Guest Post: Scribbling in Books

Thanks to my friend Mary for the following guest post:

"There is something that's always bothered me, but I recently found out that not everyone feels this way -- some even find it charming. I wonder how other readers out there feel about reading a library or other borrowed book, and coming across little marks or scribbled words written by a previous reader. For instance, someone may have underlined one word (usually but not always in pencil), or perhaps corrected a spelling or punctuation error. Or, worst of all, written in a little comment or maybe just a word, often cryptic, in the margin. I find that annoying and distracting. It pulls me right out of the moment, and makes me aware of some other person and his pencil, rather than the voice I am hearing in the novel. Of course, if a person wants to do that to his own book, that's fine. But to write in a book that others might read, and especially a library book, seems rude and self-indulgent. Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just a curmudgeon?"