July 8th, 2010 / 12:48 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Lily Hoang—
Do you write marginalia or do you prefer your books unmarked?
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Meta
Unmarked.
Both.
both
How do you decide which books to mark up and which to not?
Both. Depends on the book. Deleuze/Guattari stuff is marked up like a sketch book. Sontag is like a sketch book.
Just read Coetzee’s _Summertime_ and it’s pristine, aside from a couple unrelated notes on the inside cover.
If it doesn’t belong to me, I won’t mark it.
I would say the books I suture into the most I mark up the least. Something like Clockers that I’ll read in a couple quick, engrossed sittings I might not touch at all (see comment on Coetzee below). But if I’m reading Deleuze/Guattari essays and they’re making me thinking outside the margins a lot, then I’ll likely have notes I want to make.
Can’t really predict too much, other than to say something broad like “fiction gets marked up less than non-fiction” which is probably true in my case but by no means a rule.
Only rare first editions are left unmarked otherwise I write when I am moved to do so or make notes when the text makes them necessary. I also will write short poems or thoughts that are unrelated but as I have them. Never loan me a book as I have see no differentiation in that.
I only use pencil however.
Hi Lily, Going through my old middle-school books and seeing the phrase “Man vs. Nature” in a Hemingway text embarrassed me so much that I now write all marginalia on post-it notes. I can leave them in or take them out.
It depends. I often write in the margins for my scholarly work. I rarely do it when reading for pleasure.
Rare, not mine, or super delicate/beautiful: no marks
Anything I’ve bought that doesn’t seem like its going anywhere: mark mark mark
I tend to mark up only non-fiction… and only non-fiction I disagree with. I scrawl criticisms in the margins.
Anything I review, if I want to read it again, I have to get a clean copy. Otherwise I tend to treat books as national parks — leave ’em as you find ’em.
Post-its are the better solution, specially for those narrow-margin paperback books.
all my read books are covered in ash if that means anything.
Always! I do a lot of annotating, have developed my own system of shorthand symbols for different stuff. Post-its if I don’t own the book.
When reading things I really enjoy, like Borges’ essays, or something I’ve studied, like Bret Easton Ellis’ Glamorama, the margins don’t fit the things I would otherwise write in them, so I open up a document on my computer and start writing paragraphs that lead into an almost diary-like reflection on what I had only just encountered. For other books, if I have a pencil nearby, I’ll start to underline phrases that I want to reread. I bracket paragraphs I want to reread. But if there are only pens around, the book is salvaged. I stopped using pens in books, because I feel they are more damaging than pencils, which allow you to erase. Upon rereading the underlined areas, I might open up a document on the computer.
I only write in a book if I need to make notes that I will refer to later—if I am trying to write an essay or a review or something. If I need to mark up a book, and the copy I own is one I’m particularly fond of, I’ll buy a really cheap paperback. I did this with Tristram Shandy, for example.
So, I guess that means unmarked if I intend to keep the book in my permanent collection.
oh man, i can’t write in any of my books, feels like…well, like i’m defacing something – big fan of legal pads
if a book makes me think, i mean really think, as in new thoughts that are difficult/challenging for me, if i need to work through a certain process, then i’ll write notes. if there are certain quotes i love, but don’t necessarily need to overly parse through, i’ll underline. if i’m reading a book for the pure pleasure of reading a book, i don’t write anything. maybe i’ll copy down a quote, but i’ll leave the book unmarked. and now you know.
Yeah, galleys for review, definitely marked up.
Absolutely unmarked.
unmarked. if i want to go back to a book later just to enjoy i don’t want to be distracted by marginalia. likewise, i don’t like when i borrow a book from someone and i have to read past their notes. unless their notes are really funny.
i love when someone loans me a book and i find an estranged piece of ash here and there… not sure why.
Mark them all to hell, not with notes about the book always, often notes to myself, paragraphs or sentences that just need to be written–but then I mark on everything else too, my hand, my arm, bar napkins, receipts: had to stop using the backs of students’ papers though, because it got confusing when they would ask what the comments meant, and I had to explain, well, nothing really, for you, but I think I worked out a way to get my character out of that cellar . . .
yes, that’s me. cigar ash.
I don’t think I ever mark up novels, but nonfiction I’m using for reseach I’ll make brief notes or call attention to what may need more thought.
always in books of poetry.
the worst thing tho, is buying a used book that has every other sentence highlighted.
Unmarked.
Both.
both
How do you decide which books to mark up and which to not?
Both. Depends on the book. Deleuze/Guattari stuff is marked up like a sketch book. Sontag is like a sketch book.
Just read Coetzee’s _Summertime_ and it’s pristine, aside from a couple unrelated notes on the inside cover.
If it doesn’t belong to me, I won’t mark it.
I would say the books I suture into the most I mark up the least. Something like Clockers that I’ll read in a couple quick, engrossed sittings I might not touch at all (see comment on Coetzee below). But if I’m reading Deleuze/Guattari essays and they’re making me thinking outside the margins a lot, then I’ll likely have notes I want to make.
Can’t really predict too much, other than to say something broad like “fiction gets marked up less than non-fiction” which is probably true in my case but by no means a rule.
Only rare first editions are left unmarked otherwise I write when I am moved to do so or make notes when the text makes them necessary. I also will write short poems or thoughts that are unrelated but as I have them. Never loan me a book as I have see no differentiation in that.
