Writing on/in your books?

[Annamariah]

It's not disrespectful at all. It is you and the book living your lives together. It makes the book part of the family. If anything it's paying the book incredible respect, the honor of what's written as being meaningful and significant.

I know, but I just can't do it Let's say books are as much a part of my family that I couldn't write on them any more than I could write on my children (But hey, I DO hug my books regularly, they need love just as we do! Am I the only one crazy enough to hug books? )

I always like to take very good care of everything I own. I have this obsession with keeping things immaculate! In fact, I can't even bend the covers back! I want everything to remain as nice as possible.

Me too! I'm always very careful especially when I read paperbacks so that they will stay as good as new

[1n50mn14]

I love writing little notes in my books. Mainly to remind myself of how it made me feel at the time. The writing has to be very neat and color coded though. (e.g. political references are red, religious are purple, personal are green, etc.)

[Idril]

Nah...I just never have. No notes or anything. I do, however, write my name somewhere in the front and the year(s) I read/re-read it.

I do that too. I buy labels at B&N and put them in all my books and then write the month and year read in the corner somewhere. I started doing the labelling thing because so many of the books I was loaning out weren't coming back. I figured even if they don't give the books back, at least they'll feel guilty whenever they see my name there.

Like Pensive, I buy a lot of used books and I kind of like the writings in the margins. I'm assuming they must have been read for school because the notations are generally academic in nature and sometimes they point out some really obscure theme I would've missed other wise or just observations that didn't occur to me. There certainly is a point where the notations are a bit much and become a little distracting but for the most part, I find them fascinating. As for making my own marks, I don't do it often because I have a book journal and if there is a particular line in a book I like or a thought I want to remember, I write it in there but I don't always have the journal with me so I have been known to make a few notations in that circumstance. I also, occasionally, like to underline names as characters are introduced, especially in books with many characters or books with foreign names that aren't easily remembered but all my markings are done in pencil so they are easily removed if necessary.

[ntropyincarnate]

I never wrote in my books until last year (my first year of high school) when I took a literature class. But now i really like to write in my books, it makes them feel more like they're my books. I like books that look well-used. If I was offered two copies of the same book, one a nice, new, perfect, hard-bound copy, and the other a paper-back, falling apart, torn, bent, and written in, I'd take the second one.

and...I hug my books

[ClickForth]

okokok

[Annamariah]

and...I hug my books

That's great! I really was afraid I'm the only one.

(Besides I have no one else to hug here, since all my friends live in another town I haven't hugged anyone except my books for over three weeks!)

[Wakaba]

when i used to see a word i didnt know, i would look it up and write the definition next to it...now i know everything

[Lily Adams]

Well, I do admit to "marking" it with my name! I am guilty of that, but I have one of those presses to put my name into it. So, yes, that way, I am guilty. But as far as writing in them, NO!

I actually like the idea of writing the years in there that you've read them, though!

That is such a cool idea, i'm going to have to do that myself.

Thanks, guys. I actually got it from John Adams, who would do that...

[NickAdams]

Never! Books are art! Would you ever write on the Mona Lisa or a Vermeer?

Unless you're Dali.

[Ultravox]

I cannot bring myself to scar the pages of my books, unless it's one that I shall be requiring as an exam text. In terms of recreational reading I just can't do it. I try my hardest to keep all my books is as pristine condition as I can, call it a minor obsession if you will. If there's anything particularly poignant, a reference that I have no background knowledge of or a term with which I am unsure of its meaning I'd sooner jot it down on a scrap of paper than on the book itself.

[LadyWentworth]

Thanks, guys. I actually got it from John Adams, who would do that...

Well, that is something that I never knew about the man! Leave it to Johnny to come up with an excellent idea like that!

[aeroport]

Guilty? Why guilty if you own the book. I proudly mark up the books I own, whether highlihgting an excellent passage or an important spot. And I crosslink it by writing on the inside of the back blank page, a particular page number and a note. I do this in pencil. I do this for several reasons. One like Kiz says to easily find a passage, two highlight themes that keep coming up so I can detect a pattern, and three for beautifully written passages that I would like to go back to. Geez, all my college professors had notes in their books. Why would you not want to? I will go back and read important works, so I want to know what I was thinking on the first read.

This exactly.
It also makes things much simpler when one is using the text to write an essay. My Moby-Dick is in quite a state after that one... My prof for that class actually showed us, at the beginning of the semester, the four-color pen (!) he uses when studying a text ("And when I want to get serious about my underlining, I use the black ink..."). I only use a pencil, though.

[Erichtho]

I only write notes on a sticky note and stick it on the top of the page. I hardly write anything on the page itself.

I have the same habit. Other than that I only write dedications in books when giving them as presents.

[Lily Adams]

Unless you're Dali.

THAT IS BEAUTIFUL. "Bob", leave it to Dali.

Well, that is something that I never knew about the man! Leave it to Johnny to come up with an excellent idea like that!

He would write "John Adams' Book (insert year)" which is what I do. Great man, as you know.

[ampoule]

If I know for certain that I will be passing the book on to someone else to read, I will not mark in it in any way. As someone mentioned earlier, it is very distracting. However, if it is a book I am going to keep forever, I am very free with markings. In fact, it is very obvious which books I have loved for their pages are earmarked, folded, and underlined with pictures, questions, comments, etc. On the books that are read in my book club I list the members and their rating on the inside front cover.
I love reading inscriptions in old books.