It is okay to dog ear pages. It is okay to draw in books. Doodles. Margin notes. Highlights. Books are to be interacted with, argued with, marked, loved. A book belongs to the reader as much as the writer. The reader should let the book know they exist.
Matt Haig
4 thoughts on “What you can do to books – Matt Haig QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)”
If you were to draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa, you’d be directly defacing the unique work of art itself. When someone scribbles in the margins of a book, unless it’s a rare edition, they’re writing on the medium through which the work is delivered. The work itself is not affected (there’ll still be plenty of pristine copies left).
True, but not in MY collection. And that’s what I choose to treat as art. I don’t mind what other people do to their books, but my own are far too precious to me for marking up or bending page corners. Like my family and my animals, I can love them without damaging them. At least not on purpose. 🙂 But that’s just me.
Hmmm. Interesting idea, and probably okay for some, I guess, but not for me. To me, books are works of art and I would no sooner write in them than I would draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Sorry. Can’t do it. I do pick them up now and then and pet the covers, but that’s about as abusive as I get. 🙂
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
If you were to draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa, you’d be directly defacing the unique work of art itself. When someone scribbles in the margins of a book, unless it’s a rare edition, they’re writing on the medium through which the work is delivered. The work itself is not affected (there’ll still be plenty of pristine copies left).
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Agreed 👍
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True, but not in MY collection. And that’s what I choose to treat as art. I don’t mind what other people do to their books, but my own are far too precious to me for marking up or bending page corners. Like my family and my animals, I can love them without damaging them. At least not on purpose. 🙂 But that’s just me.
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Hmmm. Interesting idea, and probably okay for some, I guess, but not for me. To me, books are works of art and I would no sooner write in them than I would draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Sorry. Can’t do it. I do pick them up now and then and pet the covers, but that’s about as abusive as I get. 🙂
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