I only use pencil however.
Hi Lily, Going through my old middle-school books and seeing the phrase “Man vs. Nature” in a Hemingway text embarrassed me so much that I now write all marginalia on post-it notes. I can leave them in or take them out.
It depends. I often write in the margins for my scholarly work. I rarely do it when reading for pleasure.
Rare, not mine, or super delicate/beautiful: no marks
Anything I’ve bought that doesn’t seem like its going anywhere: mark mark mark
I tend to mark up only non-fiction… and only non-fiction I disagree with. I scrawl criticisms in the margins.
Anything I review, if I want to read it again, I have to get a clean copy. Otherwise I tend to treat books as national parks — leave ’em as you find ’em.
Post-its are the better solution, specially for those narrow-margin paperback books.
all my read books are covered in ash if that means anything.
Always! I do a lot of annotating, have developed my own system of shorthand symbols for different stuff. Post-its if I don’t own the book.
I always write in books of poetry.
(The best thing is to underline and write “so true”)
When reading things I really enjoy, like Borges’ essays, or something I’ve studied, like Bret Easton Ellis’ Glamorama, the margins don’t fit the things I would otherwise write in them, so I open up a document on my computer and start writing paragraphs that lead into an almost diary-like reflection on what I had only just encountered. For other books, if I have a pencil nearby, I’ll start to underline phrases that I want to reread. I bracket paragraphs I want to reread. But if there are only pens around, the book is salvaged. I stopped using pens in books, because I feel they are more damaging than pencils, which allow you to erase. Upon rereading the underlined areas, I might open up a document on the computer.
Never never never write. I worship clean white pages. But dogears, yes. And many. And post-it notes, sometimes.
I only write in a book if I need to make notes that I will refer to later—if I am trying to write an essay or a review or something. If I need to mark up a book, and the copy I own is one I’m particularly fond of, I’ll buy a really cheap paperback. I did this with Tristram Shandy, for example.
So, I guess that means unmarked if I intend to keep the book in my permanent collection.
absolutely, I cannot stand to know what others feel is important before I have had the opportunity to decide for myself.
oh man, i can’t write in any of my books, feels like…well, like i’m defacing something – big fan of legal pads
if a book makes me think, i mean really think, as in new thoughts that are difficult/challenging for me, if i need to work through a certain process, then i’ll write notes. if there are certain quotes i love, but don’t necessarily need to overly parse through, i’ll underline. if i’m reading a book for the pure pleasure of reading a book, i don’t write anything. maybe i’ll copy down a quote, but i’ll leave the book unmarked. and now you know.
or write “plz” next to a passage
Yeah, galleys for review, definitely marked up.
Absolutely unmarked.
unmarked. if i want to go back to a book later just to enjoy i don’t want to be distracted by marginalia. likewise, i don’t like when i borrow a book from someone and i have to read past their notes. unless their notes are really funny.
i love when someone loans me a book and i find an estranged piece of ash here and there… not sure why.
Mark them all to hell, not with notes about the book always, often notes to myself, paragraphs or sentences that just need to be written–but then I mark on everything else too, my hand, my arm, bar napkins, receipts: had to stop using the backs of students’ papers though, because it got confusing when they would ask what the comments meant, and I had to explain, well, nothing really, for you, but I think I worked out a way to get my character out of that cellar . . .
Why not write on written words? I thought you people liked meta…
Ps
How do you write on a Kindle?
yes, that’s me. cigar ash.
I don’t think I ever mark up novels, but nonfiction I’m using for reseach I’ll make brief notes or call attention to what may need more thought.
always in books of poetry.
the worst thing tho, is buying a used book that has every other sentence highlighted.
Usually marked. Sometimes note cards, when it won’t fit. Or legal pads, when it really won’t fit.
I always write in books of poetry.
(The best thing is to underline and write “so true”)
Never never never write. I worship clean white pages. But dogears, yes. And many. And post-it notes, sometimes.
absolutely, I cannot stand to know what others feel is important before I have had the opportunity to decide for myself.
or write “plz” next to a passage
Don’t know about the hated amazon device but I’m getting the hang of marking up pubs and PDFs on the iPig
Why not write on written words? I thought you people liked meta…
Ps
How do you write on a Kindle?
Usually marked. Sometimes note cards, when it won’t fit. Or legal pads, when it really won’t fit.
Don’t know about the hated amazon device but I’m getting the hang of marking up pubs and PDFs on the iPig
I have only once written in a book some scribblings that were inspired by said book. And it wasn’t even a “book book”, it was Poetry Magazine. Otherwise, I have never done it and I don’t think I ever will. I prefer putting things to memory or writing in a notebook separate from what I am reading.
Ya’ll are a bunch of weirdos….
I have only once written in a book some scribblings that were inspired by said book. And it wasn’t even a “book book”, it was Poetry Magazine. Otherwise, I have never done it and I don’t think I ever will. I prefer putting things to memory or writing in a notebook separate from what I am reading.
Ya’ll are a bunch of weirdos….
inside front cover is the answer
There’s an app for that.
Dots and abbreviations written lightly in pencil.
inside front cover is the answer
There’s an app for that.
Dots and abbreviations written lightly in pencil.