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Do You Write In Your Books ? 

I just checked in with Booking through Thursday (here).  This is a question that absolutely divides people.  I have spent years never making a mark in a book.  I wouldn't dog ear pages either, instead I cut out bookish pictures from fine book catalogs and make book marks or put greeting cards into them.

Once in awhile now though I will write something in the margin but I feel terribly guilty. I have no idea where this guilt comes from.

When I go to my book club I notice the facilitator uses different colours of ink and writes all through the book.  Sentences are underlined. There are arrows in the margins, and page numbers written everywhere.  It used to bother me then I thought, "How ridiculous."  She bought it, she reads it, she studies it, she totally immerses herself into it. After all it is HER copy. Why not write in it."

It makes me laugh. Every once in awhile I get a library book where someone has written in the margin. Usually in pencil but not always. I thoroughly love reading marginalia. I find it a lot in my old Penguin books I read from Op shops.  Especially if they were read previously by students. I read one library book once where there were grammatical errors within the book. It was a piece of modern fiction and it wasn't edited all that well. Someone had gone through and made the corrections that the editor missed. I found that entirely entertaining.  Let's face it, the books we read are not usually valuable collectors edition. None of us owns a copy of the Gutenberg Bible that I know of so why not mark up your book and study it? Why not use different colours and make it really interesting and personal?   I still can't do it.

Do any of you write in your books? Do you enjoy reading other people's writing in books?

Posted by Travellin' Penguin at 10:27