Booklr Questions – Do you mark your books?
I may have used affiliate links for some of the items in this post. Using an affiliate link to purchase an item won't cost you any more money, but I may receive payment if you click on a link and make a purchase. For more information, visit the disclosures page.
Do you mark, highlight, or dog ear your books? Or do you keep them in perfect condition?
Back in high school I was all about marking up my books with highlighters and notes in the margins. But as I’ve gotten away from reading for academic purposes, and more into reading for pleasure, I have stopped marking my books the way I used to. Many of my books can still be found in pristine condition after I’ve read them.
A photo of Stanley Kubrick’s annotated copy of Stephen King’s “The Shining”
But I keep thinking I should go back to marking up my books, because when I purchase used books, I am always pleased to see an underlined or highlighted passage. It gives me insight into what the previous reader may have been thinking about when he or she read the book.
Dogearing pages is anathema to me–I much prefer those little coloured adhesive “flags” that don’t damage the pages. I guess that’s because i started helping out in the local library in middle school and dogearing a page would get you yelled at. Also, with older books, sometimes a dog ear breaks off entirely.
As for marking my books, I don’t usually (probably because of the library experience), though I do make an exception for my personal Bible. I do mark that. At one time I would have to replace my Bible every 5-7 years because I was learning so much, so fast, that I needed a new one to put new marks in. My Spanish friends are often surprised to see the many marks in it–they’re used to the “presentation” Bible they were given at their wedding or First Communion, and never touched again. I tell them that in my view it’s the User’s Manual to the Human Being.
That’s lovely Anna. I haven’t marked anything in my Bibles in ages, but all the ones at my house right now are those lovely presentation versions, or family heirlooms.
When something particularly strikes me as interesting, I admit that I dog-ear the page. I don’t know if anyone else knows I do that! But I do love going back through stories I’ve already read, finding something great in it, and when I go to dog-ear the page–I found I already did the last time I read it. I don’t know what I find that so neat, but I do. 🙂
That’s lovely. One of my favorite things is reading second-hand books and finding things like that. It’s particularly beautiful when you discover that someone you might not even know thought the same thing was important.