On Writing in Books

 

Squiggles.
Arrows.
Marks.
Underlines.
Writing.
In books.

Does the idea make you shudder? 
Or does it invoke interest and engagement?

I like to think that when we read we are in a kind of dialogue with the author. We are reading their thoughts, their story, and ideas, and sometimes I want to talk with them in the margins. I might agree and just add a note, or link it to something else I read. I might disagree, and write a counter point.

Or I might underline or mark a paragraph that I will invariably return to later. It makes it easier to find. I so often flip through books to re-read or just dip into, re-visiting my favourite passages to ponder or consider again. 

An example - Many people have asked me over the years why I do not just check out books at the library. That is a very simple answer with many layers. Because I cannot revisit them later whenever I get a sudden recollection of a passage, essay, or book I want to re-read. Because I cannot write in library books. Because I like to be able to sit at my desk and be reminded of a passage, stand up, search my bookshelves, and pull out the C.S. Lewis or Owen Barfield book I was thinking about (I literally just did this today). I will flip through that book and find the passage I marked 10 years earlier (and maybe re-read some sections). I do this so very often, it is the most natural thing in the world to me. This is why my home is a library. It always will be.

All these things are engaging with the book, the ideas, the author's perspective, and remembering what I read to a deeper degree because all of this causes me to slow down in my reading. Rather than speeding through a book, if I am writing in it, or even just underlining, I am reading more thoughtfully and slowly. Thereby retaining the information much more than a quick read would. It also means I will likely return to it again later, setting it to dwell even more deeply into my psyche. 

Side note - I know many people like to keep their books pristine, but to that I ask, why? Unless you want to re-sell them? I don't. For most of us, our books will not be kept in a museum, and if they are, it will likely be of interest to whoever reviews your books what you wrote in them and how you engaged with the books. What I would do to be able to browse through the library of C.S. Lewis to see what he wrote in his books. To me, it would be interesting to see what he thought as he read. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote and doodled on his everyday crossword pages (I know that's not books), which are now kept at the Bodleian Library and have been put on display in an exhibit to show his creative energies.

For even more engagement with books, I write out favourite quotes in my journal and commonplace book. But that is a digression as this is a musing about writing in the books themselves, to which I think I made my meandering point.