I just had a weird respect (and deep love) for books ever since I was a small child.

One of the most pleasing things in the world is when I buy an old book and inside I find an old, relevant newspaper cutting that a previous owner has left there - it's something I do myself regularly.

A couple more, if I may be so bold:

Full Circle: Shakespeare and Moral Development by Alan Hobson

The Progress of the Soul by Richard E Hughes (a biography of JOhn Donne)

I like buying old books that obviously were given to someone as a gift, but they sold them or someone was studying it. At this second-hand bookstore I go to, I bought a copy of The Iliad and inside is all of these notes scrawled about. It's really interesting.

I find nothing more irritating than people who've used a book to study and have underlined sections in pen, as with my recently acquired second-hand copy of Kierkegaards 'concluding unscientific postscript' which is very good. Thanks for your query.

It's only really annoying to me if the writing gets in the way of the text. I just liked that this guy's notes simplified it a bit.

I have a used copy of Thomas Pynchon's V and it is full of somebody's notes, underlined passages, comments, it's interesting.

Yep....peoples notes are pretty interesting for the most part but they can annoy in equal measures as well. I would be interested to read anyones notes on V though.

I was going to buy a copy of Ulysses by James Joyce with notes in it, and decided not to. Now I wish I had.

I've got a couple of Shakespeare's plays with old observations in. I find them quite interesting, all in all.

i have the last days of pompei, 1887 edition

I read/have that....horrible title though.

Oh and read Alive! It's a good book and insane.

my friend's dad has a copy of Rules for Radicals and lots of stuff is underlined... he was clearly a budding activist in his day... i study publishing and our tutor has a deep respect for books... he actually finds spine bending in paperbacks contemptible... he once told us that books are sacred items... he's quite a cool guy although i find him slightly intimidating for reasons beyond my ken

Maybe because he finds spine bending contemptible.....that's scary. He might whack you one if yr textbook is a bit dogeared.

maybe he is perfectionist. as much as i like to keep, my books and records in as good condition as possible they always end up getting tattered and old before their time looking.

i do bend spines.

Yeah...you can't really help it can you? I won't crack a spine for fun but y'know, somtimes you need to open it up to read the words and stuff.

This book is unfortunately fiction (or is it?)

but it's damn good

 

Get In The Van by Henry Rollins - journaled his tours with black flag, great reading and some nice poetry as well.

Air Conditoned Nightmare by Henry Miller - Miller returns to USA after being expatriated to france and travels the country dissecting out culture in mid 40's, MUST READ!!!

I like Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl.

And, lets see how many people I can piss off with this one, the Bible is a great nonfiction too.

Before things get too heavy, this "nonfiction book" is a laugh.



I'm a proud owner.

To echo the sentiments of several of you, I like when people make notations in texts - it somehow personalizes them.

While I can appreciate the value of a book as a collector's item, to me, books are tools, meant to be handled and used. If I buy a book secondhand, I correlate the owner's love of the book with the severity of the book's wear. As long as it's still legible, I don't care.

Noumenal, just because I'm a geek, doesn't mean I'm a fastidious geek :p

Stargirl's one of my favorites