We need more annotated books in the world

Submitted by mankieblanx t3_118j94y in books

I bought a used copy of Caraval by Stephanie Garber off of a second hand book site for really cheap. It came in today and while flipping through it, I noticed the previous owner marked different colored highlighters on the back page, but no guide as to what they mean. I then found multiple pages with highlighted lines!

I’m ecstatic! I can’t wait to read this book and find out which lines were worth the previous owner highlighting. It feels like I’m reading right alongside someone.

Annotating is such a fun thing to do, it’s amazing to go back to a book you forgot about and relive what parts made you feel a certain way. We need more annotated books! I wish there was an easier way to buy annotated secondhand books. This is a delight.

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zxyzyxz t1_j9hha4n wrote

You do you but personally I hate writing in, highlighting, or otherwise modifying books, including folding pages.

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keesouth t1_j9hwmov wrote

Same. I also don't want other people's thoughts when I read a book. I want to read a book without being influenced or tainted by someone else's notes.

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mankieblanx OP t1_j9hkuk5 wrote

I was the same way so I totally feel you! Some books are just too precious to mark. I’m so thankful they made transparent sticky notes for this purpose

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okiegirl22 t1_j9hldzn wrote

I find the annotations made by previous owners really distracting and avoid them at all costs when I’m buying used books.

Love professionally annotated editions, though!

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crinklepop t1_j9iwdl6 wrote

I find my own annotations distracting when I’m rereading a book! I only annotate cheap paperbacks for uni and I’ve one or two novels I’ll eventually replace with unflagged/scribbled on copies because I just want to reread the stories.

Even professional annotations are sometimes annoying. Sometimes they’re really helpful but Ive come across a handful which spoil later parts of the book. Why?!

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Blue_Eyed_Biker t1_j9iqjc2 wrote

Same here! I recently had a library book with someone's annotations and it put me right off!

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SickSadWorld1005 t1_j9k5s9a wrote

Same. The used bookstore where I sell my books actually won't accept them for resale. Understandably so. I also have zero interest in doing any annotating myself.

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DeerTheDeer t1_j9hsti0 wrote

I love annotating!

You might really enjoy reading “S” / “The Ship of Theseus.” The annotations are a part of the story.

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lowleveldata t1_j9ig12m wrote

That book is way beyond annotations with all the notes and attachments come with it. It is so much fun.

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iufgv t1_j9igvv3 wrote

I just got this one! I flipped through it a little, and I’m stoked to start it!

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AlunWeaver t1_j9hiekq wrote

When I was 12 I bought a copy of The Communist Manifesto for fifty cents at a library book sale. I knew that this was a book you were Not Supposed to Read so the allure was irresistible.

What I chiefly remember is the elaborate marginalia, obviously provided by a right-wing critic. It was all in green highlighter: because while he had started off using it to highlight passages he found particularly risible, he eventually took to using it to write his own withering critique along certain passages.

I wish I still owned that book. As I've grown older the political aspect of it interests me less and less, but reading one man's personal and wholly Quixotic crusade against Marx and Engels was actually pretty damn entertaining.

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Augerill t1_j9ikqhr wrote

I buy a lot of used books and I always get really excited to see someone has written in, underlined or highlighted in a book. It feel like a really special connection to a stranger :)

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sproutkitten t1_j9hzl2z wrote

Love annotated used books. Also love finding old bookmarks and inscriptions🥲

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WendellSanders01 t1_j9hxe61 wrote

You could just go to used bookstores and find them that way.

Books that contain writing and marks on the pages lower the book's value though.

I find them a lot at library bookstores where the books are usually sold at low prices

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icetslovechild t1_j9hr8ge wrote

My high school English teacher lent me her copy of Slaughterhouse-Five, and I couldn’t even give it back to her because of how many notes I’d made in the margins. Fortunately she was so excited I liked the book that she just let me keep it!

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ShoutingTurtle t1_j9ngd73 wrote

Very cool for a teacher to reinforce the joy of reading in students.

