Highlighting. Marking the pages. Torturing the book. Folding a flap.....do you?

[FrankZubek]

I was answering a thread just now started by Dee Ernst about our favorite lines in literature.

I pointed out "Nobody's Fool" by Richard Russo and even though I remembered the line, it would have taken me longer to find the line if hadn't already marked the page. In fact, there are many books where I highlight really good lines or whole sequences so that I can go back and find them again later on.

Sometimes they are in there waiting for me during a complete re-reading but most of the time I just have them in there so that I can flip the pages and revisit a favorite moment

Now here comes the part that might make a few of you squirm.

Are you sitting down?

I don't just highlight a line. Like by way of using a yellow marker. I literally go in there and underline - sometimes circle- a line or two. Sometimes when there is an especially good or an especially long sequence I'll mark the whole page with an "X"

In ink!!!

After all its my book and if I know its a keeper I'm sure I'll want to go back and find those lines or paragraphs later on without having to waste time flipping back and forth between pages trying to find it. because that would just be frustrating for me.

And I don't just do this to recall good lines. I do it to study those who are better writers than I am. I find it has helped me become a better writer. (Not better than them, but at least better than I have been)

And so there is a whole shelf of these books in my collection.

Keepers.

Books I'll never trade or loan because I love the book.

Nobody's Fool is one.
Several Stephen King books are in there too
Full Dark, No Stars
Salem's Lot
Misery ( especially Misery)

The Dogs Of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst

The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach

Since the Layoffs by Iain Levison

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

All marked in ink.

Anyone else want to confess?

Or scream at me? (and I'd understand. Really. But for me a good book is a study tool that can help me improve. And an old friend I can visit any time I need to.)

Bad part about this habit is that I can't do this with a Kindle. (Well, I CAN. But it kind of takes the magic out of the moment by the ink pen)  

[BTackitt]

Only Textbooks. And Kindle books. Never normal paper reading books. NEVER EVER.

[Ann in Arlington]

Of course you can do what you like in your own books, but I was taught, from a very young age, never to write in a book that was not meant for it.  Possibly because there were five of us, not counting cousins, and sharing was the rule of the day -- no one wanted to borrow a book that had someone else's writing in it.

Coloring books were o.k.  As were workbooks.  Text books -- big no no -- they usually didn't belong to us in grade school and high school.  

I was forced to some highlighting of texts in college but still mostly did notes in a separate notebook. . . .I didn't have the skill of writing in a tiny, clear, neat hand so that I could later read what I'd written.

[mooshie78]

Novels or non-fiction books I'm reading for leisure?  No.

Books I read for work (text books, books of research articles etc.?  Those I do a ton of highlighting/underlining, jotting notes in the margins etc.  Those are just information sources and marking them up makes the pertinent info more accessible when I need to reference it when teaching or working on my own research articles etc.

[SylviaLucas]

Yes yes yes. I, like Ann in Arlington, was taught to not mark books, but one day I decided (like you) that books were for lovin', and part of lovin' is having a relationship with it, in a way. Leaving your thoughts, your questions, your "!!!" all over it (or wherever you want to). It was a hard thing to do at first, but I think it's greatly improved how we relate.

[FrankZubek]

An exceptionally good passage not only gets circled but I jot down a "good!" or a "Wow!" in the margins (grin)

[Eliza Baum]

*shudder*

Just the thought of desecrating a book in such ways makes me break out in hives. I don't lend out books (except to a select few) unless I'm okay with not getting it back...because I might get it, but the chances of it being in my perfect, spine-not-broken, pages-uncreased, no-writing-in-it condition is slim. So I just don't.

I do write in textbooks that I don't intend to sell afterward (which these days are mostly work-related), but I don't really count those.

[tkkenyon]

I love to underline and write and mark up books.

But it's really hard on my Kindle screen. Makes reading the next book kinda difficult.

 

TK Kenyon

[telracs]

my kindle doesn't fold over....

but what i do love about it is that when i highlight or do a note, it folds down the upper corner for me!

i was a terrible dog-eared in my paperback days, but never really highlighted.  if i like a quote, i wrote it in my notebook.

