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The book club debate that stuck with me happened over a broken spine
Back in 2018 at my local library in Dayton, I was talking to an older guy named Frank about a dog-eared copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. He told me that a broken spine on a paperback shows a book was truly loved and read by someone. I always thought broken spines meant the book was cheap or mistreated, so that flipped my thinking. It made me wonder what other book club rules I've been getting wrong over the years. Has anyone else had a reader change your mind about how you treat books?
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theagibson1mo agoTop Commenter
Yeah Frank's comment really got me thinking too because I used to be that person who treated books like they were made of glass. I remember getting annoyed at my friend for cracking the spine on my copy of The Hobbit and now I feel kind of dumb about it. That book had been sitting on my shelf looking pristine for years but nobody had actually read it you know? Now I look at a broken spine on a paperback and I think okay someone actually cared enough about this story to really get into it. It's like how scuffed up hiking boots tell you someone actually went on a hike in them.
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