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?
No writing ever [not even textbooks when I was in college] . . . no dog-eared pages . . . I cringe whenever I see someone turning down the corner to mark their place or writing in their book [author-signing excluded as I do love having a signed book] . . . .
ReplyDeleteI don't consider author-signed books in the same category!
DeleteNo, I don't either, Debs . . . when I was teaching first grade, I always told the children that books were treasures and they should be treated with love; hence no writing or dog-earing pages.
DeleteTextbooks are a different breed; marking them up was no problem.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it I have a ton of bookmarks, but they are never handy? For hardcovers I just use the jacket flap. Sometimes just try to memorize the page or chapter number where I left off, but usually there is some scrap of something I can stick in there.
When I use the jacket flat, it always seems to come out!
DeleteThe only books I write in these days are cookbooks. In particular, my bread baking books are loaded with comments like the dates I tried the recipes and the ingredients I substituted for honey or when I used cranberries in place of raisins.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, no. I underlined and highlighted my college books but never do that with my books now. I am careful about spines in paperbacks and in hardcovers. I prefer to read actual books because it is easier to scroll through to revisit pages. I have beautiful bookmarks and always use one in a paper book. But I read as many ebooks as real books now. I don't use any of the available mark-up functions for my ebooks although if I did learn to use them it would make it easier to find passages and characters. Ebooks usually hold your place for you, but they can mess you up and have you scrambling through your device. That doesn't happen that often though.
I do write in my cookbooks, too, Judy. How else are you going to remember when you improve a recipe!
DeleteInteresting question. Echoing most of you, I confess that my books in college and grad school were underlined and full of notes in the margins. Luckily, I bought at least half of them secondhand, so my marks were often added to those of other students who came before me! Like Judy, I mark up recipes in cookbooks with notes like "Needs more garlic" or "Added cubed bacon." Or I change the amounts of ingredients. But I only marked up fiction (with pencil!) while I was a part-time English teacher in a Swiss high school for four years; I took notes in the novels I had assigned to my classes. Apart from that, I don't write in my books or turn down corners--I think it's because my mother was a librarian!
ReplyDeleteSo agree! Marking in cookbooks is part of the fun… It makes them so gorgeously personal!
DeleteLove finding my mom's handwriting and grandmother's handwriting in cookbooks. That is the only time I write on the pages, which happen to be cookbooks.
DeleteYes, I agree that cookbooks are in their own class!
DeleteI am afraid I am the outlier. I dog-ear pages constantly, mostly in non-fiction but also in fiction if I particularly admire a passage. I always feel they are MY books and I'm not concerned with the next reader. I rarely pass books on, anyway. (We have groaning shelves, a job for someday.) I will say I don't write in books, and although I buy a couple of dozen used books a year, I'm always willing to pay more for a clean copy without notes or underlining. The latter is disturbing to my interior reader's world, like someone blaring a television when I'm trying to focus.
ReplyDeleteGiven the problems I have with blurry vision due to lupus meds, I've always wanted to like a Kindle, and my husband bought me one for Christmas a few years ago. He and our daughter both love theirs. Unfortunately I just couldn't get the hang of it well enough for reading on it to become seamless. The tech constantly obtruded on my concentration, ultimately putting me into a fury. I stick to paper books. And I dog-ear the pages! :) (Selden)
p.s. I don't dog-ear pages in library books. Just my own books. And since I reread my books many times over the years, I always come across a dog-ear and think, "What did I love on this page?" and reread it especially closely to remember. Different things speak to me at different stages of my life. (Selden)
DeleteSelden, the most beautiful reminder “Different things speak to me at different stages of my life.” Thank you. Elisabeth
DeleteSelden, I have a couple of Kindles, but since getting my first iPad a couple of years ago I seldom use them. The iPad seems to me more like reading an actual book, and the text is so clear and crisp. I wonder if that might work better for you.
DeleteI used to do that too Selden (dog ear pages that were important to me) and I'd go back later and couldn't figure out what was so important that I dog-eared the page!
DeleteI only annotate novels when I find a typo. I fix it and move on. I have even fixed typos in pencil in library books, which I'm sure assigns me to some level in librarian hell, but I can't help myself. I've cured myself of the dog-earing habit, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteI do mark up nonfiction if it's research for a book, and definitely cookbooks. Bookmarks - sometimes I am given a really nice one, but where do they disappear to? My son and his bride-to-be had a book-themed wedding seven years ago, and their save the date cards were bookmarks! I still have one that is well-used and one pristine original I can't bring myself to use.