[Tony Richards]

I never do any of this. It's cruelty to helpless books!!!

[telracs]

I never do any of this. It's cruelty to helpless books!!!

don't worry, they get their revenge with nasty paper cuts.

[JanneCO]

I regularly do all of the above, but I always feel guilty about it for some reason.   Doesn't stop me, though.

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

I like to use the little colored stickies they sell for that purpose or for office documents in non-fiction books.

I dont use them for fiction tho and only started dog-earring (my own personal) fiction paperbacks later as an adult.

I like and use the bookmark feature on my K3 too.

[SawyerKing]

I think I will have to make this my next quick trip out of my comfort zone. *gets out a marker*

[Dara England]

Whether I highlight or dogear totally depends on the condition of the book. If it's already old and in bad shape I don't feel guilty about marking the pages. But if the book is like new, I try and keep it that way by using removable sticky notes. I'm also more likely to mark a textbook or research book but again, only if it's a little worn to begin with. And I definitely never mark a book that doesn't belong to me - I hate it when people do that to library books.

All that said, some of my most valued books are actually things that've been marked by other people. Family Bibles where some long-dead relative underlined their favorite passages or scribbled notes in the margins. Books somebody gave me as a kid, with stuff like "Happy 12th Birthday!" written inside the cover. Picture books where a six-year-old me scribbled my name on the inside and maybe colored over some of the pictures... those are books that've been loved.

[Rejean]

I live with a OCD bibliophile. It's not worth my life to "desecrate" a book.

I'm learning to mark things with posty notes.

[Math]

Oh my heavens...I bet people queue up to borrow books off you (Or is that part of your cunning plan to prevent this?? Hmm - sussed, I think)

Interesting how the poster expected a symphony of public derision, and yet seems to have a lot of support.  So...let's get things back onto the original programme... 

Noooo!  I do not. How could you? How? I can barely bring myself to break the spine, let alone deface the pages with my own scribblings. To write in text books - ok - I admit, I did that (I was told to in University (but only because I'd bought the flippin books)), but novels? I don't understand it.

I suppose it takes all kinds of people, but you know you're doing a bad thing, don't you? 

I can't understand why someone would allow themselves to be taken out of the story to grab a (gulp) highlighter (oh, sweet night..) and paint the page of a book, rather than carry on reading... Is the story that bad?

I'm going to take a guess here..(but I'm probably wrong) Your favourite film you watch again and again on DVD - you don't say - let's just watch scenes 23-53 and then skip to the end. You put it in and watch all the way through. So why just have favourite bits to read in a book? Read the whole thing again!  I reckon the one day you get so engrossed in a book, and don't annote anything - that will be the once-in-a-readers-lifetime book for you.

[Due to shock, I've been a bit harsh here - and honestly, due to lack of tone of voice, I must point out this is mainly written tongue-in-cheek....mainly...]

[FrankZubek]

Math

Thanks for taking time to respond
And yes.... shock of shocks I actually do have a small collection of favorite films and TV series box sets in my collection ( about 45 in total)

And you are correct to a degree
I DO sit there and re-watch favorite episodes from start to finish although I do tend to skip around on a film. Like if there is an old fave on netflix streaming I'll skip around and watch a fave scene- like I tend to study stunt sequences of action filmd of all kinds to see how a director edited a scene

Or better thanks to netflix streaming-I study sequences from back in the sixties seventies and eighties back when there were no CGI effects or computer editing and the editor literally cut and taped bits of film together to create the illusion of movement

Maybe I should have been a film editor......

Silly huh?
But that's me. As for books, WHILE I'm reading it if I happen to find a really good sentence or sequence its pretty easy to do my markings and then continue through the story without being 'pulled out' or distracted

But its when I am reading what I thought would be a good book (usually bloated ones over 350 pages) that I tend to start flipping pages. A book that wasn't edited (which we all have individual opinions on what designates a good edit- some people truly prefer 700 page stories) CAN pull me out of the story and I find myself skipping pages til my eyes land on a part that pulls me back into the story

The Kindle is especially a bad toy for me because its so very easy to start clicking away on that page turning button with my thumb as I start skipping pages
I do NOT suffer through to the end of a book if it starts to drag on my in too many spots. I remove it from the Kindle or I take the book to the library and donate it. There must be someone out there who would enjoy it more than I did

And for those who are wondering.... I do not start ANY book with the sole intention of marking it up. There are many times when I am reading something and even though I may like it a lot I don't mark it up because after I read it I plan to take it to a nearby used bookstore ( anyone have a Half Price Bookstore near them? They are pretty good) I get a buck or two for the book which I use to buy more books

Or I deposit the books at the local library and donate them

So you (all) see.... I'm not a complete serial marker!

