This was so fun to read! Thank you so much for featuring me and my friends. It gave me a nice excuse to go through my books and read our marginalia. I have very fond memories stored in those pages.
Both a form of expression and exploration, I love what marginalia reveal about the authors. Expressive "doodles" also show up in the carved "mercy seats" of medieval churches. Search "misericords" if you're unfamiliar. The bottoms of the seats were the margins for the woodworkers! (In case this feels irrelevant, I should explain that my hubby is a furniture maker. @mcbegfurniture Ha!)
Thank you for this post Jillian; I love the idea of arguing or having a conversation with a book! I always make notes in books, ever since I studied English literature, and love it when I come across notes made years ago and trying to figure out what I was thinking about. Also, is it just me that loves the word 'Marginalia'?? : )
Jillian, you have earned your spot in my Monday routine and I always enjoy the ride you take us on. Lotsa observations from today
(1) Imagine the SHEER ARROGANCE of a person to be WRITING IN THE MARGIN of a 13th Century book while "marginalized" people are transcribing them by hand and producing what we often consider masterpieces. (Couldn't resist marginalized). I write in my books sometimes but not a steady habit. I love the range of behavior!
(2) Listened to the Gates snippet. I love he was torn whether to read Infinite Jest b/c of the length and breadth of the writing AND his self-imposed rule of HAVING TO FINISH any book he starts! Structure and rules work but a dollop of flexibility probably wouldn't hurt also. I made a passing reference to David Foster Wallace and Infinite Jest in an old post. The book is fantastic despite Bill's angst.
(3) It is a tribute to how much language has changed over the Centuries when one of your subjects (Coleridge) established a dedicated token || to mean sublimity. This implies he was observing sublimity frequently enough to justify a shorthand.
(4) The back and forth between readers commenting on each other's comments is an early form of long-thread texting.
Oh of course other people do this! I just hadn't thought about it.
I got into a wee bit of trouble doing this once. It was a spiritual book and in the margins I wrote about a negative experience with a particular friend (to help anchor the lesson in for myself) and then I promptly forgot, lent the book TO SAID FRIEND and it turns it she say the situation differently to me, and there were words. hehe.
An absolutely fascinating post, Jillian - what a great read!
And wow - 'S' - what an extraordinary idea! I remember analysing male vs female graffiti for a study when I was at university, and a great deal of the female graffiti I found in my research (in obvious yet unhygienic locations) was essentially conversations which developed between strangers over successive visits to the cubicle in question. The conversation pictured in 'Ship of Theseus' has taken me right back there!
I thoroughly empathize with Fermat! Sometimes, the margins are simply not large enough. Especially if you are arguing with the author, ugh! :-D Delightful read as always. Thank you!
All I could think of reading this is the Billy Collins poem Marginalia. One of the best endings of them all: “Pardon the egg salad stains but I’m in love”
Just came across this, love it, and I'm looking forward to catching up with all of your pieces.
One thing, and I'm sorry if this is stating the obvious, repeating someone else's comment, nitpicking (or all of the above!), but surely Coleridge's "2" is really a "Q" for "quaintness"
Love this article. Personally the thought of writing in a fiction book fills me with horror as the enjoyment for me comes with becoming lost in the flow and escaping to another world. Taking time to dissect, comment and annotate just feels wrong. But if I find a really good non fiction reference book that I know I want to keep (cooking, pattern, textbooks, self help etc) I am quite happily scribble all over it and some of the annotation code ideas here are great.
I am nobody more than a common reader, and my heart rejoiced when I discovered here that my own system of underlines, boxes and clouds; asterisks and arrows, question- and exclamation marks, occasional comments; does not differ, in principle, from what the great doodled in the margins.
For several years I read quite a lot on an e-reader (not a Kindle; an *.epub compatible device), bewitched with its handiness, capacity and mobility. When recently I resumed buying printed books, I approached them with a pencil in hand, and since then it has become as indispensable reading utensil as the bedside lamp.
Bill Gates reminded me of what we are insidiously loosing: attention span. Allot yourself a decent, continuous chunk of time for a single reading session.
(I came across a link to this post in a newsletter from Brad Listi, the host of “otherppl” podcast. The title has caught my attention, and I do not regret. A compelling niche of writing!)
This was so fun to read! Thank you so much for featuring me and my friends. It gave me a nice excuse to go through my books and read our marginalia. I have very fond memories stored in those pages.