What a sweet idea, a book-themed wedding!
DeleteIt was! The reception table centerpieces were stacks of used books with blue covers and a little vase of flowers on top. Guests were encouraged to take the books home.
DeleteDebs, I went looking for my copy of TIME OF THE CHILD after your post. I found it almost at the bottom of a TBR pile and have now moved it to the top. I hope there’s a bookmark nearby.
ReplyDeleteOh, college textbooks-highlighted, underlined, notes in the margins. I read somewhere that highlighting doesn’t really help you remember, it’s the actually writing that sneaks into your brain. I do not write in my books, nor dog ear, nor highlight. I often make notes (p x, 3rd P) on bookmarks, or pieces of paper, which inevitably go astray. I have many, many actual bookmarks and try to keep them by my bedside, and by the 2 chairs where I tend to sit in the living room.
Suzette, the latest neuroscience research is showing that we remember things we right by hand much better than things we type, so suspect that's also true of highlighting.
DeleteThat is so true for me Suzette. When I was a special education resource special most kids could process through just seeing or hearing information but a number of kids had to write in down in order to process it cognitively.
DeleteYikes! Dyslexia morning. "Write" by hand!
DeleteTextbooks were sadly abused by highlighter and pencil markings. I think that's just their lot in life. I seem to have become a bookmark collector and actually have a Ziploc bag filled with all types, sizes and colors. I'm rather partial to finding the "right" bookmark for each book. I leave the bag in the same place so I know where my bookmarks are. On those occasions where I'm going to pick up books at the library and go out to eat afterwards (when dining alone I always have a book along) I have a few bookmarks that travel in my library book bag. Perish the thought that I would dog-ear a page! That just feels like sacrilege to me. -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteVictoria, I have a kind of bank of bookmarks in my library, including many that I picked up during my travels. I always take one before beginning a new book and I keep it throughout the reading.
DeleteVictoria and Danielle, I collect bookmarks too. If I cannot find a bookmark, then I use one of the postcards to mark the page where I stopped reading for now.
DeleteMy mom (the children's librarian) was very adamant that we treat books respectfully. We weren't allowed to break their spines by leaving them open facedown, or dog-ear pages or write in them. For awhile she had us use grocery bags or plastic bags to make book covers for our school textbooks. She volunteered mending books at our school library and after retirement at Central Library where she had worked.
ReplyDeleteIn college, I learned to highlight. I finally tossed the Jerusalem Bible New Testament paperback I had used for a religion class freshman year. It was full of green highlighter and margin notes. Now I'm really reluctant to mark in books. It would probably help me if I underlined the Spanish words I don't know while reading Spanish novels. Instead, I write them all in a list with no context and look them up later. As a library user, I do try to keep the library books in good shape (occasional food mishaps though). Julia, I once stuck one of dad's Christmas checks in a book and found it years later. He was not happy.
I volunteered in a library for several years and I think that probably made me extra-careful.
DeleteGillian, when I was a kid, every student had to cover their school textbooks. Then of course, we drew pictures, scribbled, and wrote stuff on the covers. We generally cut up old paper bags until some company got smart and manufactured paper covers which made things much easier. Kids in school today don't really use textbooks because everything is on their computer.
DeleteI seem to fit with most of those commenting here. In college I was a full-on highlighter and annotator. Today, I virtually never mark up any fiction books I'm reading, though I will occasionally do so in a non-fiction book and certainly in a cookbook. I sometimes manage to keep a real bookmark going for a while, but almost as often my place in books is marked with either the hold slip from the library or a grocery receipt. (I like to think of it as upcycling.)
ReplyDeleteUpcycling, yes! I love it!
DeleteMany of the books I get are from the library and I am always so annoyed to see a word crossed out and a new one written. usually they are corrected typos or make more sense, but it still bugs me. Even though there have been times when I was tempted to do that myself.
ReplyDeleteI still remember a book I read from the high school library. At the end of the book someone had written in pencil 'good to the last drop!' I couldn't disagree.
I love that! While reading others comments is making me rethink my no writing in books prohibition, I would never write in a library book!
