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I hear you on the writing in books. It is as understandable as dogearing important pages or cracking a spine in a way that leaves a permanent mark. Damaging a book is just *so* much fun! (Hence the sarcasm. :-))
Hmmm...Your comments make me wonder about writing in books. I went through a phase a couple years ago when I wanted to be one of those people who makes notes in margins of books and have really great thoughts and stuff. I even highlighted some passages in some of my books and tried but I guess I am not profound enough. Kristin,
Are the marks in the book just marks or are they notes or what? I would think that was kind of neat because you not only get to wonder about the yeyes that read and moved through the pages but you also get a little insight into which parts and passages of the book "spoke" to that person.
I dunno...I guess that's just my take on the whole thing... :-)
Hmm, I get why writing on books bothers people, but I do it all the time with my own books. Especially being an English major (undergrad and now graduate) it's difficult to remember everything without notes. And hard to carry a notebook to write in when reading on the train and whatnot. I would never write in someone else's book, but I like underlining passages/quotes when I read.Good score on the Whitman though!
You both make a good case. I understand why some people want to jot down notes in the margins... or why some people underline passages that they really like... but I don't think I will ever do it myself. Call me a neat freak, but when I open a book I like seeing "clean" pages. I hate it when there are smudges or dogears or (heaven forbid) tiny bits of food hidden in between the pages! But that is just me, I guess. :-)The few times I make notes, I tend to scribble them down onto whatever bit of paper I can get my hands on. At the moment I have a rather disturbing collection of scraps of shopping tickets with notes on the back!
Catherine, I think I'd faint if a friend of mine ever returned a book to me with her notes all over it! Writing in someone else's book is just wrong! The horror, oh the horror!
Anya,LOL!! What? You don't like the food in the books?? Those could be great snacks later!! ;-)
I definitely don't like the dogears or the smudges or food either. And...if I had a friend who gave me back a book they borrowed with their writing in it they would totally be banned from my island!
If it helps, I would never get food in a book! Or tears or smudges of any kind! But I had an undergrad lit professor who had a weekly tirade about "virgin texts." If it's clean, it looks like you haven't read it in her opinion.
Catherine,I like the idea of the "virgin texts." I don't like to smudge, bend the pages of, or get food in any of my books. However, I like a book that looks read. My husband (any time I read one of his books) tells me I am not authorized to crack spine. He hates the look of the spine being cracked or the covers being messed up. All his books look brand new. I actually have a copy of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain that is pretty much falling apart and looks really ragged. This is one of my favorite books to display because it looks "loved." My hubby and I actually argued for 20 minutes about that book because I wanted it displayed and he didn't...it's neat how everyone has different views and thoughts about how a book should look or how people should treat them.
- Maranda -HA! Pick and read book snacks, guaranteed to quell your hunger!
Indeed, if that was the case then you should definitely ban them from your island... and tear up their library membership card while you are at it!
- Catherine -
Okay, put like that I can understand why you feel the compulsion to read and take notes in the margins. Teachers sometimes go a tad overboard when they are raving and ranting. I have to confess that I used to scribble in my books too... but only my schoolbooks. Never my "spare time books", if that makes any sense.
- Fiona -
True, true... Seeing someone else's thoughts jotted down in the margins can be rather exciting. Especially when the books is decades old. But still... I don't think I will be writing in my books any time soon. :-) I think I will just stick to my shopping ticket system... although I am considering revamping it to a sticky yellow note system... You know? Jot down whatever you want on one of those sticky notes and slap it on the page it refers to.
Antique book notes - now that would be cool. And pencil writing in library books is intriguing for some reason to me - as someone else said, gives you insight into the other reader's thoughts. But book abuse in general is very, very bad! Dogearing, food smudges, crumbs. Yuk. Well, and writing really shouldn't happen either, unless you are the owner of the book.
Maranda, I love the idea of "loved" books. Books are meant to be read and should look like someone's paying attention to them!Anya, "notes" are usually reserved for books I'm reading for class, but in my "spare time books," I tend to underline quotes I love, but not write in them.
As to the "sticky" note system, I'm doing that now that I'm researching for my thesis. There are sticky notes all over the library books so that I don't write in them. After awhile, there are more sticky notes than pages and the books get all swollen looking lol.
As for the writing, it is both. some are very new, hence the highlighted parts. So here is something that will make you all laugh. Even when people ask me to sign my book, I have issues. I ask them exactly where they want me to sign it. Part of me is thinking, wait, you want to write in this???? What are you thinking lol. I do assure you, no crumbs. As for Whitman, I love his work. His passion, his love, ok I better stop before I take off. Let's just say he is in my top 3 poets.
Kb
I might have to come take a vacation to see Whitman's grave. I need to run into the city to Hemingway's birth home. I've been to Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio which is down the street. I also want to go to Carl Sandburg's home It's only about two hours away.
I too dispise writing in books especially the old ones. I am so picky about the old books however if their is writing inside I pass.
I too dispise writing in books especially the old ones. I am so picky about the old books however if their is writing inside I pass.
I hate writing on books, I just loathe the look of it and won't buy the book even though some of the books I buy I can only get old copies of. Since my own books tend to have dogears and crumbs in (but no writing) I know this is illogical, but I don't want to know what someone else thought, it somehow spoils it. Once I get the book, I want it to be mine and mine alone.
I loathe highlighted passages in books, and underlining (especially with felt-tip pens), but am ambivalent about hand-written notes. I don't make them myself; however, the copies of novels I read in school were almost always my parents', and had plenty of penciled-in commentary. Oh yes - and my parents are both English professors.It was probably grossly unfair to the rest of the class! Very useful sometimes, though.
