/lit/ - Literature

>>20803459
post cum tribute

>>20803459
found this in my copy of finnegans wake I got at the used book store

>>20803562
sovl

Kinda sad when notes like this are in a used book

Read a copy of the Iliad where someone was taking notes and getting everything completely wrong

>>20803459
I once found a handwritten WW2 veteran's poem lamenting the death of his comrade in a history book on the history of the Royal Canadian Regiment

>>20803459
i found this on a second hand store

In a copy of Lolita loaned to me by a friend, I found a note in which my friend seems to admit to showering inappropriately with his half sister. I think he had forgotten the note was there, because it was written as if the reader had knowledge of the incident. I did some logics and figured that he had intended the note for somebody in his family (his mother, perhaps) so they would, after reading the book and the note, understand why the incident happened.

>>20803846
LMAO

>>20803562
based

>>20803459
Don't tell that notetaker that Augustine was African lol.

>>20803816
bet she was masturbating the whole time.

>>20803459
i think whoever owned my copy of totality and infinity before me was a bit of a schizo but man did his notes help me through that levinas class

>>20803459
No, I don't buy used books.

>>20803459
This one time I was in the used bookstore down the street and happened to catch Phenomenology of Spirit there. It was really densely underlined for the first 2-3 pages and then left untouched

>>20804724
why?

>>20803459
It's not weird but I got a used copy of Sense and Sensibility with a bunch of notes like this.

>>20803459
If I did I would throw the book in the trash

>>20803615
But did Stephen ever get his party?

>>20803562
He definitely studied it well from the looks of it.

Remember reading some goosebumps when young and some shithead kid had written spoilers in the margins

>>20803816
>Loved it
>He enjoyed it
An astute observation

>>20803816
>I liked hurting girls.
> ^ Past Tense
Wonderful observation from a 300 IQ genius. I, a lowly peasant too dumb to fathom the complexity behind even George Orwell's Animal Farm, would have never put 2 and 2 together. @ilovefairies444; you're truly a savant amongst men.

Have a copy of the Aeniad some Oxford student was using in the 70s, complete with newspaper clipping. On another note, pardon the pun, anybody ever come across a book that is obviously owned by a woman and is just filled with the most pointless dogshit notes and highlighting? I once saw a picture of the first page of Ulysses and this girl bear had a note for every single fucking word.

>>20805551
Yes, and that man was the King of /lit/ himsef.

>>20805770
I once came across a copy of The Hobbit with every paragraph summed up. Doesn't sound too strange except that some of the paragraphs (and even pages) were downright censored with black ink then rewritten in white ink on top of it. The Table of Contents and authors note pages were filled with doodles of Smaug. Shit was weird as fuck, felt cursed just holding it.

>>20803459
All I see is two pages of notes on some elaborate larp

These are the only notes in this used copy of kafka
>written after breakup w fiancé

>>20805770
>On another note, pardon the pun, anybody ever come across a book that is obviously owned by a woman and is just filled with the most pointless dogshit notes and highlighting?
Don't think it ever happened to me
Maybe the books I read are not interesting for women, idk

>>20805791
>some of the paragraphs (and even pages) were downright censored with black ink then rewritten in white ink on top of it.
what

>write something in book
>pretend somebody else did it

Good thing I read digital.

>>20803656
Maybe that's why they sold that copy. Because they realized they were wrong.

Why do people write in books? I don't care about the whole "noooo youll ruin the value!" fluff, it's just how the heck do you read a book and not retain the information you've just read? Why write out your own interpretation inside the confines of the pages instead of, you know, keeping it within your mind/imagination? It doesn't come across as smart to me, if anything I'd think the reader were a moron.

>>20803459
I was reading a library book, a piece of autobiographical fiction. In this book there was a sequence where the writer suffers a nervous breakdown, attempts suicide and is taken into an asylum for a while. The library book had penciled notes to the effect of including possible names for the doctors he dealt with based on their descriptions and an outlined paragraph describing a location in the hospital with a note in the margin saying "Impossible! There is no hallway like this there!"
So some loony who had been in the same place had made these notes.

>>20803459
I once found a postcard with a phone number in the used copy of Heart of a Dog by Bulgakov that I bought. I planned on calling after I finished the book, but I ended up really disliking it and dropping it halfway through, so I never called.

>>20806270
You simply aren't as smart as you think you are

>>20806270
Books have margins specifically so they can be written in.