DeleteI agree Debs but it is always fun to find a funny or meaningful comment - it's kinda like social media via pencil and paper!
DeleteLike most of you, I annotated my college’s books but I never did afterwards.
ReplyDeleteFor decades, while reading, if I found something very special that I wanted to remember, I put pieces of paper between the pages and when my reading was over, I wrote it in a notebook dedicated to that use. I very rarely read it again afterwards and stopped to do it. I still keep those notebooks for times I could need them, who knows.
You're a very organized reader, Danielle! I've meant to use some of my nice leather-bound journals to make book notes, but somehow I never get around to it...
DeleteSame here for textbooks. I liked getting second- or third-hand copies with notes and scribbles and underlines from previous users. Fascinating to read those comments and occasionally they provoked a laugh out loud moment. As for my fiction--books I keep are purely for my own enjoyment. I'm not into collecting author-signed copies (it's the writing that matters to me, the story--not a signature). So, yep, if I want to underline or make a note, I do it. I never dogear a page, but always find something to use as a bookmark if needed. And I enjoy finding a bookmark when re-reading something--what was so thought provoking then? I also copy passages that I want to savor into my journal. And like others, I often wonder what the heck has happened to the bookmarks I've left deliberately around the places where I'm apt to read.
ReplyDeleteYou would think we'd all have enough JRW bookmarks to never run out! I do take a handful every so often and seed them around the house, but then they disappear!
Delete1. I don't highlight or underline books -- too sacred, as several of you said.
ReplyDelete2. Like Edith Maxwell, I do fix typos (in pencil) even in library books, and I appreciate when other people do it, too.
3. How can you not have enough bookmarks when you know Hank Phillippi Ryan???
Too funny, Becky!
DeleteOne of my deepest treasures is a copy of my book ONE WRONG WORD, Which was circulated among us members in a marvelous book club, and each of them, in turn , put in a multicolored sticky or sticker or annotation of parts they loved and parts they cared about and parts that surprise them. It is a riot of color and annotation, and it is a complete and total prized possession!
ReplyDeleteAw, Hank, that is wonderful! What a treasure!
DeleteYou can all prepare to cringe. Ready…?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was buying books, and that was at least 25 years ago when I could see to read the print, and these were always paperbacks (I could not afford hard cover), it gave me great pleasure on taking it out of the bag when I got home to look at it, feel it, smell it, and then…open it and crack the back. So much pleasure. Now the book was mine, and it opened properly.
Now my books are all ebooks or audio – no smelling, no cracking, no marking in asides.
Gruesome bit over…
Speaking of books – at book club last week, the book was Michiko Aoyama’s What You Are Looking for is in the Library. Since I had listened to the book, I was unaware and surprised at one person’s comment “the book felt so good in your hands”. The size of the book is different, as though it was for a young reader with smaller hands, and fit perfectly in your hands/lap to read. The artwork before each chapter was outstanding, and as I flipped through the pages to find each chapter, I felt the paper. I don’t know what it was, but it was soft and velvety – not like any other book that I had ever felt. The person who commented was going to buy the book, ‘for the comfort that it gave her’. Given the opportunity, I suggest that you go into a book store, find the paper back copy, and just feel the book. Better than cracking the spine, or marking on the pages, even if other customers will find you weird.
I didn't cringe a bit, Margo. It was your book, and ease of reading is everything! Now I'm intrigued about the Aoyama book and will look for it. I do appreciate good paper everywhere.
DeleteMargo, thank you for sharing, Now I want to buy a paperback copy of Michiko Anoyama's book.
DeleteMe too!
DeleteYes, thank you, Margo. I wonder if my local bookstore has a copy. And I will crack spines on paperbacks, too, in order to keep them open.
DeleteBrings back memories of my Uni days. I remember highlighting and writing in my college textbooks. Although we never wrote in our high school textbooks (budget cuts meant returning books at the end of the school year for new students in the same classes). We often used brown bag papers to cover our high school textbooks.
ReplyDeleteJust realized that I never dog ear nor write in the novels I am reading. I collect bookmarks and use them. I cannot imagine defacing my beloved books. I have a blank book where I write down quotes that I want to remember from the book, which I am reading. With eBooks, I highlight and write notes. It is easy to go back because I can click on the list and find them.
