Seeing as deviated from the routine with the last curiosity journal and focused on something a little different, I thought we would continue that theme today and talk about book defacing. Not in the traditional sense of someone disagreeing with a book and deciding that its okay to burn or rip it, but something else. Book defacing is the kind of sarcastic name for what is really book decorating.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love books with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I average about ten books read a month and as of the 4th of May, I have read exactly eighty two books since the beginning of 2017. Normally I read about one hundred books a year; this year, according to statistics, I'm set to double that. (So long as university doesn't get in the way, which we all know it will.) I love recommending new books to people. I love talking about my favourite books. Reading is my crack.
So when I found a whole online reading community, made up mostly of kids my age, all talking about the same kind of books I loved while still introducing me to new ones, I knew I had found my people.
Across every social media platform they were there: making book reviews on Youtube, recommending books on Twitter, and posting pics of books on Instagram. And while there is no doubt in my mind that this community is one of the most open, welcoming, kind, and free of drama spaces that exists on the internet, there was a certain... worshipping of aesthetic. I know, its ironic that my last post was literally all about aesthetics and now I'm about to drag them, but I do think there is a difference.
Within the community, hardcovers were more prized than paperbacks, bookish swag and merch was sold, and there was this kind of unspoken idea that your books had to look perfect. No one wrote in their books, no one dog-eared pages. It bugged me. And that's were book defacing comes in.
Some people within the bookish community, got tired of keeping their books perfect and decided to show that a book doesn't have to be in store bought condition to be beautiful. They decided to show that "defacing" could be just as beautiful as a brand new book; and that owning a defacing book meant that it was one of a kind, uniquely yours. And boy, did they ever.
I like the idea of making a book uniquely yours, of having the ultimate collectors edition of something, and of incorporating your art into something you already love. I also like that book "defacing" has opened more people up within the community to marking up their books and seeing the beauty in imperfection and difference.
I've seen people draw their favourite characters within the book, annotated the pages with calligraphy and notes, create beautiful designs on the end pages, and even include lyrics to songs that they thought fit the story. Its really just another form of fan art and I love it. I really want to try this out for myself, but I'm still debating over which book I should choose. Normally people read them while they're decorating, that way they aren't just decorating the outside, but the inside as well. I have a few books in mind, but I still have to narrow it down a bit. I'll make a new post on the topic once I've decided and started making my own.
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