diff --git a/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py b/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
index 839ef005..2c1057a0 100644
--- a/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
+++ b/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
@@ -209,11 +209,26 @@ def _value_of(cells: list[str]) -> str | None:
 def parse_bookmark(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
     """Every body row of the bookmark's table, in file order, as key/value pairs.
 
-    A table this reader cannot read is **not** an empty table. A row whose key cell is a
-    code span - the shape every bookmark row has - but which carries no stamp and no note
-    in any of its cells is reported as unmeasurable, because reading it as "no row" would
-    report its project as never visited while its row sits in the file, and that is the
-    defect this tool was written to end (issue #2408).
+    A table this reader cannot read is **not** an empty table, and neither is a file this
+    reader cannot read as a table. Both are reported as unmeasurable, because reading
+    either as "no row" would report its projects as never visited while their rows sit in
+    the file, and that is the defect this tool was written to end (issue #2408). Two
+    shapes are refused for that reason (issue #2419):
+
+    * a file that carries **no table line at all** - the shape §1.5's prose describes,
+      "one line per project", which says nothing about a markdown table. Measured before
+      this arm existed: a `- `alpha` <stamp>` file, a prose file and a table of rows
+      written without code spans all read as `0 row(s)` and produced one "never been
+      visited" fault per registered project (exit 1), whose remedy is to re-read every
+      project rather than to fix the bookmark's shape;
+    * a **body** row that names its project in no code span, each offending line named.
+      A header is not a body row: markdown decides that by the separator under it, so a
+      header is skipped whether or not its first cell is a code span.
+
+    A table that really is empty - a header and no body rows - keeps the honest reading:
+    every project never visited, exit 1. That is a true statement about a first-ever
+    bookmark, and the guard above must not swallow it; a test pins both directions,
+    because those two files produce the same `0 row(s)` line and differ only in shape.
     """
     if not path.is_file():
         raise Unmeasurable(f"no bookmark at {path}")
@@ -224,19 +239,23 @@ def parse_bookmark(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
     lines = text.splitlines()
     rows = []
     unreadable = []
+    keyless = []
+    saw_table = False
     for index, line in enumerate(lines):
         if not _is_table_line(line):
             continue
+        saw_table = True
         cells = _cells(line)
         if not cells or all(SEPARATOR_CELL.match(cell) for cell in cells if cell):
             continue                      # the header's separator, not a body row
-        key_cell = KEY_CELL.match(cells[0]) if cells else None
-        if key_cell is None:
-            continue                      # prose, or a header written without a code span
         following = next((l for l in lines[index + 1:] if l.strip()), "")
         if _is_table_line(following) and all(
                 SEPARATOR_CELL.match(cell) for cell in _cells(following) if cell):
-            continue                      # a header written as `| `project` | stamp | … |`
+            continue                      # a header, with or without a code span
+        key_cell = KEY_CELL.match(cells[0]) if cells else None
+        if key_cell is None:
+            keyless.append(f"line {index + 1}: {line.strip()}")
+            continue
         value = _value_of(cells[1:])
         if value is None:
             unreadable.append(f"line {index + 1}: {line.strip()}")
@@ -244,6 +263,20 @@ def parse_bookmark(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
         key = key_cell.group("key")
         hint = key_cell.group("hint")
         rows.append({"key": f"{key} ({hint})" if hint else key, "value": value})
+    if not saw_table:
+        raise Unmeasurable(
+            f"the bookmark at {path} carries no markdown table - {len(lines)} line(s) read "
+            f"and not one of them is a `| ... |` row - so there are no rows here to read: a "
+            f"bookmark in another shape is not an empty bookmark, and reading it as one "
+            f"would report every registered project as never visited"
+        )
+    if keyless:
+        raise Unmeasurable(
+            f"the bookmark at {path} carries {len(keyless)} row(s) this reader cannot "
+            f"read - a table row names its project in its first cell, and these do not "
+            f"name it in a code span - so the reading below would call their projects "
+            f"never visited: " + "; ".join(keyless)
+        )
     if unreadable:
         raise Unmeasurable(
             f"the bookmark at {path} carries {len(unreadable)} row(s) this reader cannot "
diff --git a/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py b/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
index 584c0e65..669f5d3e 100644
--- a/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
+++ b/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
@@ -369,6 +369,79 @@ def test_a_header_written_with_a_code_span_is_not_a_body_row(mod, tmp_path):
     assert reading["faults"] == [], reading["faults"]
 
 
+def test_a_bookmark_in_another_shape_is_unmeasurable_rather_than_empty(mod, tmp_path):
+    """The shape §1.5's prose asks for - "one line per project" - is not a table.