Someone mentioned loaning out books. In my experience, I rarely get back books when I loan them out so I'v started buying two copies, knowing that I will never get one back.
I need to keep a "note" notebook, too, Diana!
DeleteDebs, I wanted to ask if there will be a guest post about Deaf History since April is Deaf History Month. Thank you in advance.
ReplyDeleteI will certainly forward the suggestion to the upcoming Reds, Diana.
DeleteDebs, thank you.
DeleteOh, yes, annotate always. Underline, marginal notes, sticky notes. My favorite “safe place”/comfort book, The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, has served as a journal at many difficult times in my life. Only dog ear when no other way of making a page to hand. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteThat book will be a treaure, Elizabeth, and that is certainly a lovely way to look at annotating.
DeleteI annotate with sticky notes unless it's a paperback destined for my how to shelf (character, description, deep POV) high-lighted in yellow with scribbled notes in the margins. I read lots of library books and mark memorable passages with sticky notes, especially if I write a blog review.
ReplyDeleteI use the Cincinnati library "hold" slips as bookmarks.
You've reminded me that when I was working on my first novel, I had lots of notes and stickies in my writing "how to" books.
DeleteI do not approve of marking - however, sometimes when I have a library book with a typo I correct it in pencil. I'm doing other readers a favor, right? And when I was a child I had a habit of circling the 39 on page 39 as I read. I assume someone in a book gave me that idea, just as there was a Nancy Drew where a stamp was affixed upside to send a message!
ReplyDeleteA code, I love it!
DeleteCLM I must have missed that clue from Nancy Drew! Cool!
DeleteMany people will affix a US flag stamp upside down on their envelopes which indicates they feel the country is in trouble or they are unhappy with the government.
I've been through stages when I've dog-eared pages, written in the margins, but now I use the beautiful book markers provided by my local bookseller. I write down the characters and who is who, otherwise I end up going back and hopelessly trying to find them. A real issue for me is if the character is gay they are referred to as "they" and I get confused when it reads, "They went to the store..." and I'm thinking I thought she was by herself - and I can't find the rest of the group.
Years ago, I had a collection of the most wonderful bookmarks, made by a friend of a friend. They were elastic bands (nice, not like rubber bands) that slipped over the cover and pages, and each had beautiful different beads and charms. I used them diligently, too, but eventually the elastics lost their stretch and by then I'd lost contact with the lady who made them. I still have quite a few of these, tucked away in my bedside table. I wonder if you could find something like that on Etsy?
ReplyDeleteHere you go, Debs. Lots of elastic banded bookmarks from Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/search?q=elastic+bookmarks&ref=search_bar&instant_download=false
DeleteMy favorite bookmark at the moment is from the Bodleian Library, sent to me by my friend Kate Charles.
ReplyDeleteI used to, until I was donating 1,000 books to the Cincinnati Public Library, and realized how many were not donatable because of it. Now I use slips of paper, if I want to mark something I need to remember or keep track of.
ReplyDeleteIt is handy that ebooks allow you to highlight passages, and the Nook format, at least, has a specific link system that helps you find the bookmarks or highlights instantly.
For the Little Free Library my co-librarian, who is a real estate agent, collected several hundred books to stock the boxes (complete overkill, since our current max capacity is approximately 75 books for the three boxes). I found all kinds of things used as bookmarks. No checks, though, cancelled or otherwise.
And speaking of the LFL, I have been going to the local Infusion Center twice a year to get my osteoporosis med injection. On my second visit I realized this is where chemo and dialysis patients go for treatments, some lasting all day. There are no TVs in the center, and I asked my nurse if they ever kept books for patients. She said they used to, but had to remove them during the pandemic, and they could use more. So I took a big box of books last fall. When I was there last week I noticed my books in an inviting wall rack, and asked if they were getting read. She said they had gotten low, and so I took another load over yesterday. They really, really appreciate them.
So, if you are looking for a place to donate books, try your local infusion centers.
Great idea, Karen! I will do so - my own inventory is drowning me...
DeleteGreat idea Karen!!
DeleteIf you donate, bear in mind these are mostly very sick people, some in their last weeks or months. They may or may not have much in the way of attention span, so antholgoies, magazines, etc., sre often also appreciated.
