QotW - Writing in Books

[Eru]

Now I'm sure we all write in notebooks but do you write in the books you read? Maybe you highlight a few passages you like? Maybe you think writing in books is strictly forbidden?

[Lomadia]

I always write in my books for school. It's important to read actively and make sure your brain is not only processing the reading but also thinking for itself.
For free-reading books, it depends. I sometimes make notes on post-its or on the blank pages in the back. But I'm still making the transition into writing at all in most of my homebooks.

[Mineralady1]

I write in & highlight, in some cases, in most of my books; textbooks, reference & pleasure reading as well! It started in college & has just become a regular part of my reading behavior! I find that it enhances my comprehension & aids my recall greatly. Much of the time what I write is is a paraphrasing of salient points in the text. When reading science books it assists in getting a working grasp on a concept. In the case of pleasure reading it helps to clarify relationships in a complicated story such as LotR. For the Sil I used Venn diagrams to try to untangle the relationships, especially Feanor, Finwe & the rest of that bunch whose names begin with' F' as well as a pack of crib cards which I still use. It has all grown out of the 'writing in my book' habit. The main thing that you learn in College is how to learn. I only wish the internet had been developed more fully when I was in college back in the 80's. It is such a great research tool & I use it everyday to find whatever I want to know about anything. AND IT ALL STARTS W/READING & writing in my books! I have to remind my self to not write in the library's books. I owe enough fines for getting them back late! The Post-it Notes are useful too! Mineralady

[Eru]

I tend not to write in fiction books because I like to read them over and over and each reading get a fresh prespective. If I'd written in them my notes would probably remind me of what's going to happen next and then I'd remember the "whole" story and not bother to read.

I do write in many non-fiction books that I study. I write in my Bible. Most of my writing in books is changing to highlighting, underlining, and circling - looks less cluttered that way.

[spiritmage]

Very occasionally I do but then it is generally just highlighting .
It's something I rarely think about doing and for some books I would never do it .

[Erineth]

I don't like writing in books at all. But sometimes I write into my school books, especially literature - sometimes it is not easy to find out what is the poem about, so when someone tells, I write it immmediately

[Lomadia]

This thread reminds me of a really excellent Billy Collins poem called 'Marginalia,' about the different notes he has found in book margins. It's from his book "Picnic, Lightning."

[varda]

I do it sometimes. Either highlighting or writing in pencil.

[Goblinglow]

Pretty much never, and I mean almost never. Funny though, I've written in a few school books before, but they were tiny marks and I've always erased them.

[ania]

Sometimes I write in books I'm sharing with others, such as a book I'm lending a friend, making some joke about what just happened. It's as if I'm there with them