Claire’s Corner

Posted on | March 26, 2010 | 15 Comments

Apologies for my absence; I have been a bad blogger this week but I intend to fully catch up on blog comments, reviews and reading your blogs over the weekend. I was at home in Glasgow, had a lovely time with family and friends, but ever since the train rolled across the border it has been one disaster after another … suffice to say, I am glad that the week is over.

Anyway, on to bookish things and a miscellany that is again end-of-week as opposed to midweek. How do people feel about annotating books? I tend not to like it; I can understand the convenience of it but if I am taking note of a passage from a book then I tend to take notes. I use my mobile phone, notebook, macbook, whatever is to hand to record my thoughts and couldn’t even tell you where the closest pencil to me was let alone use it to deface a book … because that’s the thing: if I were to write in a book then it would only be in pencil and it would be a little word here and there or minuscule writing in a a corner. I do have a few working copies of books but they are ones I used academically and even then it felt inherently wrong to mark a book; I do have to profess my love for fluorescent bible pencils though, which I used to highlight lines and paragraphs, and which make a very convenient (not to mention aesthetically pleasing) study aid.

Bibliophiles’ love or loathing for scribbled annotations is not a new subject matter but I wanted to mention something that I noticed in a library book this week. On the inscription page someone (a previous borrower) had written (in pencil, I am relieved to inform you) that there was a historical inaccuracy on page 89; on page 89 there was an arrow leading from the erroneous information -at 4 o’clock the narrator announced he was leaving work early as he fancied a drink then proceeded to the closest pub- and an explanation that in 1960s London, where the novel is set, pubs were closed in the afternoon (there was additional times and geographical information but I’m giving you the jist). I was stunned to discover these pencilled notes; I’ve come across a lot of additional commentary before in borrowed books, especially from my university library, but it never fails to shock me how people treat public property. I think that writing in a library book (or any book that doesn’t belong to you – what you do with your own books is up to you) is graffiti; I wonder whether this same reader who is aware of public house opening times in the 1960s would be so keen to point out mistakes in writing on a road sign or pile of newspapers for sale at the tube station.

Am I overreacting? This is a book that was only published last year and yet now I balk at reading something that isn’t fresh, that is stained in a way, let alone something that somebody else is pointing out the lack of veracity in. Bloggers occasionally point out mistakes that authors have made, mistakes easily made, and we do that publicly so is it also fair to point out a discrepancy to future readers on the book? I felt condescended to and mostly I wondered “what does it matter?” but then I thought upon it some more and I do expect as a reader, for the most part, for a writer to be historically accurate (I write “for the most part” because the writer could be creating their own world, timeline or reality); I read primarily for entertainment but I also read for education and trust a writer as I would a teacher, therefore being given inaccurate information is unacceptable, is it not? The specifics of the inaccuracy itself has no bearing on my thoughts -it does not enrich my life knowing or not knowing the opening times of drinking establishments in 1960s London- but I would hope that writers were capable of doing their research; in this case I think that it is an honest oversight and, as I said, is meaningless as it doesn’t detract from the story in any way, but I worry that now instead of learning something new from a book, I now learn something that I have to then verify as true because I can’t trust the writer to have their facts straight… all this from one fellow reader who had the audacity to point out the historical inaccuracy in a book on the book itself.

Over the last week there has been a number of posts about the Orange Prize for Fiction longlist for 2010 and subsequent reactions to it and relevant reviews; one fellow book blogger asked on Twitter whether she was the one who hadn’t written about it, which amused me. I was, however, one of the guilty but I love the Orange Prize; I love women’s writing and I view the prize as a means of discovering writers and books that otherwise may have escaped my notice. I am enjoying the surrounding buzz, hype, and posts devoted to the prize and plan on contributing where I can; in particular I am enjoying the Reading the Orange Prize updates from Kirsty of Other Stories; the digested criticism from The Omnivore; the close-up detail of the longlist at Eve’s Alexandria. I am also very excited by Verity’s new blog feature, Orange Wednesdays; I look forward to following Verity’s progress (she is one for ventures, isn’t she?!) and I am most envious of such a wonderful title for a regular blog slot.

Category: Claire's Corner
Tags: Orange Prize

Comments

15 Responses to “Claire’s Corner”

Verity
March 26th, 2010 @ 6:13 pm

It’ce lovely to see you back Claire – I’m sorry you’ve had such a dreadful week.

I am so excited about the Orange prize – and I was thinking earlier that actually I am glad that very few of what bloggers thought were likely candidates got onto the list because it means that there are many more books out there to be discovered which otherwise we might have missed.