DeleteThere's Hitler, there's Ted Bundy, there's Jeffrey Dahmer...and then there are those people who mark books up. There's a special level of hell for them right alongside people who talk at the theater.
ReplyDeleteTextbooks are a different beast of course because those are study materials not BOOKS to read, enjoy and likely pass on at some point. You should never markup or dog ear pages in a book when trying to keep your place or remember a certain passage That's what grocery receipts, scrap paper and actual bookmarks were created to do.
I can certainly understand your perspective Jay especially since you work in a library. But I feel I can do whatever I want with books I love and keep for my own enjoyment. I love going over old books and reading notes I made in the margins. I do donate a lot of books to the library so I keep those in perfect condition so others can enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI used to be against dog-earing pages in books, but I no longer am, although that is a recent change. My go-to method of marking phrases in books or entire paragraphs or even just a word was to use the small post-its called flags. Apparently this carried over to my son because the book he was re-reading at the time of his passing, Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell (this is one of the most recent retellings of this king) had some post-its marking certain pages. So, this made an impression on me. After we're gone, and we all will be some day, wouldn't it be lovely for our children, or whomever we leave our favorite books to, to come upon a dog-eared or post-it marked page that was important to us. If we highlight the special part of that page, it would bring clarity to what was special to us, or it might be more interesting to let the person reading your book to not have the highlighted part and figure how what they thought was noteworthy to you. I will say I think I might still have trouble dog-earing a page in a signed book of significance to me.
ReplyDeleteSo agree Kathy. Well said.
DeleteI agree Kathy. I love the fact that one's book, not a library book of course, and the owner of the book's thoughts, insights or just notations like a happy face maybe are communicated to another person close to them.
DeleteI can't mark up or dog-ear my books. I am also very particular about who I lend my books to. I don't want them to be returned in any other condition then what I loaned them out in. If there is a certain passage or sentence I was to refer back to, I will put post-it notes in those areas.
ReplyDeleteIt has been so ingrained in me that you don’t write in books whether it is a pencil, a pen or a highlighter that I have only done it for one type of book. The exception is when I have been learning another language and I would write either the translation or the pronunciation of a word that might otherwise be difficult to remember. This was particularly helpful for Russian when what a word looks like may be very different from the way it sounds.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to read a book that someone else has written in and, to me, dog earring a book is worse than writing in it. It permanently damages the book and there is no way to reverse the crease.
I would rather turn a book upside down unless it is a tightly bound copy. In that case I just use a piece of scrap paper. I have some very nice book marks that I have bought in other countries but I never think of using them.
I’m with Jay. I was taught to never dog ear pages or write in books because most of the books I read as a child were from the library. I think that stayed with me in college because I didn’t highlight passages very often and even my notes in the book were written in pencil, very lightly. The other explanation might be that I was hoping to sell the books back at the end of the semester and wanted to get as much money as I could!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working as a children’s librarian, I emphasized to never bend down a page corner and to always read with clean hands. (Anyone who has ever worked in a library has stories of books turned in with a variety of disgusting things found on or in the books. This isn’t disgusting, but I had a little boy turn in a book with pages stuck together with chocolate! I told the parents that they were going to have to pay to replace the book and they replied indignantly that their son would never eat while reading a library book and how did I know that their child was the culprit? I pointed out that the book was brand new and he was the very first person to check it out. They paid….)
I think I am careful with any (physical ) books I read, my own or the library’s. My husband buys the leather bound, autographed books and then puts them on a shelf. I happened to see he had a copy of Project Hail Mary, which I wanted to read before seeing the movie. I asked if I could read it and he told me “only if you’re Very Careful with it.” So I am reading it as gently as I can. :-) — Pat S
I love that most of the books my daughter lends or passes on, since she's not much of a keeper, are very "well loved." They been camping and to the beach and on the plane, and I love that they are a little bit used. It's what's in the books that precious.
DeleteWhen I was in college, everything got annotated and highlighted: textbooks and fiction. I even have some of my old college paperbacks with all the underlining, etc.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, nothing gets marked because I'm reading for enjoyment, not study. Yes, I'll notice a beautiful phrase, but I don't mark up the book. I have oodles of bookmarks - from conferences, old ones from past promotions - all over the house so I'm rarely without a "real" bookmark.
