Ripping Books In Half and Other Taboos by Shirley-Anne McMillan

There was some Twitter consternation a few days ago about someone who said they had been known to rip a ginormous book in half in order to travel with a smaller item to read on the journey. As I write this it is several days later and people are still having conniptions about it, with some arguing that it is sacrilege and others (fewer!) saying 'Wow, genius idea!'

As a writer I am fairly often told about things like this in the expectation that I will be horrified. I am assuming that this is because a) I am actually appalled by many things and I tend to voice my opinion on those things fairly regularly, and b) I am a writer so therefore I must love stories and the printed medium above all else. Here is a list of things which I have been told about with the expectation that I will be appalled, plus, my true feelings on the matter.

1. Ripping a book in half. I don't care about this, mostly. I have been known to rip the insides out of a hard backed book to make a handy folder for notes. The physical form of books in themselves are not sacrosanct to me. Where I draw the line is if the book is a special edition or a really wonderful graphic novel which also serves as visual art. But I don't care if you rip your Penguin copy of Moby Dick in half. Which leads me on to:

2. Binning books. We should, of course, recycle, but I am happy enough to throw terrible books away so that other people don't read them. It isn't censorship- we're not obliged to pass on rubbish (I might argue the opposite actually). Also- it is fun to bin a book which you really hated.

3. Folding down the corners of books. I don't care about this, apart from the exceptions mentioned above. Next!

4. Underlining bits of books. I've always done this. I write notes on them too.

5. Folding the book right back on itself. IT'S JUST A BOOK. Unless there's only one of them we don't have to treat it like it's a child.

6. Kindles/e-readers. I love my Kindle. I don't know anyone with a Kindle who stopped buying paperbacks. I don't think paperbacks smell better and I like being able to read with one hand and I like being able to drop my book without losing my place. I like being able to enlarge the text when I've forgotten my glasses. Ebooks are an amazing invention. They make books more accessible. Physical books are one of the things that make being human a lovely thing, but I also have a severe dust allergy and physical books tend to want to kill me. This is not to say that I want to harm them out of revenge or even self defence. I know it's not their fault. Hooray for ebooks, though.

7. Audiobooks. I love audiobooks. I consider listening to audiobooks reading. I believe that, depending on the reader, an audiobook can significantly enhance the enjoyment of a text.

There are probably more but you get the idea.

Have a lovely Sunday with all your stories!