Do you Pencil when you Read?
From Mark Sarvas interviewed at Bookgeek via Books Inq.:
"I’m a hopeless book geek. I try to be mindful of not fetishizing books too much – after all, they are not, finally, about the objects but about the content. But I assiduously collect signed first editions by my favorite authors (as well as galleys and other obscure materials), I treat books with probably excess care and reverence and I generally don’t write in them. I feel like I should, like I ought to be free enough to scribble with abandon in the margins but, other than when I’m reviewing and working with advance copies, I can’t quite bring myself to set the pen to the page. Probably the most geekish thing I’ve contemplated is ordering those library-style subject bookplates to affix to my shelves – Philosophy, Reference, etc. The only thing that’s stopped me is time, not shame of my unwholesome book love."
Similar to Mark’s, my geekiness extends to wincing every time I see ink underlinings or markings in the margins of a book…I do however use pencil extensively. Not of course in First Editions which I too collect, but in pretty well every book I read…very light pencil…lightly pressed pencil that is (the example above is not typical; this book contains quite a few markings from others so I obviously felt fewer qualms about pushing a bit more emphatically)……in fact I have great difficulty reading without having a pencil handy…don’t want to come across something of interest and miss making note of it…this way, if ever I want to return to the book I can quite easily get a handle on what originally captured my attention…all about efficiency don’t you know…
I’m of mixed opinion when it comes to other people’s underlining in books I own…there is a level of interest in seeing what appeals to them…but also a desire to come at the text fresh…
As for shelf labelling, I have on rare occasion thought about doing it, but hell, I know where everything is, so it would be for the benefit of others and this isn’t a public library, damn it; I don’t want crowds of people indiscriminately pawing at my proudly positioned collection… knowing my dirty little secrets…where I keep the good stuff…
October 5th, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Some of the most important original works come with "scribbles" in the margins, oftentimes at the hand of one or more historically famous men. On this side of the pond, Thomas Jefferson was a well-known "scribbler" who often made "notes" to himself in the margins of the books in his library at Monticello.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:46 AM
I used to be strongly opposed to pen and pencil marks (let alone the dreaded highlighters), but eventually my concern for a book’s appearance gave way to my concern for its content, and since my memory is dismal, marks have become an indispensable aide to my reading. I stick to pencil — a Sensa Classic Carbon Black, to be precise — but even so I shun underlining whenever possible, instead marking important passages with a vertical line in the margin. Sometimes, however, underlining is inevitable, and I have come to abhor reading on trains because a neat underline on a train ride is a nigh-impossible feat.I am so accustomed to reading with a pencil that nowadays I consider it almost disrespectful to a book if I do not to take notes of some kind. Then again, some books are so beautiful or valuable in their appearance that I dare not defile them with marks, and such books necessitate that I buy, in addition, a cheaper edition specifically for marking.Shelf-labelling, on the other hand, seems to go against my reading habits. I like to think of shelving as a dynamic process: books peregrinate from shelf to shelf, desk to desk, pile to pile. (On second thought, I might be unwilling to admit that some of my books, like forsaken friends, languish in a dusty corner, forgotten and unread; perhaps shelving according to last-read to most-recently-read would be a fruitful shelving approach in this case.)
October 5th, 2008 at 12:37 PM
I write in my books, and I even wrote about writing in my books in response to John Lancaster in the LBR. To me, writing in my books is a record of what I thought as well as a source of ideas in the future. It’s not uncommon for me to remember a vivid or important section of a book and flip through it, looking for highlights.
Now that I’ve started grad school, that’s become more important, since it’s not uncommon for me to need material or ideas for papers. In two weeks I’m supposed to give a talk in Seattle, and I spent a fair amount of yesterday looking through books for tidbits that were on my mind, and the highlights/writing helped me enormously. Granted. someday I might look back and think, "What an idiot." But so what? At least I’ll have something to react against.
In thinking about this post, I’m going back to a section of Wood’s How Fiction Works because I remember a passage about this subject. I can’t find it because I know I didn’t highlight it, and eventually I find it on page 53 of the British edition:
October 5th, 2008 at 5:19 PM
Arg! This habit drives me crazy. Pencilling and underlining in books makes them defaced. It is very hard to resell a book that has been written in so someone else can use it.
Also if you collect books, it makes them valueless.
I find people pencilling in library books and it is very frustrating. It means we have to reorder the books, or discard them most of the time.
I can sort of understand if you are doing it for a very specific reason, but otherwise no.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:54 AM
I hate highlighters. I pencil in the margins, I make notes, I write responses, and I dog-ear the pages.But I don’t do it in every book. Some books that I revere I have two copies of, one a preserved hardcover and the other a marked-up paperback. The issue of reselling a book you love to re-read is irrelevant. Most of the books I’ve really marked up are ones I regularly buy multiple copies of to give away, anyway. The books I mark up are mine, and not going to be sold. I don’t mark up library books; if I feel the need, I find my own copy. So I have a rather large library, ah well.Also, I mostly mark up non-fiction, especially the books on theology and spiritual matters and philosophy that I read. I don’t find the need to ever mark up fiction or poetry.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Arthur, I’m surprised. What about all the choice phrases and sublime lines in fiction and poetry??
October 6th, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Oh that’s easy: I just copy those out into a journal, or something. Easier to re-find that way, too.