I have bookmarks galore, scattered wherever I sit down to read. So no bending page corners. I don't annotate or mark things. I read for pleasure and I know my brain will not hold those special phrases but then, I don't need it to. College texts were an invitation to highlight. It had not occurred to do that until I saw other students highlighting away. I tried to buy used texts to save money. If lucky, someone had already done the work for me in the highlighting department.
ReplyDeleteI never wrote in or dog-eared my hard-cover books but that was not the case with my album covers. I'm certain I dimensioned the value of my "Meet the Beatles" album 100 fold because I wrote all over the back of its album cover. Comments like "He's the cutest" over the photo of George Harrison for instance and "This is my favorite song" scribbled over the list of songs. Oh well...the joy of being a teen-age girl during the 1960's British Invasion (of music) era added another level of magic that outweighed the $$$ value of the album due to my graffiti. :-) While I never marred my hard-cover books I have written inside my paperbacks at times when the novel has so many characters in it. I called it my reference page that I often used to keep all the names and the individuals straight. As a youngster I would never dare to write in or dog-ear a library book as it did not, of course, belong to me. So I was always careful with borrowed books no matter what shape they were in when I checked them out. My town library growing up was the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA...a beautiful piece of granite architecture with large stain glass windows and interior mahogany finishes and furnishings. As a youngster and teenager I spent many hours preferring to doing my "research" there; I felt as if I was sitting somewhere in a grand European building! Years later, I still laugh at the tongue-in-check dialogue that took place on a Seinfeld episode called "The Library"" between Jerry and Lt. Bookman, the library cop, when Jerry failed to return a copy of the library's Tropic of Cancer some 20 years prior. Lt. Bookman ~ "Let me tell you something, funny boy...You know that little stamp? The one that says New York Public Library? Well, that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me."....Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me...Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change. But what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book right now in a branch of the local library and finding pee-pees and wee-wees in The Cat in the Hat and The Five Chinese Brothers...This is about that kid being able to read a book without getting his mind warped. I've got a flash for you, joy boy. Party time is over." I have watched that episode a gazillion times and still laugh every time I see Philip Baker Hall roll out that speech about people who never return librarian books as well as those who deface them. In a word...Hilarious! :-)
ReplyDelete*That should read "diminished" in the first line. Good grief...I am clueless as well as embarrassed by what I erroneously typed. Proofreading was always my downfall while typing too quickly. :-/
DeleteEvelyn, I wish I'd written on my Beatles album covers. What memories those notes would evoke!
DeleteDebs, that's funny. I adore THIS IS HAPPINESS b y Niall Williams. REad it on Kinbdle dfor my book group but deperately missed not being able to underline, so I bought a hard copy for when I re-read it! And when I bought the hard copy I saw that one of the reviewers quoted said he realized he would underline every word if he kept doing that! What an astonishing writer Williamns is!
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly how I felt, Susan! But I think I'll ask Kayti's permission to underline her copy (if she's not going to read it) or maybe I will just buy my own!
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ReplyDeleteI don't generally write in books, even my own, unless there is an error that needs fixing. I once had students make numerous corrections in SHORT STORIES AND YOU, which had been printed from the wrong file. I think they enjoyed doing it. I made full use of Post-Its in "tree books," especially when writing papers or reviews from them.
* Rhys, in many ebooks one can highlight and search a character name. <3
-- Storyteller Mary
Julia I got a chuckle from your post! So funny.
ReplyDeleteJULIA: Thank you for the company - I have also left uncashed checks from my mom in books. One time I lent the book to her with the check inside!
ReplyDeleteI’ve enjoyed all the comments! I can’t bare to write in my books , break spines or dog ear pages! It’s very ingrained in me from elementary school librarians not to do those things. I freak out if I accidentally do any damage to any books. As for book marks, I love them and I wish I owned more. You really don’t see them for free anywhere these days it seems, or am I just not in the right places? I did find a pretty one at my library branch where they had made some out of old books they couldn’t salvage. They were free at the check out kiosk. I don’t write in books, though I think after this discussion I might occasionally mark something in a non fiction book I own if I want to. It just seems so illegal though!! LOL. The only book I’ve ever felt it was ok to underline and make notes in has been my Bible. Prior to that, I did annotate all my Shakespeare books in high school literature, but nothing else. I’ve always wanted my books to be as pristine as possible, even if they’re well loved.
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