And yes I did expect a larger number of 'haters' and not to start trouble in the guise of a troll- but I knew there were others out there who mark books. But I don't expect too many of them to reveal themselves in public.

I just thought it would make for an interesting thread and so far it's met my expectations
So come one- I know there's a few more out there either:
Itching to declare they too, are serial markers or
The page purists who  are sitting at home wanting to slap my hands (or the back of my head!)but there are long distance problems involved so they just sit there and stew over my claims

[Kimberly Llewellyn]

Oh, I'm a fellow torturer, tearing into my books. I talk to my books the way Rachel Ray talks to her food. I write in margins. Bend pages. Take notes in any white space, like in the nonfiction hardcover below.

Yeah, the librarian's not too happy with me when I return the books, though. 

[DGFall]

I also write in books. I enjoy reading comments from other people in books I get from the library. I also skip to parts of some movies, like Jack Nicholson's testimony in "A Few Good Men" or John Wayne's famous horseback charge in " True Grit". My Wifes' family of scholars, would underline, make comments in margins, in almost everything they read.  

[Math]

Frank,

Maybe I can't displace my brain like you can - I have to invest my concentration fully into the story, especially if it's a really good book. Maybe I have hit upon an anthopological aspect there...(or praps not)

But I still think that to note in a novel is putting spoilers in it for next time - which may be decades later... Just me, but personally, I'll remember nothing about it by then, and will have the chance to enjoy it all over again like a new experience. I am blessed with a pathetically bad memory.

Allow me one last analogy on that(!):  About twenty years ago at college, I had this friend (note the tense) I had this friend who, when we arranged to go to the cinema, made it his business to watch an earlier showing, but still to come along with the rest of us. All through the film, all we had was: "...watch this bit now, it's cool..."   "listen to what he says after he shoots this dude next..."    I literally remember looking at the bucket of popcorn on his knee, and wondering how long it would take him to drown if I held his head down in it..

[mooshie78]

Interesting discussion these last few pages.

I think what it boils down to is that people read differently.

Some are just reading purely for the story and have no interest in marking stuff up for reasons Math noted.  Others are more more literary types and are just as much interested in the prose and use of language, and thus like to mark great passages for easy future reference.  Some are writers themselves and want to jot notes about some use of language or plotting that they liked and think they can emulate in one of their own books etc.

I don't tend to mark up anything in fiction novels as I'm not that into language, not a writer etc.  But as I noted, I do heavily mark up text books, research publications etc.  I've never had any special esteem for books.  They're just paper and most are easily replaceable if they get damaged etc.  So I've never handled them with kids gloves--other than library books and school owned textbooks in K-12 back in the day etc.

[KateEllison]

In NON-FICTION books, I write in the margins, highlight, underline, etc. In FICTION, I will dogear the crap out of that book (my husband loathes this habit of mine... but bookmarks tend to fall out or get lost when I use them, and I always forget the page number, and I don't like breaking the spine by laying it face down). I almost never underline, highlight, or write in the margins of a fiction book because it throws me out of the story when I re-read.

For me, writing in a book makes it about me relating to the words on the paper (which works fine with non-fiction), but when I'm immersed in a good story I want it to be about me getting into the skin of the protagonist and living in the story, completely unconscious of the words and the book and my surroundings.

If I REALLY love a quote (and I often do!), I have a notebook full of scribbles, and I write it down there.

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

I can't understand why someone would allow themselves to be taken out of the story to grab a (gulp) highlighter (oh, sweet night..) and paint the page of a book, rather than carry on reading... Is the story that bad?