>>20806279
based

I just remembered I bought an art catalogue book once and it had prices scribbled, maybe the person wanted to actually buy them

>>20803459
90% of my books are used so yes, I do. Few weeks back I found a 100 year old photograph of the previous owner that was used as a bookmark.

>>20806353
And neither are you if you can't answer a simple question.
>>20806355
Books have margins for printing.

I had some girl scribble retarded notes at middleschool level into my copy of homo faber. The single interesting note was how the plugged out eyes and anus of a dead donkey are a foreshadowing of oedipus and stomach cancer.

Ah yes, I remember this travesty when I read Kant's critique of pure reason. What an absolute mess.

>>20806620
Danish is a really funky language.

>>20806433
Some books are more complex than others, and notes on the page is extremely helpful if you need to go back and reference something.

When you stop reading YA you'll understand

>>20806270
Seems you haven't read a difficult enough book.

My copy of Mason & Dixon is like this every few pages. Shame I can't make out the handwriting 90% of the time though

>>20804724
Retard

>>20803615
found this on a "take one leave one shelf". It's a collection of miscellaneous short stories, including some kafka :(

>>20803846
What a retard for that. Also why did he write the note in lolita? Seems like he was trying to be clever

>>20803459
I write notes in shitty books when the author is especially wrong, 1-star and 2-star books get this treatment. Anything mediocre or better gets respect.

The weirdest I've seen was in an Oxford Study Bible where someone had heavily annotated and highlighted parts of The Book of Daniel but hardly anywhere else.

>>20806927
Probably preparing sermon notes or a bible study, my bibles have notes on every page

>>20806433
Actually marginal notes predate printing, wider margin books are specifically made to make notations easier to write. Technically a book doesn't need margins for printing.

>>20805546
Why? It’s still readable and adds character

>>20806972
Yep and the right notes found can be worth millions. Imagine finding preparation for a famous speech, lecture, translation, or the personal notes of a famous person.

>>20803459
>mfw people actually deface books
If you own you can do whatever, but library books? Come on.

I used to hate the idea of writing in books but now I love seeing notes in used books, no matter how retarded they are. I would never write in a book myself though.

>>20807024
Public libraries no longer exist in the west, censorship and niggers and homeless have destroyed them. But many notes in books from what used to be were put there before those books were donated. You could get fined for adding more.

>>20804799
Nta but I don’t want damaged books that others have touched. Paying $10-15 more for a brand new books isn’t a big deal. That is barely any money

>>20804746
sounds about right. i'd wager most people who say they've "read" it, only read the first couple pages and then give up. it's not a popular book. more for the elites like myself.

>>20806685
Not him but sounds like it’s you who isn’t ready for complex books

Only stick to underlining, brackets, or simple symbols myself, mostly because I hate my handwriting.

In my used copy of The Stranger there were no notes except for one word being circled: “absurd”. It was pretty kino.

>>20803459
anyone know thew source of that Augustine quote? Love reading ancient antisemitism

>>20807061
Pray tell, why would you not take notes Mr dunning-kruger?

>>20807138
Because I can retain the info and interpret it in my head

>>20803562
I can't read what's written

>>20807157
Ever read kant? Hegel? Hell, satre even ? Do you keep track of allusions and symbolism in literary fiction by authors like pynchon and gaddis?

>>20807191
I’ve read some Kant, and Hegel. Some Pynchon years ago and only The Recognitions by Gaddis. If I need to remember something I’ve previously read I just turn back to the needed passage. It’s pretty easy to remember themes, symbolism and all that. If you need to take notes because you aren’t understanding the passage, odds are you won’t understand it anyway.

>>20807259
So how do you remember what page to turn back to? No annotations? Sometimes themes, characters, etc are mentioned hundreds of pages later.

Idk anyone who can understand philosophy without taking notes and ruminating over it for a while.

Stop pretending to be a big-brain contrarian. Summer is almost over and you need to conserve some smart for high school

>>20807280
I'm glad I read history, indexes are turn me on

>>20807050
>Public libraries no longer exist in the west, censorship and niggers and homeless have destroyed them
meds
>>20807054
>That is barely any money
Depends on how much you read.

>>20807280
I just memorize the relevent passage and it's location in the book like a true intellectual. I can then contemplate the passage without needing the physical book. Simple as.

