Browse through the library of any writer or exemplary teacher and you will find the leaves of the book dog-eared and scribbled notations in all the margins. No one interested in what an author is saying should read without pencil in hand.
~ Harry Golden, So What Else Is New (1964)
This explains why I almost always choose to buy a book rather than checking it out from the public library. I find it impossible to read anything (with the exception of some novels–but even good novels have passages worthy of marking) without marking in it. I underline key passages, write topical headings or pertinent quotes at the top of important pages, put question marks or stars or long vertical lines in the margin, argue with the author in the margin, and make a list on the front flyleaf of page numbers I particularly wish to go back to.
How do you mark your books?
Mary Jo
Agreed – I have to mark my books – I love to use a highlighter, too – it helps me with retention………I will use the library to determine if I really want to invest in the book……then I buy it – I will read several pages to a chapter and then go back and re-read, highlight, write in it……fold pages, leave notes…….I thought I had, you know, one of those “syndromes”…………LOL!
Great encouragement for me to read!
Harriette
I *always* write in the books I read. It’s obvious why one would mark up instructional material, but I mark up literature for rich language, a clever turn of a phrase, and even stuff I want to remember and quote later. I even pencil in the margins of library titles and other borrowed books (but I jot the notes down and erase the markings before returning them). Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that because now you’ll probably never loan me a book … 😉
Lisa B.