Different perspective:

I cant understand how someone can just keep trucking on after reading something profound or beautiful or disturbing and not take at a moment to at least recognize it.


Different strokes for different folks.

[ImmortalInk]

I don't write in or highlight books. sometimes I doggy-ear, but I try not to. I will highlight on my kindle though LOL Go figure! But for marking a paper book, if I felt I must, I'd use those sticky tabs I think.

[leep]

Even textbooks I owned I never marked, just write it down on your notes on separate paper.  I can't think of a time when I would want to remember a passage or try and find something again.  There's very few books I've ever gone back to and most of the time a Google search would answer any quotes.

I use bookmarks to mark my page too, no dog ears for me.

Hard to tell if my books have been read!

[mooshie78]

I can't think of a time when I would want to remember a passage or try and find something again.

I do it all the time with things I'm reading for work since I'm a research professor and thus I'm constantly writing my own articles and citing tons of articles and books in each.

But for leisure reading I usually don't mark anything up.  Maybe I'll write a quote down somewhere if I think I can use it in an article or presentation sometime.

[Ryan Harvey]

I never write in a fiction book while reading it (although I will take notes on my Alphasmart NEO—better than a notepad—while reading if I'm doing a review of it) and almost never at any time afterwards, because of a bibliophile part of my brain that simply won't allow it.

The "almost" part is for The Lord of the Rings. As an insane Tolkien-nut, I own multiple copies. I purposely bought an inexpensive paperback (single volume) just so I could mark it madly with favorite passage, notes on links with other passages, background information, textual analysis, etc. Basically, I turned one of my copies in my "Study Guide" version, similar to a textbook. But I would never mark my various other copies this way.

[Meemo]

I don't, but there are times I've wished I had.  It isn't because I see it as "desecrating" a book - I'll dog-ear, I'll break a spine, I think books should be loved however the owner wants to love them - I myself tend to think of loving a book like loving The Velveteen Rabbit - the more beat up it is, the more it's been read and enjoyed and loved.  I just don't think about highlighting or underlining when I'm reading - I'm too busy reading and (hopefully) enjoying.  There are sentences or passages or conversations that I read and think "Oh that was lovely" or "I wish I had that talent" - and I'll read them several times before I move on. 

There was a book I read a while back that so beautifully & perfectly described my feelings about the beach and the ocean, and when my mom and I talked about the book later she knew the exact passage I was talking about.  I later found a used copy of the book (I'd probably read a library copy) and bought it so I could find the passage.  I'm not sure I found the exact one - that's a prime example of wishing I'd somehow made note of that passage.  I'll probably read the whole danged book one of these days just to find that one passage!  Or at least read up to that point - and I doubt I'd be able to stop there...but this time I will get up and find a highlighter!

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

I don't, but there are times I've wished I had.  It isn't because I see it as "desecrating" a book - I'll dog-ear, I'll break a spine, I think books should be loved however the owner wants to love them - I myself tend to think of loving a book like loving The Velveteen Rabbit - the more beat up it is, the more it's been read and enjoyed and loved. 

 

Your comment made me think of this: "A ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are made for."

I read it in a romance novel decades ago and it has stuck with me. I dont think it was the author's; I'd like to know whose quote it is.

[thwaters]

*eek*  It kills me to write in a book.  I, too, like them to be nice and neat when I put them back onto my bookshelf (or gift them to a charity book sale) after reading.  Even when there are books that have gorgeous prose, like Shadow of the Wind, I simply can't force myself to mark them up, unless... they are nonfiction.  In that case, I'll highlight what I feel is most important and then go back through the book after I've completed the first read-through and reread the highlighted sections -- this helps me to better remember the information.  I agree that everybody should love a book the best way they see fit, but I guess I'm kind of a neat freak.  Even when I buy books at fairs, I'll read the book and, if I enjoy it, then I'll go out and buy a brand new copy if the used one I purchased is too beat up.  Kinda weird, I know.

[cheriereich]

I think the librarian in me just died a little at the thoughts of marking up books.

I hate even folding over a page of a book. Perhaps that is why I like reading ebooks more. Much easier to keep my place. I still don't even do notes in them, although I could.