>>20807280
You don’t remember around where you read something at? Your memory is shot. Kek

>>20803459
I borrowed one of Whitley Strieber's 'nonfiction' alien abduction books from the library, I think it was the second one, and in it he makes reference to an alleged abduction case from Ontario, Canada. It involved the abductee having a subdermal implant. Someone had written additional details in the margins, correcting some of the details in the story as Strieber wrote them, as if they knew the person and had second-hand knowledge of the events.

>>20807302
If you read and finish more than 1 or 2 books a week you need to get a life.

>>20807280
>Idk anyone who can understand philosophy without taking notes and ruminating over it for a while.
Im sorry my guy, but ur brain just isnt fit to understand philosophy.

>>20806819
I remember in one of these threads a while ago had a note from a grandparent similar to this with "Love, Grandpa" at the end and it was in a used book store. baka.

>>20807310
>>20807320
Found two non-reading mfs

>>20807345
This. The writer spells it out for you and elaborates. What more are you going to add to the author that he hasn’t already said if you are taking notes because you can’t understand him? You are in above your head in reading

>>20807345
Yes a study of thought and knowledge requires no thinking. How silly of me

/lit/ actively *tries* to sound stupid.

>>20807355
The absolute cope of this post. One day you’ll understand what you read

>>20807367
Thinking yes. A lot of thinking. But note taking? Nigga you ought to be writing your own treatise using what u have learned instead

>>20807361
>>20807361

So no notes on who the philosopher is refuting? Not on others who refuted the philosopher you are currently reading? You don't put your own thoughts about what you're reading on the page?

It's laughable to claim you can just sit and read something as complicated as hegel and just he like "yep I got it." Book shut

Come on. Listen to yourself.

>>20807389
That's what I'm saying? Mayne not a treatise but writing your own thoughts, agreements, refutation etc AND taking notes simplifying things for reference. It's equally valid to take notes for literary fiction as well, for a myriad of reasons.

Big complex books (especially post-modern books) are meant to be read more than once..notes could only help.

>>20807390
No one gets Hegel in the first place. There are a million interpretations of him. I got really care about philosophy anymore except for a few guys so I don’t care about refutations. Philosophyanons are autistic and think they are going to go through refutations until they get to the end and that’s the right philosophy. Besides, the writers elaborate on other philosophers’thoughts. There are also footnotes. Just read and remember what you read. Think it over. Simple as

>annotating novels

Wut

A little prayer book i have from the late 19th century has a note from a guy who gave it to a girl in 1901

>>20806620
For all we know he has taken God tier notes Danish prick learn american

>>20807446
Did the book come out in 1900 or 1901

>>20808977
no, late 19th century release, very early 20th century someone gave it to someone else, it was either 1902 or 1912, i can't remember

>>20805538
I read a book which had pretty similar notes
just few words on the top and on the bottom of the page and few lines on the side

it was a Swann's Way copy from my high school library
that other guy finished reading the book in 1985
i finished it in 2019/2020
I'm pretty sure we're the only two students who ever read that book

>>20806873
He commonly used literature or film to justify his degenerate behaviour. I lived with him and another mate for a while and the latter and I realised quickly that this man was a pathetic gollum-like creature who was guilty of all 7 deadly sins and most of the commandments and yet he went to church and professed to be a Christian. He would preach to us about morality and then get high and talk about anal sex and 'gaping'. He claimed to have a 145 IQ and really believed he was a special little boy. Perhaps he was special, since I'm still talking this fool 10 years later.

>>20803615
They're just books. What's sad is people getting sentimental over objects.

>>20803459
My copy of Scrutons 'Beauty' had a comment for every time he mentioned a male example or a male author (He frequently mentions names throughout the book, none of them female)

But the comments stopped about 1/5th through the book, so I guess she gave up :-)

>>20810136
he sounds like a based hypocritical chad

I used to colour code highlight in early secondary school. I would create entire pages of nauseating chemicals. It looked like a clown jizzed in my books. I too sometimes questioned my heterosexuality.

The old bitch who lives two doors down from me has my copy of Pale Fire that my parents bought and wrote a note in for me. I've asked for it back and she doesn't remember me giving it to her.

To my dear ????
This book she made me discover and that I liked so much

Jan 22

>>20810719
Suzete, non?

>>20805631
based

>>20810136
What an interesting character

>>20810088
Proust might be one author particularly unsuited for high schoolers. I'm surprised anyone had finished it at all. Well done to you though, anon. It's fantastic.

