Do you take the dust jacket off of books when reading them?

Usually.

No, never. Dust jackets identify the book more easily when I have them on a shelf.

No, for the same reason as @elbanditoroso.

Not until they start to get completely torn and ratty looking.

I do, and then when I put it on the shelf I put the jacket back on.

^^ That’s what I do too.

typically yes.

Nah, they make great bookmarks.

I hate reading with dust jackets on: they’re always riding up and down the book, or the fold moves away, and there’s all of that paper sticking out from behind the book. I take good care of it and put it back on when I’m done with the book. It keeps the book looking new. Unfortunately, I haven’t read a physical book in several years.

@canidmajor Bookmarks are fun – they can be made of so many materials with so many designs!

Yes If they do not belong to me. When reading my own books I generally do not.

Dust jackets from the library are usually taped on, so they just have to be dealt with.

Yes, I put it back on when not reading.

I do not take dust jackets off Library books, just my own. I also do not dog ear pages.

@Forever_Free I do not fold my pages as a bookmark either. That irritates me so much. I hate bent pages in books.

I am so sorry, but if you dog ear your pages there is something so wrong with you, and I mean that with full disrespect.

Well, @SergeantQueen, I have a bit of a different take on that. I have dog-eared pages (not on books that aren’t mine) and I have laid them down, open, to keep my place. I have eaten, drunk coffee and wine while reading, and spilled it on pages, staining them.

The paper/ereader/tape/CD/download is not the book. The placement of the words is the book. The content of the sentences/paragraphs/chapters is the book, not the delivery system, unless there is only one copy anywhere.

So treat each copy, however it’s presented, however you want, with reverence, joy, playfulness, anger, love, like a best friend, however you want, however it moves you, but let the rest of us enjoy, learn, and treasure the author’s work as it moves us.

Forgive the rant, @SergeantQueen, please. I have spent decades of my life working with books, some authors, and writing groups, and I get vehement about the idea of people worrying more about the object than the work.

Oh, that is purely my perfectionism. I do not value the object more than the work, I have a few books that are pretty beat up that I bought at half price stores.

I just dislike intentionally damaging stuff.

”I am so sorry, but if you dog ear your pages there is something so wrong with you, and I mean that with full disrespect.”
That’s what I was reacting to. Pretty intense stuff.

Yeah, that was a joke. Those do not translate well over text.

I worked with a lady that dropped a library book in her bathtub. It was the only place she could read in peace.

^ I would cry

@chyna Been there, done that!
I try to keep library books and first editions away from the bathtub and pool now.

^^ My Mom would always read in the bath, often library books.

I actually usually tape the cover in, obviously with enough slack to be able to open it.