One of the comments I often get from people who have read my book ROMAN Reading is “I could never write in my books.” It’s hard to get people to understand the value and pleasure of writing comments, thoughts and reactions in their books. But now I have a book to recommend to them: Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books by H. J. Jackson.
I found this book in the Notre Dame bookstore, and I couldn’t be more excited to read it. From the back cover: Continue reading
Stefanie at So Many Books has just posted a review of ROMAN Reading and it’s generating some great comments about marking in books. Here’s one by Whatladder that I particularly like:
My husband claims that his favourite book ever is the copy of the Norton Anthology of Poetry I gave him that had all my pencilled notes in it.
One of the most important skills in reading well is marking the text. Mortimer Adler gives an excellent introduction to writing in books in his essay “How to Mark a Book.” Here are a few quotes, followed by my thoughts:
You know you have to read “between the lines” to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to write between the lines. Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.