Bookmarks?

Maybe it's just me, but local bookstores don't seem to stock any manly/classy bookmarks. They're all made from paper/thin card and they've either got prints of fairies or butterflies.

I've always used the playing cards, specifically the Jokers. They don't tend to last that long because I play around with the card whilst reading. I like the idea (and smell) of leather, but I don't know where I'd get one with a decent etching (or where to get plain leather to have it laser etched).

What do you use for a bookmark?

The receipt, usually because of the same reason you stated earlier. I don't care to use a flowery or feminine book mark, especially since I don't read feminine books. I'd like to see book marks with swords, firearms, young, pretty females and/or bacon. I'm not holding my breath for any of these to be on the market any time soon, though.

When traveling, I usually look for cool bookmarks that remind me of the trip.

I found a bookmark in a very dusty book at the library... I mean, it's been there for a while (>12 months according to the last stamp) so I decided to keep the bookmark and I passed it in the laminator at work to plastify it. I've been using it ever since... It has the picture of the Sky God

I use these, magnetic. They're very touristy, but I really liked the motives and just decided to get them!

How about these?

I have used all manner of things for a bookmark, except for an actual bookmark.

I usually use my son's baseball cards or Pokemon cards, and choose an appropriate one that matches the book I am reading. I have him help me decide which one to use, and I rarely invoke my veto powers. Have fun with it!

Dave

Usually random scraps of paper torn off of stuff headed to the recycling bin.

Half Priced Books, which is a small chain store, carries a changing stock of bookmarks.

If you are a little bit talented with a computer you could create your own. Find an image You like, print it out on card stock and the trim it down to size.

A durable narrow ribbon makes a great bookmark. Same with a cut piece of cloth that has a pattern you like. (Have an old shirt?)

I fold a Post-It note into thirds. If I happen to stop at a paragraph, I just turn the Post-It sideways (perpendicular to the book's spine) to line up with the beginning of the new paragraph. I keep it vertically (parallel to the spine) if I stop at a chapter. This idea came to me one day in third grade and I've been doing it ever since. Not super classy, but it works very well for me.

I make a mental note of the page, and do not use a bookmark.

I have a Kindle now. But when I was reading hard copy books I used Disney paint color swatches. I saw them when I was in Home Depot one day. Thought they were fun and free. It is the only thing I miss about real books. I prefer the blue ones

I've been using a train ticket from Barcelona for the past 3 years, and before tis one, I had a train ticket from my earlier trip to Barcelona from 5 years before that.

I usually use bookmarks from bookstores that I like. However, I'm not picky. If it's a book that I'm reading for work, I'll use a ton of little post-its--I might write a short comment on them too.

I use whatever scrap of paper I can find. Sometimes just my checkout receipt from the library. Currently I'm using a business card from the antique shop where my Gillette US Aristocrat came from.

Now here is a thread I can chime in on!

I have purchased -literally- hundreds of bookmarks for my grandmother. She has been collecting bookmarks since the 1940s when several family friends came back from the war and three of them just happened to all give her a bookmark, completely independent of one another, at a birthday dinner.

Ever since then she has been collecting and has somewhere in the range of 2,500 or so bookmarks; of which I've contributed around half from my travels. Whenever I happen by a used bookstore or am traveling to an area I've never been before I'll make sure to pick up a few for her. I'd say I've shuffled through a few thousands bookmarks in my days.

Some of the more interesting bookmarks, just to give you some ideas:
Art prints, wood carvings, leather/felt/metal etchings, pressed flowers, laminated stamps, Egyptian papyrus, and there are quite a few sterling silver pieces; including a corner bookmark that clips to the corner of a page rather than sitting next to the spine.

There is even one very rare mechanical bookmark by Asprey of London.

Now I am sure you are wondering what sort of a bookmark I use... well, I just picked up an eReader.

But before that, I would usually use a blank piece of pocket notebook paper so that I could jot down any thoughts or reminders as I was reading.

Go West Young Man said:

Usually random scraps of paper torn off of stuff headed to the recycling bin.

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I am in that category, as well as the occasional book receipt

I use post it notes. It comes in real handy for school, every semester I put about a dozen inside the front cover of each book. I also use this method for my personal reading but I only use one to mark the page and one inside the cover for a spare.

Most of the time I don't bother with bookmarks. Though I do have a set of Egyptian painted papyrus ones.