Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Do you use or collect merchandise relating to books? Examples are bookmarks, bookends, shirts or mugs with book-related messages, reading journals, etc.?

Not really, but I do have several jigsaw puzzles with a collage of book covers (those are my favorite!) and 2 book bags with a book on it (Jaws and One Hundred Years of Solitude). I would take the Jaws one to the beach if I ever get to the beach again!

I would say that I accumulate book related goodies, not so much that I collect them. Collection suggests deliberately searching for and buying book related items. I acquire more passively - something catches my eye or I just gravitate towards the book themed puzzle, for example. I also more often gravitate towards many other themes too.

I can say I have bookmarks galore, puzzles, t-shirts, christmas ornaments, socks, tote bags just off the top of my head.

I’m TRYING to collect coffee cups from libraries and bookstores (ones that represent the venue, not just books/reading in general), but am having a hard time finding ones who create them. And I prefer that they are ones I’ve visited, but I’m not limiting myself. So far I only have the Austin Texas Public Library (visited) and NYC Public Library (a gift from a friend). I can get one from Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, OR when I visit my son who lives nearby. Maybe Denver Public Library when I visit my other son?

Anyone know if any other libraries that have coffee cup merch?

I have many bookmarks, a lot of them free. When I buy special ones, I hesitate to use them because they are too nice!, I have a shirt that says “I have too many books - said nobody ever” and one that says “I interrupted my audiobook for this”. I also have a sweatshirt with a pattern of books. and a tote bag with books on it, which are apparently real ones. I had to buy it when I saw the title By Lions, Eaten Gladly!

Actually the only book related merchandise that I have have been gifts from my sister. I think because she never knows what to gift me but does realize that I am a big reader.

I have a couple of T-shirts, a pair of sock and a hoodie.

I ask for bookmarks as gifts, because I'm always losing them! My boyfriend got me a very pretty metal hook hook bookmark with a dolphin charm that I've managed to hold onto. He also bought me some plastic ones with dolphin pictures and they all vanished!

Last Christmas I asked for shirts that say "I read banned books" with a kitty and another that says "I survived reading banned books... and all I got was smarter".

That's the extent of my stuff.

@Jennifer — I love your “I survived reading banned books and all I got was smarter”. Wonderful!

I didn't really consider myself a collector...but I do have a LOT of book related merch. Many t-shirts and sweatshirts , some with actual book titles and some book related "Go Away I'm Reading" "If You Can Read This I Was Forced to Put Down My Book and Rejoin Society"
Many bookmarks but I use them all
Too many tote bags
A few mugs

Maybe I am collecting......

:D My small protest against numbskulls who are trying to ban books.

The library system where I live has a create-a-bookmark project targeting school-aged children and I collect those every year. Different age groups are represented from early, upper, middle, and high school. I love them!

i sometimes get coffee cups of characters i like. I have a ryuk one from death note, seven deadly sins one, and i have one more i can't remember right now.

i have a couple to t shirts that have characters too. rory mercury from gate, shiro from log horizon, sesshomaru, shiron from dbz. i have others but i can't remember them off the top of my head.

i really want a hisoka cup of shirt from hunter x hunter

I wouldn't say I have a collection but I do have some book-related stuff. My parents got me a purse that is designed to look like the original cover of Murder on the Orient Express, because I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan. And I've got some harry potter merch from when I was a kid.

Sometimes I enjoy matching bookmarks to the book. My library also has kids or adults make bookmarks. I picked one up one day and used it in a Louise Penny book, only to realize it had literally 3 pines on it. Of course they also have to match the size, smaller bookmarks for paperbacks, bigger for hefty tomes. And the color shouldn't clash with the book cover!

I don’t buy them, but at Christmas and birthdays people always seem to give them to me, saying they know how much I read. I have bookmarks, bags, and mugs in abundance.

No I don't as I wouldn't say I love any one book more than any other. And I use kindle so bookmarks aren't necessary.

Most of that stuff I find tacky. Although a friend's daughter makes and sells earrings out of little books in the "shrinky-dinks" method. (Remember that? Geez, I'm old.) I had her make me a pair for A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, my favorite book. They're supercute!

I have funko pops of Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens, although technically they're merch for the TV show rather than the book.

I get merch from bookshops when I travel, so I've got a few t-shirts and a mug. I'd love to get the same for fictional places in books I've enjoyed, but I've no idea where to get them.

Oh, I definitely have a lot of Stephen King stuff. :) The only books I collect are SK books - now I have a ton of other books in my house, but those are not being "collected!" LOL. I have specific SK shelves, and they bring me a lot of joy. On them I have books marks, an SK Funko Pop!, Pennywise figurines, a Pennywise bath bomb that my bestie brought me from her vacation, a map of the Overlook (IYKYK), a LOVER/LOSER plaque (again IYKYK LOL), a fake (foam rubber) sledge hammer, a crow, and so much more. I LOVE my SK shelves with all its books and related stuff.

Ditto what Theresa said in post # 3 above.
One of my favorite items is an "I read banned books" bracelet.

I have a bookmark that says "I have no shelf control". It always makes me smile.

I have a coffee mug with books all over it. I have Hedwig from Build A Bear. My grandkids were getting bears built & I had to have Hedwig.

Kendra wrote: "I have a bookmark that says "I have no shelf control". It always makes me smile."

I have that one and it makes me happy too. Also one that says "I read past my bedtime"

I don't use bookmarks or collect things, but I have been given a few good book gifts over the years ..

Sign: "Our book club can drink your book club under the table"

Sweatshirt with the Ilyrian Mountains "To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered" [ACOTAR]

A Time Turner necklace [Harry Potter] that is actually quite pretty.