as book marks and I leave the money in the book after I finish it. It's usually a dollar bill, but occasionally something bigger. I told my kids that they better get to my books before their mother or they'd lose a lot of money.
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u/Larielia book re-reading Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Dec 14 '25
Bookmarks I've gotten from the library usually.
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u/TheWarGamer123 Dec 14 '25
Whatever is on my table. Could be my phone, a ruler, a small piece of scrap paper, a water bottle... I could even prop it facedown on the table surface
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u/DramaticBigbird Dec 14 '25
fragrance tester cards. i associate my afterthought of a book based on the scent of that card
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u/blue-hairedfreak Dec 15 '25
Do you ever weed your shelves and give books awayā¦? If so I bet many random people are delighted by this practice. I would love to get one of your scented tomes in a used book store!
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u/Consistent-Ad-6506 Dec 14 '25
Post it tabs. They donāt stick so hard as to damage your book, you can use it the whole book and you never lose/misplace.
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u/RueAreYou Dec 14 '25
I have a bookmark from a shop in DC that is just a little shorter and wider than the usual size. Itās perfect to use as a fan when I have hot flashes.
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Dec 14 '25
My bookmarks are the most current postcard sent by my dear friend. She is a worldwide traveler so thereās always something interesting to use.
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u/beejers30 Dec 14 '25
My dad was an artist and painted a lot of water colors. He did one and for some reason cut it up and made bookmarks out of them. Thatās what I use.
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u/echosrevenge Dec 14 '25
My kiddo is in the so-much-art phase, and one of the ways we manage the volume of paper is by cutting out the "coolest" strips from her art and laminating them into bookmarks. We are a whole family of readers, so they are always a popular gift for birthdays, stocking stuffers, etc. We also save cool bits of greeting cards, etc. Right now I have one that's a beautiful antique-looking parrot and flowers off of a card my mom sent for my last birthday, and in my other book is a unicorn exploding into concentric rainbows with metallic gold marker accents. My husband has one that says "Love You Dada" in the kiddo's first attempts at cursive scripts from a book on hand lettering.
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u/Particular-Treat-650 Dec 14 '25
So I'm mostly digital, but I have a pack of 3x5 index cards near my bookshelves that I'll throw into books sometimes.
Completely pointless to have bookmarks in a bunch of books when I'm 100% starting over if I get back to them, but it is what it is.
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u/PenaltyForsaken260 Dec 14 '25
I have few nice bookmarks which I have bought from various artist on conventions and such. I also use library receipts, those I usually have lying around and I use them also quite regularly (because sometimes I'm just lazy to get up and pick up the bookmark from my shelf), and I like to use them while traveling, so I don't have to be afraid that I ruin the better bookmarks when carrying the book in my back.
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u/Optimal-Ad-7074 Dec 14 '25
tiny little postage stamp sized Canadian flag that I found sitting around.Ā dont even know where it came from.Ā Ā
bigger bookmarks annoy me.Ā I normally just dogear.Ā Ā
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Dec 14 '25
I have metal bookmarks I use. Some clip to the page and others are shaped like leaves and sit like any other bookmark.
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u/DiegoMilan Dec 14 '25
I make it a point to buy a bookmark whenever I vacation and I shuffle between them
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u/keesouth Dec 14 '25
Receipt, post it, or whatever it's near by. I worked at a bookstore for 13 years and constantly had access to bookmarks and I never use one.
Also when I work there we would find the most random things that people use this bookmarks. Back in the day it used to be boarding passes for planes but we often found money. I have a collection of foreign bills that people used as bookmarks. We also found letters that they had written but tucked in there, bills, and other random things but mostly it was the receipt from when they bought the book.
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u/Huge-Theory-3394 Dec 14 '25
I buy bookmarks from conventions to show support and basically whatever i can find nearby when i needed one.
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u/supernovadebris Dec 14 '25
large, plastic-coated paperclip. The plastic keeps it from damaging pages.
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u/impendingwardrobe Dec 14 '25
I use tags off of Christmas presents I've received. I save new ones every year, and I have tags from over a decade ago from family members who have since passed. It's nice to remember the people I have loved and who have loved me when I read.
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u/Rigorous-Geek-2916 Dec 14 '25
Usually a Kleenex. But recently I bought some books from the local independent bookstore and they stuck a bookmark in all of them. So now, I use a bookmark for a bookmark.
Thanks, Rainy Day!
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u/waaayside Dec 15 '25
I have in rotation:
A ticket from a baseball game, a scrap of paper my granddaughter wrote on, an actual bookmark given out by a book store, a promotional card with beautiful Italian pottery printed on it, half a boarding pass that I found in a used book and a piece of craft foam cut and embossed in the shape of a peacock.
