DEBORAH CROMBIE: In our recent What We’re Reading post, I mentioned how much I loved Niall Williams’ TIME OF THE CHILD. What I didn’t say was how desperately I wanted to underline so many of his phrases and sentences, not only because of the lyrical beauty of his language, but because many seemed so profound and life-affirming that I wanted to remember them. BUT. I was reading my daughter’s new hardcover copy, and there was no way I was going to mark in that book. Even in pencil, which could have later been erased. I did stick in some post-it notes, but that’s not quite the same, and I was too engrossed in the story to get out a notebook and copy things down.
Even in my own books, and even with books I don’t intend to loan out or give away, I’m very reluctant to do any damage to a printed page. When did I get so squeamish? I certainly wasn’t in college. As a biology major, I’d be lucky if half my pages weren’t fluorescent yellow or pink with highlighter. And marked up with pencil and pen.
Of course, I can highlight passages if I’m reading an e-book, but somehow my brain doesn’t process that the same way and I seldom go back to look at what I flagged.
For all my delicacy, I will confess that I do sometimes dog-ear paperbacks… Never hardcovers, though!
How about it, Reds? Do you have an aversion to defacing (oh, such a harsh word!) books?
RHYS BOWEN: A non-marker here. The good thing about Kindle is you can highlight. The bad thing is it’s hard to scroll back and forth when you’re reading and wonder “ who was Martin?”
Like you I wrote in all the margins of my books, highlighted, multi color etc. But now books feel sacred.
HALLIE EPHRON: Being married to a rabid book collector broke me of my habit of dog-earing page corners to mark my place. These days I do write in books when I find something that particularly strikes me. But in pencil. And I’m thrilled… tickled… and delighted when someone brings me to sign a copy of my WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL with its pages dogeared and festooned with multi-colored Post-Its.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I don’t think you’re going to find many of us on JRW who mark up their books, Debs! Like you, my textbooks looked like an electrical wiring diagram - different color highlighters, phrases underlined, starred and circled (in different color inks!)
Now, my colorful book reading habit arises from the fact I never, ever have a genuine bookmark at hand, so will use almost any piece of paper to indicate where I need to pick up the story again. Of course, if I DON’T go back to the book for some time, I can find odd things - long-discontinued coupons, ripped out columns from the newspaper, old photos, and, worst of all, an uncashed birthday check from my mother. (I had NO idea where it had disappeared to, and had to apologize SO many times…) Clearly, I need to treat bookmarks like reading glasses, and just scatter them everywhere.
LUCY BURDETTE: No markings on mine either! I do sprinkle bookmarks around like your reading glasses Julia. It also bothers me if I loan a book to someone and see it upside down and open so the whole thing gets bent. Especially if it’s signed!
On Kindle books, I’ve never highlighted anything and it always puzzles me to see dotted lines under some sentences. I guess those have been highlighted by lots of readers?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I read a lot of advance reader copies, mostly in preparation to interview the authors, and I constantly mark in them and dogear the pages. They are not to be kept, anyway, although I do keep them, but they are wonderful resources for me. I could not do an interview without that. A finished book, no, I don’t annotate. I use whatever I have handy to be a bookmark, often a scrap of paper because I don't know what happens to bookmarks, they go wherever the others socks go. I do have to tell you though, that in an interview I attended, Ann Cleeves said she marks up every book, with great joy, and that it is part of her reading experience.
And I have reading glasses everywhere. (Though they all always seem to wind up in the same place, and I have to sprinkle them again.)
DEBS: That's so interesting about Ann, Hank, and something to think about. I would have enjoyed TIME OF THE CHILD even more if I'd been able to go back and reread bits I really loved.
And it makes sense that for you, reading ARCs is "homework." That's why you're so good at what you do!
I've had many much-loved bookmarks disappear into the ether. So aggravating. Now I sometimes use pretty blank cards from Trader Joe's–less easy to lose and at $.99 not a disaster if you do. I have been on a fox kick with my current book, so am enjoying this one.
And what can you get for $.99 these days??
How about it, dear readers, do you "annotate" your books?