Both a form of expression and exploration, I love what marginalia reveal about the authors. Expressive "doodles" also show up in the carved "mercy seats" of medieval churches. Search "misericords" if you're unfamiliar. The bottoms of the seats were the margins for the woodworkers! (In case this feels irrelevant, I should explain that my hubby is a furniture maker. @mcbegfurniture Ha!)
Thank you for this post Jillian; I love the idea of arguing or having a conversation with a book! I always make notes in books, ever since I studied English literature, and love it when I come across notes made years ago and trying to figure out what I was thinking about. Also, is it just me that loves the word 'Marginalia'?? : )
Jillian, you have earned your spot in my Monday routine and I always enjoy the ride you take us on. Lotsa observations from today
(1) Imagine the SHEER ARROGANCE of a person to be WRITING IN THE MARGIN of a 13th Century book while "marginalized" people are transcribing them by hand and producing what we often consider masterpieces. (Couldn't resist marginalized). I write in my books sometimes but not a steady habit. I love the range of behavior!
(2) Listened to the Gates snippet. I love he was torn whether to read Infinite Jest b/c of the length and breadth of the writing AND his self-imposed rule of HAVING TO FINISH any book he starts! Structure and rules work but a dollop of flexibility probably wouldn't hurt also. I made a passing reference to David Foster Wallace and Infinite Jest in an old post. The book is fantastic despite Bill's angst.
(3) It is a tribute to how much language has changed over the Centuries when one of your subjects (Coleridge) established a dedicated token || to mean sublimity. This implies he was observing sublimity frequently enough to justify a shorthand.
(4) The back and forth between readers commenting on each other's comments is an early form of long-thread texting.
Some beautiful ideas here! Also, I feel less strange knowing so many of your readers also like to write in books!
Oh, I'd never seen Coleridge's notation system before — love!
Oh of course other people do this! I just hadn't thought about it.
I got into a wee bit of trouble doing this once. It was a spiritual book and in the margins I wrote about a negative experience with a particular friend (to help anchor the lesson in for myself) and then I promptly forgot, lent the book TO SAID FRIEND and it turns it she say the situation differently to me, and there were words. hehe.
An absolutely fascinating post, Jillian - what a great read!
And wow - 'S' - what an extraordinary idea! I remember analysing male vs female graffiti for a study when I was at university, and a great deal of the female graffiti I found in my research (in obvious yet unhygienic locations) was essentially conversations which developed between strangers over successive visits to the cubicle in question. The conversation pictured in 'Ship of Theseus' has taken me right back there!
I thoroughly empathize with Fermat! Sometimes, the margins are simply not large enough. Especially if you are arguing with the author, ugh! :-D Delightful read as always. Thank you!
This is the greatest, Jillian! As a devout scribbler of notes in margins, I’m adding to my repertoire of marks because of this post! Thank you!
Delighted that you included S. in this post, my son discovered that book when he was in high school! I've never read it but I think I'd like to now.
All I could think of reading this is the Billy Collins poem Marginalia. One of the best endings of them all: “Pardon the egg salad stains but I’m in love”
Just came across this, love it, and I'm looking forward to catching up with all of your pieces.
One thing, and I'm sorry if this is stating the obvious, repeating someone else's comment, nitpicking (or all of the above!), but surely Coleridge's "2" is really a "Q" for "quaintness"
Such a great skill
Love this article. Personally the thought of writing in a fiction book fills me with horror as the enjoyment for me comes with becoming lost in the flow and escaping to another world. Taking time to dissect, comment and annotate just feels wrong. But if I find a really good non fiction reference book that I know I want to keep (cooking, pattern, textbooks, self help etc) I am quite happily scribble all over it and some of the annotation code ideas here are great.
I am nobody more than a common reader, and my heart rejoiced when I discovered here that my own system of underlines, boxes and clouds; asterisks and arrows, question- and exclamation marks, occasional comments; does not differ, in principle, from what the great doodled in the margins.
For several years I read quite a lot on an e-reader (not a Kindle; an *.epub compatible device), bewitched with its handiness, capacity and mobility. When recently I resumed buying printed books, I approached them with a pencil in hand, and since then it has become as indispensable reading utensil as the bedside lamp.
Bill Gates reminded me of what we are insidiously loosing: attention span. Allot yourself a decent, continuous chunk of time for a single reading session.
(I came across a link to this post in a newsletter from Brad Listi, the host of “otherppl” podcast. The title has caught my attention, and I do not regret. A compelling niche of writing!)