Around the House

#72 · Makeshift bookmark

Lay a chopstick across an open book to mark your page. Chunky? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Your place is never lost again.

You are forty pages into a paperback with no bookmark, and the alternatives are dog-earing the corner or laying the book face-down and breaking the spine. A chopstick laid into the gutter marks your place without doing either.

How to do it

1. Lay the chopstick into the gutter - the valley at the spine - rather than flat between the pages.
2. Close the book. It will sit slightly proud, which is how you find it.

Why it works

In the gutter the chopstick sits in space the binding already leaves empty, so it does not force the pages apart. Laid flat between pages it acts as a wedge, and over weeks that will splay the spine of a paperback permanently.

Tips & warnings

• Tie a ribbon to one end and it becomes a permanent bookmark you can find.
• Snap it shorter for a small paperback so it doesn't stick out and catch on a bag.
• Don't leave one in a tightly-bound hardback for months - it can emboss the facing pages.