EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

I LOVE reading but I can't seam to ever bring myself to make notes in my books. The librarian in me (certified, but not practicing) cringes at the thought of dog-earing, highlighting, or writing in books... BUT, the reader in me wants to highlight, fold, and write all over my books! I've been keeping a separate journal of book notes, but it's honestly irritating to go back and forth. So, my question to the book club is... How do you feel about marking up the books you read?

I do it all the time, mainly popular science stuff. Highlighting mainly.

I don't do it, and if I buy a book on the secondary market, I pass over books that may or may not have remainder marks or previous owners' markings in the margins.

That being said, my prized possession is a 1910 edition of Alice in Wonderland that was owned by my grandmother that she has written her thoughts and feelings in the margins. It was her favorite book growing up and given her for her 9th birthday.

But that's a good word. I'd never heard it before (which means that I'm going to use it in conversation the first chance I get).

95% of the time I read on my tablet in the Kindle app which allows you to highlight passages and in different colors. I will use that, but I refuse to mark up my printed books.

It's similar thing as tattoos for me: something I don't mind other people doing but I don't imagine doing on my own.

Two of my family members diagnosed with ADHD always note something in the books they read, so I have first seen it as a tool to better take in what you're reading. Later I've seen people creating art on the margins, which would enhance reading experience for the next reader too--as long as it's not a library book.
Still, it's not my way of reading. I'd rather use a page from a notebook as my bookmark if I need a place for my notes.

I've started putting little post-it notes in my books where I want to leave notes to remember something. It also feels messy and a little "wrong". Don't know if I'll ever get over my aversion.

I like highlighting my books, but i don't write on it. I have a separate notebook where i write book quotes and my thoughts about it.

I like my books scribble-free. If i don't have a notebook and really have to jot down something, I'll use a post-it instead of write directly scribbling on the book.

I want to be the person writing notes in the margins or highlighting but I can’t never bring myself to do it. So much so that when I wanted to make notes in The Vampire Chronicles books, I started finding used book versions to write in, so I don’t have to write in our “good” version.

Did it! I successfully used "marginalia" in a sentence.


Sister: Do you have a copy of Alice in Wonderland? I need it for the homeschool class I'm teaching.

Me: I have Grandma's copy. The one with her marginalia.

Sister: What???

Lil' Sis decided not to use grandma's copy but bought one herself. I used to make an effort not to use 'hard' words in conversation. Nowadays I use them whenever I can. I earned my vocabulary the hard way, I'm gonna use it, damnit!

Squire - Haha, I love that!

I hate the idea of writing in books.

My two daughters do a thing with two of their friends, where they annotate books for each other. One of them reads the book & leaves marginalia/underlining/highlighting/doodling/whatever, and then they give it to one of the others. Sometimes it’s just that one-to-one gift. But over time, there have been quite a few books that more than one of them have annotated, for the group. By the time three or four of them have been through it, I’d venture to say that the “marginalia” has become the content, and the text itself is mere substrate.

I’m pretty jealous of them, honestly—they have a lot of fun with it, and get a real sense of community from it.

spoko wrote: "My two daughters do a thing with two of their friends, where they annotate books for each other. One of them reads the book & leaves marginalia/underlining/highlighting/doodling/whatever, and then ..."

That honestly sounds like a wonderful idea. It would be fun to do that with a pen pal as well, I would think. You may have just given me an idea, thanks :-)