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Defaultkh t1_j9irp3v wrote

I would get annoyed to read someone's annotation and I also don't write into my books. 🤷

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JeanVicquemare t1_j9hmhyc wrote

Some people really love annotations in books. Personally, I don't write in my books or dog-ear them or anything, I take notes separately in a Google doc. Sorry, you can't read it!

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iso_lotus71 t1_j9i7inl wrote

John Adams was a legendary annotator. I do the same thing in my books: notes, highlights. The pristine-ness of certain books I do want to preserve but many of my non-fiction books are marked up with no pangs of guilt.

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little-birdbrain-72 t1_j9xbc59 wrote

I've never been one to annotate beyond highlighting or underlining passages that resonate with me. I wish I was a more in-depth annotator. I've got an old used copy of Mansfield Park that someone annotated. It's one of my favorite books I own.

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TheInvisibleWun2 t1_j9hznml wrote

I don't deface books and I never make notes. I just think about them.

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stefsnacks t1_j9joshg wrote

I thought I hated annotating books (me personally - to each their own! Not about respect to books, more about feeling like I was forcing myself to make notes and not just focusing on the book) til I read a self-help book - those, I really loved making highlights in.

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LFLreader t1_j9jwk54 wrote

No. I got caught up in highlighting and underlining in bible studies. I didn't realize the mistake until I purchased a new bible. I could read the same passage once and get a understanding concerning it. Then read the same passage two years later, and have a whole different concept in its meaning because of the added understanding of the previous chapters that I had missed the first time reading.

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T_86 t1_j9jx0at wrote

I used to love highlighting my favourite parts and sometimes adding notes. It was so much fun when I’d reread a book to see what younger me thought was so noteworthy. When I met my husband part of what drew us together was that we’re both book lovers. However, he hated that I did this. He likes to buy expensive editions and keep his books in perfect condition. I’ve learned to somewhat do the same. It took awhile for me to get used to not writing in my books but now it’s interestingly something I don’t consider doing at all.

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Hollandvk t1_j9jzu9v wrote

I used to annotate books I was reading (using post-its) and pass them along to my sisters when finished. It was our way of having a book club and accommodating very different reading speeds. It's very fun to see what people were thinking while reading.

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Aggie_Engineer_24601 t1_j9kbr4n wrote

I’ll annotate sticky notes and put them on the relevant parts.

I do have a three part New Testament commentary my late grandfather had that he annotated. It’s interesting to see how he changed over the years and how different life experiences impacted him. It was also interesting to see his disagreements with the author.

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Specialist_Ad_9613 t1_j9kfy94 wrote

I’m reading some old letters from the Ottoman Empire for a class and the previous reader’s annotations have been super useful to find interesting details and help me follow along.

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LiteraryReadIt t1_j9rjyof wrote

That's how I got through War & Peace the first time; someone with really nice handwriting annotated mini paragraphs worth of notes in the margins and they really helped me get through the book.

If you want some recommendations for professional annotations, I loved The Annotated Alice. It has annotations for both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in a single copy. Well-researched, probably because it went through several editions each time the publisher found new information to add to it.

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MountainSnowClouds t1_j9xck5w wrote

I love annotating. I always mean to keep a journal, but never do it. Annotating has been a different sort of way for me to preserve a past version of myself between pages.

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WayneConrad t1_j9k9h9q wrote

My religion growing up was books. Books were sacred and precious in my family. Books let me learn things I never could on my own and go places I couldn't go. For my working class family of mill workers and mariners and shop keepers, they were excited to have a book learner in the family who might be able to earn a living with their mind, and they kept me in books. But it would have been sacrilege to deface a book in any way.

I know intellectually that books are not sacred, but I can't get past my upbringing.

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ColaEuphoria t1_j9kbgvy wrote

I disagree violently. Writing in books ruins them completely. If you must keep track of anything use a notepad.

Imagine buying a used Blu Ray and a heart emoji appeared on screen every now and again. You wouldn't feel "connected" with the previous owner in any way by seeing what their favorite scenes were. You'd just want to slap them for, objectively, ruining the movie completely and utterly.

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