+
+    Nothing in that sentence says markdown table with a code span in the first cell, so a
+    cycle that follows it writes a file this reader cannot parse. Read as an empty bookmark
+    that file produces one "never been visited" fault per project (exit 1), whose remedy is
+    to re-read all of them — the opposite of the truth, which is that the bookmark's shape
+    needs fixing. Measured on this host in the cycle that filed issue #2419: a bullet-list
+    bookmark and a prose-only bookmark both answered `0 row(s)` with a fault per project.
+    """
+    root = _root(tmp_path, "unlisted")
+    register = _projects(tmp_path / "projects.yml", [{"name": "unlisted", "path": root}])
+    for shape, text in (
+            ("one line per project",
+             f"# Rotation bookmark\n\n- `unlisted` {BASE} (cyc20261020-214924)\n"),
+            ("prose only", "# Rotation bookmark\n\nNothing has been read yet.\n")):
+        book = tmp_path / f"{shape.replace(' ', '-')}.md"
+        book.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
+        with pytest.raises(mod.Unmeasurable) as excinfo:
+            mod.read(register, book)
+        message = str(excinfo.value)
+        assert "no markdown table" in message, shape
+        assert str(book) in message, shape
+        assert "never visited" in message, shape
+
+
+def test_a_body_row_that_names_its_project_in_no_code_span_is_unmeasurable(mod, tmp_path):
+    """The same silence one level in: a real table whose keys are written plainly.
+
+    `KEY_CELL` requires the span, so such a row was skipped by the loop with no record
+    that it had been seen. Rows are there and the reading says `0 row(s)`, so the two
+    refusals are the same defect - a shape the reader does not know answered as an absence.
+    """
+    root = _root(tmp_path, "plain")
+    register = _projects(tmp_path / "projects.yml", [{"name": "plain", "path": root}])
+    book = tmp_path / "bookmark.md"
+    book.write_text("\n".join([
+        "# Bookmark", "",
+        "| project | newest read | files |",
+        "| --- | --- | --- |",
+        f"| plain | {BASE} | 0 |",
+    ]) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    with pytest.raises(mod.Unmeasurable) as excinfo:
+        mod.read(register, book)
+    message = str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "cannot" in message and "never visited" in message
+    assert "line 5" in message and "| plain |" in message
+
+
+def test_a_bookmark_that_really_is_empty_still_reports_every_project_never_visited(mod, tmp_path):
+    """The control for the arm above: the same `0 row(s)`, and the honest answer.
+
+    A header and no body rows is a first-ever bookmark, so "never been visited" is true
+    and exit 1 is right. This file and the bullet-list file above differ only in shape,
+    and the guard must separate them — measured here rather than assumed, because a guard
+    that swallowed this case would turn an empty bookmark into "could not measure" and the
+    rotation would never start.
+    """
+    root = _root(tmp_path, "fresh")
+    register = _projects(tmp_path / "projects.yml", [{"name": "fresh", "path": root}])
+    book = tmp_path / "bookmark.md"
+    book.write_text("\n".join([
+        "# Bookmark", "",
+        "| project | newest read | files |",
+        "| --- | --- | --- |",
+    ]) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    reading = mod.read(register, book)
+    assert reading["row_count"] == 0
+    assert reading["states"][0]["state"] == "no bookmark row"
+    assert len(reading["faults"]) == 1
+    assert "never been visited" in reading["faults"][0]
+
+
 def test_a_project_with_no_row_is_a_fault_and_is_reported_as_never_visited(mod, tmp_path):
     root = _root(tmp_path, "unrowded")
     reading = _reading(mod, tmp_path, [{"name": "unrowded", "path": root}], [])