Avoiding Bad Luck

I hate writing in books. I just can't do it. (This is actually part of my Love-Hate list, since some people love it. They write all over their novels and textbooks and others go so far as to collect used books that they find writing in.) I think my problem with it stems from the fact that I was a big library kid when I was younger. We would go to the Paris Public Library about once a week and take out tons of books. You can't write in library books and I think I was also instructed by a librarian at my Elementary School to never 'dog ear' a book by turning a corner down to mark a page. My whole life I have respected books in this way. In other ways though I'm very bad to books. I wear them out with use very quickly, reading them in the bath, at the beach, breaking the spine, etc. I just don't ever write in them and I always use a bookmark of some type, usually a ghetto version where I just throw a peace of scrap paper or old receipt in to hold my spot. However, I found out this year that it is bad luck to give someone a book that you haven't written in. So despite how much it pains me, I now write on the inside cover whenever I'm giving someone a book as a gift. Some times it is a simple To: and From: thing with the date, other times I will actually write a little bit, like I would in a card. I like the tradition aspect of this rule but at the same time it is just so horrid to write in a book.This Christmas I think I will be giving a few books and I will write in them but it will pain me to do it every time.