Friday 10 February 2012

Notes in the Margin: Good or Bad?

I’ve had a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom sitting on my shelf to read for some time. This particular copy of the book was originally in my second hand bookstore inventory, but I removed it because firstly I wanted to read it, and secondly because in my view it was close to unsellable. Almost every page had notes in the margins, pink highlighted passages or underlined quotes. You can see what I mean in the image to your left. Most book sellers view this as book vandalism bordering on the sacrilegious, but I’ve always found myself hanging around the fringes in this debate. On the one hand, I agree that good clean second hand copies of books make for easy selling and easy reading. On the other hand, I sometimes find things like inscriptions from previous owners on the inside front page of a book endearing. These kind of markings show that a book has been loved, enjoyed and devoured, and give the book a sense of character beyond its’ content.

So what about my copy of Tuesdays with Morrie? Did the notes in the margins enhance or detract from my reading experience? The book on its own is brilliant. So brilliant, that I can’t resist giving it a massive plug. It should be on everyone’s must read list and that’s that! The book itself took me on a journey, but the notes in the margin told another story and I found myself simultaneously getting to know Morrie and Mitch, as well as the anonymous jotter. It was like solving a mystery where each scribble gave me further insight into the person behind it. Whilst I will never know the true name or nature of the anonymous jotter, I have formed a picture in my head. In my head, the mystery person is a “she” and she was at the time studying to be a nurse. I imagine that she wanted to work in palliative care and that she was fascinated by the transition of a patient from illness into death. She is compassionate, caring, empathetic and intuitive. She is spiritual and is looking for direction and guidance in her life. She wants to be more present and the book seemed to be providing her with the tools to accomplish that.

It’s safe to say that I could be severely off base here and that my psychoanalysis is more the result of a rampant imagination than actual perception, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how it made me feel about my reading experience. The book alone took me on a spiritual journey, but the notes in the margin made me feel like a good friend was travelling with me, and we all know how much better a holiday is when you have someone to enjoy it with.

What about you? Have you had any similar reading experiences? And, what are your thoughts on notes in the margin. I imagine the general reading public is divided on the issue, but nonetheless I’d like to hear what you think, or what your preferences are.

13 comments:

  1. If I'm keeping an academic book, then I'll make notes in the margins and highlight. However, if I'm selling it back, then I don't do that. I've received some textbooks that have freaking Sharpie smiley faces over the text. It's ridiculous. I say that if you're going to be selling the book, then have an ounce of consideration and don't write in it. If you're planning on keeping it, then do what you want. Also, if you did write in it because you think you're going to keep it, then don't try to sell it. Just throw it away. I don't care what someone else thinks; I want to figure out my own ideas. That's my $0.02!

    Amber
    http://falln2books.blogspot.com

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  2. I will underline or highlight stuff, but I don't write in books (except my name and date inside the front cover). If I feel the urge to write something, I use a journal or write a blog!!
    What I do like finding in old books is little treasures like a pressed flower or an old bus ticket.

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  3. OR in my case the joy of finding a Twenty pound note the auction house had missed! Put me in profit by a large amount!

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  4. I have always thought of margin notes as a kind of mysterious bonus, as an eng lit undergrad I bought a lot of 2nd hand copies and I always enjoyed reading other peoples conversation with the text and slowly over time I became less precious about my books and started adding my own notes but usually only on books I intended to keep. In recent years my daughter has been reading my collection of classics, many with my notes and she also likes the notes and with books she owns, particularly the texts she loves she writes her own notes all through them.
    Having said that I generally hate text books with highlights through them.

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  5. I have prejudices against marginal notes that stem from being a sometimes professor at the local university.

    I find that highlights and underlines make poor guides, and distract me from other text that the original reader didn't care about. Students often assume that the last reader saw the significant moments or issues, and will therefore miss whatever the marginal note-taker missed.

    I won't buy a book with marginal notes in it, even though I believe that most of the time the writer has at least been paying unusual attention to the book. The notes distract from the books author far more often than they add to my experience.

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  6. I just wanted to let you know that I tagged you!
    http://kathyhsreviews.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-tag.html

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  7. I am too ridiculous about perfect books, but I have to say that my all time favorite book, Cane River, is marked, bent, and underlined. I bought another copy when I saw it at a sale, but I would still rather read from my older copy. It is like a good old friend.
    I really enjoyed this post. I have still not read Tuesdays with Morrie. I have been meaning to for the longest time.
    -FABR Steph@FiveAlarmBookReviews

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  8. brilliant clever insightful; not only read but enjoyed every word and all three points of view; (from LinkedIn /Jaymes) I am thinking of buying some books...

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  9. I would buy a book with notes in the margin, but not one that's been highlighted or underlined, that's rather distracting isn't it. It kinda forces me to acknowledge a phrase I would have otherwise glided over, and if its significance is not immediately apparent, I'll probably wonder if I've missed something, or if I'm not getting something, or I'll just imagine a severe conversation with the earlier reader. Takes my time away from enjoying the book.

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  10. I enjoy your posts and the books you read...I would like to know more so I'm tagging you!
    Hope you can join in :-)

    http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/ive-been-tagged.html

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  11. If the book is one I find precious or priceless. I will write in the margins, circle, highlight, underline, place a tiny star, arrow, draw a line from the area to the bottom/top of the page and write a note there, and even place a number next to it since I will continue on the back on the book where blank space may be available. I thought it was only me in the family who "damaged" the books I loved but found it's in my DNA when I inherited my grandmothers books. I thought I knew her, but found I only knew her as my grandma. When I read her books and seen her notes. I seen her as the woman she was, and now wish I was mature enough before her death to have met THAT woman since she was incredible. I feel know it was her way of sharing her wisdom, and what she had learned about life with me.

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  12. Part of me likes finding old books with annotations because, as you say, there's another layer in traveling through a book with a previous reader. However, I grew up with a mother who had very strict rules about marking books, so I can't do it myself. Having said that, she broke that rule herself - but only within a single genre - her poetry collection, which was bequeathed to me when she died. I wrote a post on it recently on my blog, which you can find here:
    http://bookkunkiesanonymous.blogspot.com.au entitled '...to make an end is to make a beginning' Anything else she read that struck her particularly was noted down in whatever the current notebook happened to be - and I have them all...from the tiny one that lives in its own wee drawstring bag in my handbag to the boxful on the top shelf of my wardrobe that are waiting for me to wander through them and perhaps do something with...some sort of writing project, perhaps.
    But for myself, I'll buy annotated books, but not those scored with highlighter pens. I love to find forgotten treasures secreted between the pages, and I have a trove of those that have been left in the books where I found them to be re-discovered each time I re-read.

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  13. i wrote in the margins of a books and i regret it

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