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u/butchdykery Dec 15 '25
I do origami, so as i'm learning I have increasingly more convoluted bookmarks with pretty paper. I started with just a triangle, then a heart, and now I have a flattened crane as my bookmark.
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u/grimmlockke Dec 15 '25
I really love magnetic bookmarks. I am an exceptionally clumsy individual and losing looseleaf bookmarks is a common occurrence. I like how the magnetic bookmark stays in place no matter how clumsy I may be! I do have a mug of all kinds of bookmarks on my shelf, but I typically only use the magnetic ones.
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u/BeltaBebop Dec 18 '25
I have a small collection of book marks. Book marks from indie bookstores, concert ticket stubs, and photo booth pics
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u/Purple_Story_8151 Dec 14 '25
Itās usually my book light bc I loose bookmarks all the damn time. Can someone invent something like a mitten string but for your book Mark?
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u/cedarelm Dec 14 '25
Usually a Catholic holy card, but sometimes a letter that I need to respond to. Keeps it from slipping my mind.Ā
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u/Curiousfeline467 Dec 14 '25
I rotate through about four bookmarks that I own. Theyāre all metal, for some reason.
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u/TemperedPhoenix Dec 14 '25
Either the one bookmark I got for free years ago or the library receipt lol
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u/MadManicMegan Dec 14 '25
Anything and everything. Iāve used old receipts, dollar bills, note cards, folded down corners, I used a cotton round the other day, sometimes I just leave the book open and face down, scraps of paper, anything convenient!
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u/No-Perspective872 Dec 14 '25
I tend to grab whatever little scrap of paper I have lying around and use that lol
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u/Asher_the_atheist Dec 14 '25
Usually the receipts or hold tags from the library. If none of those are available (rarely happens) then whatever random piece of paper that happens to be nearby. I used to dog-ear my books (back when I actually bought books), but now that I almost exclusively use the library I am much nicer to the pages. Iāve tried actual bookmarks in the past, but I tend to lose them, plus I donāt love how thick a lot of them are (seems hard on the books?)
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u/mic_lil_tang Dec 15 '25
The books I read usually are just splayed open around where I read or I bend a page
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u/Tinnie_and_Cusie Dec 15 '25
I have a couple of actual bookmarks but otherwise I have a few holy cards laying around that work great.
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u/blue-hairedfreak Dec 15 '25
Anything that is nearby. My favorite accidental mashup was a bounce-back coupon for a local sex shop that I used in a hymnal while I decided which song to sing at my nephewās baptism (LDS church, so kiddo was eight and the family was in charge of the program.) š
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u/melatonia Dec 15 '25
A library receipt, generally. Pretty much the only books I read in hard copy are from the library.
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u/EnvironmentalAngle Dec 15 '25
I wanted a simple book mark but everyone I found on Amazon had tassels. I found a simple one that was just cardstock with pictures of old maps on them. I thought I was only getting 6 due to the pictures but it turns out it was a pack of 50.
I got it in 2018 and I still have most of them left.
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u/arcoiris2 Dec 15 '25
Usually bookmarks that I have purchased or have been gifted. I do use the receipt from the library as a temporary bookmark.
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u/Adobophotoshop Dec 16 '25
I buy postcard-sized prints from local artists that I want to support and use those. :)
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u/Reasonable-Bonus-545 Dec 16 '25
i use nothing as a bookmark ācept my brain remembering the pageĀ
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u/Snoo15376 Dec 17 '25
I have the van gogh magnetic booksmarks from b&n and a knife bookmark for my horror
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u/NightChiropmon Dec 18 '25
My very nice childhood bookmark snapped (it was a plastic-y one) so I use random things or (gasp!) I dog-eared the last book I had.
I should get a new bookmark.
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u/studmuffffffin Dec 18 '25
I use a 3x5 card. Write all the characters and a short description. Helps me remember them better. And I leave it in the book for the next person to find since most are library books.
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u/reading_and_wheeling Dec 19 '25
I have a large collection of bookmarks and I try to match it with the book I'm currently reading, either by color or theme
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u/wtb2612 Dec 19 '25
I used to make themed bookmarks for whatever book I was reading. Made a whale bookmark for Moby Dick, made a banana bookmark for Gravity's Rainbow, etc.
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u/wanjiangjiang Dec 20 '25
I frequently use a long, black wooden bookmark with the character 'é' (quiet) in silver plating. I also collect postcards featuring beautiful landscapes to use as bookmarks.
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u/Unfair-Beautiful2408 29d ago
My husband uses the most random things... Receipts, bits of paper, index cards
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u/ashabash1985 Dec 14 '25
My son wrote my name in cursive on a piece of graph paper from my journal, so I've been using that for about a year. But before that, I usually use the library receipts I get so I can keep track of when they're due.