My tiny, barely-there marginalia. Photo: Jonathan Liu
A year ago I shared with you my geeky resolution: to start writing in the margins of my books. I really thought I’d be able to do it, no problem. I wanted to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind in my own personal library, something that would let future readers follow my path and maybe get a few glimpses at what was going on in my head as I read a particular book.
Well, so much for that.
That photo up above is one of the few times in 2011 that I actually took out a pen and wrote in a book. It’s from The Illumination, which I reviewed in February. But aside from a handful of markings in that book and maybe a couple more later on in Welcome to Utopia, I think that’s all I managed to do.
Here are my excuses: I didn’t always have a pen handy. I read a lot of young adult and middle grade fiction, which didn’t inspire a lot of note-taking. The times I did remember to have a pen handy, I usually scribbled down notes on a scrap of paper, for use when I reviewed the book, and then tossed the paper afterward. I know, pretty flimsy excuses. But it did get me thinking that this year I hope to read some more non-fiction, stuff that might teach me something. We’ll see how that goes.
So, after starting the year with the best of intentions, I’m giving up on this particular resolution. It didn’t happen, but I don’t feel much the worse for it. If any vaguely-defined future readers really want to find out what I thought of a book, they can just Google me and read my review instead.