That's funny, Susanna. I would have thought underlining far less intrusive than handwriting because it's not anyone's opinion/questions about the text. I agree that would have been helpful - I loved using my brother's old copies when they actually took notes.
Okay, the writings of somebody elseinside a book muìight ne a bit exiting sometimes.But....Oh Fiona!!!! help!!!!!!! Bookdefender needs help!!!!!
Noooooonooooo:-) I hate it but I do understand te feeling whe you get an old book and there is some writing in which adds history to it, sometimes....but no way, prefer completely without it!!!! Don't tease me Fiona!!!
Sounds funny. Good I am not ding that, instead I am jumping ont he chair so I can handle longer being on the computer. Hey wait, I can go for a second to the fire place, warm up and come back!!!! Yahooooo.....
I put it under my matras so my legs don't hurt during night!!! And I don't want to ask anything else or my boyfriend's mother will start to get all kinds of things and she makes too much of an effort....oh wait I see my boyfriend's blanket....
I have a split personality on the whole writing in books and dog earring pages thing. I don't mind it at all....if I bought the book used. Now, if I bought it new, that's a whole other story. And if I lend out a book that I bought new, it better come back the way I sent it out or I'll fling a dead squirrel on your roof...
Fiona, a run from here to the fire palce and back to get a bit warm. Today is better because we also let the heater be put on.I read that icy weather is coming to the Uk. Dublin today is 9 degrees BUT it feels like 6 they wrote!!!!! Not much isn't it? Dublin I am still coming!!!!!!
Fiona, that could be the reason that you are warm!
I own many used books but I hardly find any writing in them. I do think though that if someone wrote in the margins or underlined something in a book I would find that interesting.John Adams was a notorious margin writer.
As for taking care of books, I always use a book mark rather than laying it flat out on the page I stopped at.
I don't mind writing in the margins as long as it is intelligent. Doesn't need to be profound, just thoughful. Uneven underlining makes me cringe, though. It's a bit OC, but whenever I feel the need to underline, I use something as a ruler to make the marks so they are straight and not undulating...a bookmark works really well for this. I do dog-ear favorite pages in my own books a lot. That way I don't have to have the time to re-read the whole book just to find my favorite passages.
I have a friend who considers ANY sort of writing, including inscriptions, in books to be vandalism. Yes, he used that word. The only people who is allowed to write in a book is the author, according to him. That has not stopped me from writing inscriptions when I give him books, but I do put them on bookplates so as not to totally upset him.
I so have to come visit Whitmans grave and home!
I wish Rod McKuen would do tours! I have a few of his poetry readings on CD. I absolutely love his voice!
I wish Rod McKuen would do tours! I have a few of his poetry readings on CD. I absolutely love his voice!
If I give a hardback book as a gift I always write a dedication in it. Some of my most treasured books are ones which I was given when I was a little girl and the inscriptions of who gave it and when are truly precious memories.
See, i LOVE the idea of someone writing something to you at the beginning of a book. I don't usually do it because 1. my friends aren't readers and 2. i'd be afraid that I would say something somehow...imperfect. I still love the idea.
I agree about dedications in books -- the seem timeless and kind of make the book a part of the generations. As for the underlining and writing, I think that when you underline what is profound in a book or you note something, you are creating more of a link. The book is becoming a part of your life. Sometimes if I am traveling to a place that might make me uncomfortable, I take a "comfortable" book with me to help me feel at home. And that book will probably have underlining and notes in it from my past with it. See what I mean?
I also think of books as not so much the volume where it is printed, but more the story -- and nothing changes the story -- it is still beautiful with underlining, margin notes, what have you.
There are times when I am reading that I come across a sentence or a paragraph that makes me feel like I am hearing my own self speaking. How did that author get into my head? I feel compelled to underline, star, circle, write in the margins, etc. (Not at all the same time hopefully.) Or I just have an "aha" moment and once I again I lose control. When you write in a book-and of course it better be a book you own-I feel like it becomes so personal. I would probably never loan a book that I have written in. Sometime later I can pick up the book and have that moment again. sigh.But, here are a couple of my pet peeves. It drives me crazy when someone writes in a LIBRARY book. What are they thinking? I also am completely grossed out by finding crumbs or weird stains in the books. I wonder where that book has been, and then my OCD kicks in. It is kind of sad, but I just don't think a lot of people take care of library books the way they should.
And Kristin, I absolutely love your description of finding your book. Yeah!
I dont; write in books but can understand if other people want to write in their own books - but not in library one!!!! I hate that - esp. because most of the time it is silly comments, and my eye is drawn to the underlined part, so I skip everything to first read that.A while ago I had the bad luck to have three books in a row from the library in which people crossed out the swear words. It drives me crazy - why would you do that if its not your book? and them I am forced to try and figure out what the word is - so I spent forever on the swear words.
Interesting topic with grat variety. I never get rid of a book once it has come into the house - I know I should put them back out there but something about having them there in case I want to re-read or look something up makes me keep them. I loan them out but I know they will return.So if I were to mark in a book no one would see it but myself. But I don't. In College yes I would highlight notation etc but not for anything I'm reading for enjoyment. If it is for a book club I might have a pad and jot down something I want to bring up and a page number. There is a guy in one of clubs that has huge notes written all around his pages such that he has to read/turn them as he discusses. I think somehow it harms the book - I use book marks and would never dog ear...To each his own.
Wife of GR author: Michael J. Sullivan | The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)
KB