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marginalia
/ˌmɑːdʒɪˈneɪlɪə/
plural noun
1.
notes in the margin of
a book, manuscript, or letter 2. writing
in books
I was taught early on to respect
books, that they were treasures to be treated with care. I never ever tore a
page or used my crayons on an inside cover. When I got to chapter books, I
never folded down a page corner to mark my place. When I met DH and his family
I was shocked that they not only set wet glasses on book bindings, but they
also placed an open book face down risking damage to a book’s spine!
When I went to college, everyone had highlighters
and made their textbooks look like rainbows. I resisted but finally found the
sense in highlighting passages instead of copying them all out by hand for
notes. Eventually, I got over my fear of writing in books and began to mark up
pages pretty good!
While trying to read a page where someone
else has written can be distracting to me, I do enjoy old books with remarks or
notes by others. I like to see if I agree or disagree with a previous reader.
Books borrowed from friends or family make me wonder why did they mark a word.
Are they going to use it in their own writing? What fascinated them about a
certain thought? Were they shocked, interested, or had they experienced the
same emotion?
I used to have a great collection of
book marks. I been gifted with some extraordinary ones like a turquoise studded
sliver shank, an African beaded one, a piece of lace from Bruges, Belgium. But
once I found the magnetic ones, I liked them best. Only problem is I forget and
loan out my books with my bookmark gone traveling in it! Then there is the neat
blue button mark in my Kindle that is never lost.
Recently I have accumulated a gathering
of new books that sit in corners or on desk tops, but right now I have little time to read them. Sometimes I walk by, pick one
up and give it a love pat, glance at pictures, or admire the cover until I’m able to sit a spell with it. I do love my
books. When a package comes, DH never asks anymore WHAT is the delivery, only
smiles and asks what will I be reading. A trip to a really good used book store
can make me positively giddy.
Books…pages…words….divine gifts
surely given for a good life.
What about you? Do you write in the
margins of your books? Underline? Fold page corners?
5 comments:
I LOVE my books and have a zillion and one book marks.
And cannot bring myself to write in books. Even text books. However, like you, I am always fascinated to see what other people have underlined/high-lighted/written.
Write? Yes.
Underline? Yes.
Turn down corners? NEVER!
Hi Claudia.
I don't usually write in a book. Occasionally I have underlined.Never fold corners.
If it's a book I'm going to keep forever, I might write in it and underline but use bookmarks instead of folding corners. Susan
I like going to Goodwill and perusing their huge book department restocked daily. I always find something. Today I am returning two dozen...without my notations, because I do not write in books. But I have bent a corner or two :)
I was taught that a book should be treated like a dear old friend, and so I've always behaved that way. I don't write in the margins or fold the pages or bend the spine. Bookmarks only, even if the "bookmark" is an old grocery list. My Bible is the only book I've ever marked in---underlined and highlighted---and the same for a few books on writing that I go to all the time. But those aren't just "friends," they're something more, and the writing in them makes them more personal. That sounds ridiculous, but . . . ?! Makes sense to me. :)
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