I'm almost looking forward to re-reading it in my 50s.

>>20810942
I didn't finish it all, also because high school (lycaeum) was really really though and I wasn't performing well lol
So at that time I just read Swann's Way and part of In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
I was 19
yeah few people were reading books for enjoyment in high school and Proust isn't a read for inexperienced people
I was happy to see that someone else of about my age read that same pages thirty years earlier

I'll be back at Proust as soon as I finish the book I'm currently reading

>>20806972
>>20806993

>>20803615
lol ;_;

>>20803615
>>20812990
Some people are too cheap to buy a card.

>>20812990
>wrote on the case
I glad she dumped him.

Good evening fellow bargain shoppers and cringe connoisseurs.

>>20803816
>dude, I've seen smart people do this!

>>20806270
I write in a book because it's mine and I want to put the stamp of impression on it. like a dog weeing on a lamp-post. Its mine and I want to put what the book caused me to think on it, for my own sake. like graffiti'ing the colosseum or something. or even a public toilet. And when I get a second hand book of unknown provenance, I love seeing the writing in the margin, and I love the people that wrote it. And I value that more than the contents of the book sometimes.

>>20813094
I like writing in books but I would be probably annoyed if I bought book highlighted by someone else.
It would be like reading spoilers, or some other person interpretation of book before I even finished it, or like reading book after watching movie and entire imagery is not your own

>>20803459
I don't buy used books.

>>20813149
Anyone who uses a highlighter needs it shoved up their ass.

>>20813057
Robert and Ryan were the best of buttbuddies, it seems

>>20813174
Why?

>>20813149
I think highlighting is rude, because it interrupts the flow of the eyes. and all notes should be done in pencil, not pen, you should allow the people after you the opportunity to erase your notes if they want. But messages in the front of the book are allowed to be written in pen

>>20813209
In practice, it's a mindless habit better served by one of these, judging by watching retards in college who did it. You know what helps you remember definitions and quotes really well? Writing them down and reviewing them on their own.

>>20810136
Gaping? Also you ever confront him on his bullshit?

>>20813002
Game is more expensive then a card though

>>20811074
Where are you from anon?

I have a similar story with Proust. My father's Godmother had a pianist son who committed suicide. When she passed away my father got all the books.
Couple years later I found myself reading Swan's way with a lot of notes about music in Proust. Felt weird.
I wonder if someone will see through my notes on the last chapter, I have a few.

>>20813408
He enjoyed watching anal porn in which you see a gaping arsehole. He would rave on and on about it. I did confront him, but then he would have a cry and hide away for several days. It's weird living in a house with somebody who's hiding from you. I could hear him waiting at his door, listening for an opportunity to use the toilet or something. It's funny for a while and then it gets sad and pathetic, so I'd invite him to play games and he would smile from ear to ear. Those were the best times. He'd be on his best behaviour for a week or so, making food to share and buying cigarettes for us. Usually he would go to church that Sunday and come back vowing to be a good Christian. Never lasted long.

Oh, also, when he moved out he left some stuff behind, including a shoe box containing a big black dildo and lacy underwear. Lol.

>>20807050
Rent free

>>20803459
The best one I got was that someone misspelled Nietzsche as NIZITHITH in my copy of crime and punishment

>>20803459
Yes, in 7th grade 1996 or so. Michael Crichton's Congo. Chicken scratch handwriting that said "meet me by the high school doors after school".

Figured it was the stocky half Mexican, half Shoshone that was always trying to put one over on me, the big kid. Tossed that shit right in the trash. Not today Jeremy!

Riding by on the bus I see the prettiest girl in my class standing by those doors all alone. Looked through the homework pile the next day and confirmed she had really bad handwriting.

My copy of Don Quixote has a bunch of jokes relating to the text in the margin, like a commentary as it goes along. Its kinda cute.

>>20813796
>Where are you from anon?
Northern Italy, on Como lake

so the notes were from the pianist son? ;-;
damn that must have been a weird feeling

sometimes I wonder how the guy who wrote the notes I read is doing
he must be ~50 years old now

>I wonder if someone will see through my notes on the last chapter, I have a few.
maybe yeah
if you have any children/nephews and they like literature they may eventually get to read those notes
otherwise i don't know.. who knows where will our books go when we will no longer be..
I think that since it's a good book it will definitely go in good hands! :)