Ramblings: Underlining Passages

[Shwenn]

Does anybody else here do it?

I just did it last night. A passage from "The Music of Chance" by Paul Auster. It was a phenomenal piece of writing that cowed me as a writer, myself.

What is the point of doing that, though? I always feel amused when people clap in a movie theater. Not one person involved in making the movie will hear that applause. It seems so ridiculous to me.

But, underlining passages in books is the literary equivalent of clapping in a theater.

I can only rememeber one time I revisited such a passage. It was from "All the Pretty Horses," a scene from the prison infirmary.

Underlining passages in books just seems so pointless but I just can't stop myself from doing it.

I like to buy used books almost solely based on the markings of previous readers. It makes reading feel more like a shared experience. And I do seel books to such stores when I'm running out of space on my bookshelves. So, perhaps others have seen my markings and felt my presence. That alone may be worth it.

Thoughts?

 

[tickledkitty]

I almost never write in books. I enjoy the crisp, pristine pages far too much. I don't even like to write in books that are meant to be written in.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

The last thing I remember underlining, aside from college textbooks, were the "good parts" in Judy Blume's Forever.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Writing in books? Aaargh! What sacrilege. I still get cross with the SO when he bends the paperbacks back and leaves a crease on the spine.

OK, sr is right, I'm anally retentive.

 

[tickledkitty]

The last thing I remember underlining, aside from college textbooks, were the "good parts" in Judy Blume's Forever.

God, I loved Judy Blume. My favorite was Deenie.

 

[sweetness6280]

Does anybody else here do it?

I just did it last night. A passage from "The Music of Chance" by Paul Auster. It was a phenomenal piece of writing that cowed me as a writer, myself.

What is the point of doing that, though? I always feel amused when people clap in a movie theater. Not one person involved in making the movie will hear that applause. It seems so ridiculous to me.

But, underlining passages in books is the literary equivalent of clapping in a theater.

I can only rememeber one time I revisited such a passage. It was from "All the Pretty Horses," a scene from the prison infirmary.

Underlining passages in books just seems so pointless but I just can't stop myself from doing it.

I like to buy used books almost solely based on the markings of previous readers. It makes reading feel more like a shared experience. And I do seel books to such stores when I'm running out of space on my bookshelves. So, perhaps others have seen my markings and felt my presence. That alone may be worth it.

Thoughts?

I underline, circle, highlight, and write notes in the margins. This makes it a shared experience for me, even if no one else reads it. It also helps me to clarify what I'm experiencing. I also find it interesting to re-read something, and see how my thoughts have changed over time.

Does it matter if the creator of a piece (any medium) hears the applause or sees the comments? When a piece touches you in some way, that experience is at once shared and completely private.

I love picking up a book in which someone else has marked. It does extend that shared experience.

I almost never write in books. I enjoy the crisp, pristine pages far too much. I don't even like to write in books that are meant to be written in.

Writing in books? Aaargh! What sacrilege. I still get cross with the SO when he bends the paperbacks back and leaves a crease on the spine.

OK, sr is right, I'm anally retentive.

LOL, I don't like the look of the pristine pages. I like a book to be worn, tag-eared, and marked up, like an old friend with whom I have had many conversations.

 

[Shwenn]

Does it matter if the creator of a piece (any medium) hears the applause or sees the comments? When a piece touches you in some way, that experience is at once shared and completely private.

Thank you for that. That is the idea I wanted to hear from somebody else.

Even if nobody hears the praise, it still means something to give it.

I still think it is silly but it is very true.

 

[epiphany65]

I've only underlined or made notes in non-fiction books, but I do it a lot. Yearsago I loaned a book I'd done this in to a friend. When he returned it he had added his own... I was soooo pissed and have never loaned him a book since. He has asked to borrow one and I gave it to him rather than have it returned befouled with his ramblings.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

One of my best friends died two years ago from breast-metastasized-to-bone cancer, and I inherited all of her books. She was an underliner - and it was incredibly moving to go through to see which parts of these books had touched her enough to make her mark them.

Sometimes folks do hear the applause after all.