This is NOT a debate/discussion on whether you should write/annotate directly on your books.
I’m doing some spring cleaning and found a bunch of old books that either I bought, someone else gifted to me, or magically self-conjured itself in my house that I have never read. My current philosophy on books is that I will ONLY buy a book if I know that I would want to keep it forever. So either books I’ve read and loved in the past or those that I’m 99% sure that I’ll love. Then however I annotate them will be solely for me. But these basement books I’ve found—I have no idea if I would like them or not. If by the end I don’t feel like keeping some of them, I would probs donate them to the local free libraries or resell them for pennies or something. How would you feel if you got a second hand book with notes from the previous owner? Would that be overly annoying? Should I just use sticky notes or hold off on the annotations until I’m sure which books I’m going to keep?
by zsaszagabor
3 Comments
I love when I find books with annotations! As long as they don’t completely cover the text, it’s a fun part of second hand book shopping and gives so much personality to a book. I love thinking about who read it before, and following along with the thoughts and notes they left — it’s almost like a built in buddy read.
Annotated books are fun! It’s like having a buddy reading along with you. I don’t always agree with the notations, but it adds a layer of interest in the book seeing what someone else thought of particular passages
I would not buy or even want to read a borrowed book that someone else had drawn or written on, unless that person was someone famous (actual famous, not internet-famous) for writing and/or drawing fabulously interesting things.
I’ve done it in the past when I absolutely needed the book and couldn’t afford a clean copy, and at their absolute best, the annotations were a minor nuisance. I don’t think I ever saw any that I found helpful, or insightful, or clever.