Thanks for the mention – it’s going to be fun to try to read an Orange book a week
Jackie (Farm Lane Books)
March 26th, 2010 @ 6:49 pm

It is good to have you back!

I never write in books and try not to damage them in any way. I think I’d be upset if someone had written in a library book too.

I was actually surprised by how few bloggers mentioned the Orange prize. I must follow a very different set of blogs as I think only about 6/300 blogs I follow mentioned the prize. I haven’t found any gems on the list yet – I hope I uncover one soon!
Simon (Savidge Reads)
March 26th, 2010 @ 7:30 pm

Hoorah you are back!!!!

I have to say I think if people want to write in their own books up to them. However if its a library book then its a bit wrong diddly ong tong frankly (my Granddad used to say that)just like people who dog ear library books too – ooh that riles me. I have just thought I need to pop a picture up on the blog soon that might send you over the edge.
Jenny
March 26th, 2010 @ 7:30 pm

I always think I like the idea of making notes in margins, but I never actually do it. I obviously can’t write in books that don’t belong to me, and when a book does belong to me, I feel like I’m fouling my own nest. And although I mostly love finding little notes that people have written and abandoned, even if they’ve written them inside library books, I am not crazy about being forced to consider what happens to library books when they are not with me. When I think about that, my brain says COULD BE ANYTHING. CUE CONTAMINATION ISSUES.
stujallen
March 26th, 2010 @ 8:07 pm

inaccurate’s are unusual must be missed , I don’t like writing on books although rob at rob around books is talking it up at moment
Steph
March 26th, 2010 @ 8:30 pm

I don’t personally write in any of my books, but it doesn’t really bother me if other people do. Sometimes I find the comments left by other readers funny, other times they’re insightful. I don’t think people should write in library books, but it wouldn’t bother me unless they had defaced the book in a way that made it unreadable. Same goes for when I buy used books – I prefer to buy pristine, unmarked copies, but on occasion I’ve wound up with a few books that had some jottings here and there.
Annabel (gaskella)
March 26th, 2010 @ 8:43 pm

I tend to be rather OCD about books, so I’d never write in them or turn corners down. I use post-it tabs (well Tesco ones really) to mark pages I want to return to.

I didn’t write an Orange post – but did feel I was one of the few who didn’t of the blogs I follow regularly. But I am planning to read ‘The Still Point’ as soon as I can.
Amanda
March 26th, 2010 @ 10:59 pm

I would like to know about the discrepancy, personally, but not written into a library book.
Sherrie
March 27th, 2010 @ 1:03 am

Hi!
I have an award for you at my place. Have a great day!

Sherrie
Just Books
Simon’s Bookish Bits #15 « Savidge Reads
March 27th, 2010 @ 9:02 am

[...] I thought I would leave you with some links to have a gander at. Claire of Paperback Reader has written a brilliant rant about annotations in library books you have to read. I personally can’t grasp why people even dog [...]
Darlene
March 27th, 2010 @ 2:47 pm

There has been a ‘phantom editor’ at my branch library for YEARS! We have no way of finding out who it is as we could never assume it’s the last borrower. This person made a notation once that ‘men cannot be raped, only sodomized’.

We think it’s a retired English teacher or frustrated editor and watch with suspicion anytime we spy someone bringing out a fine tip black marker. This person totally renders the books unreadable for the next person, such a shame and VERY frustrating!
kimbofo
March 27th, 2010 @ 4:03 pm

Defacement of public property is a pet hate of mine, too. I’d be outraged to see a library book scrawled on. However, I do occasionally scribble in my own books, or mark down pages (I usually dog ear the bottom of the pages rather than the top – they’re less noticeable that way). I used to use sticky notes, but then found I had to take them all out when I donated the books to Oxfam.

That said, I do like reading the notes that previous readers have left on secondhand books that I buy…

As the “fellow blogger” who made the tongue-in-cheek comment about the Orange Prize, I think I was reacting to seeing six or seven mentions of it all in a row!

Admittedly I’m not a huge fan of the Orange Prize — there’s an inconsistency in the quality of the books that make it on the longlists. I’ve read some real clunkers in the past, as well as some absolute gems. But I probably wouldn’t use a longlist nomination as any indication of quality, if that makes sense.

As an example, how on earth did they leave Evie Wyld’s book off it this year? That’s just outrageous — part of me wonders whether it might have been different if the book did not solely focus on male characters?? What do you reckon?
Jodie
March 27th, 2010 @ 9:40 pm

Ha I am suprised it was not done in red pen, very much sounds like one of the red pen brigade – the kind of person who writes to the paper to point out errors in articles. If they could find a way to insert all those missing apostrohes on signs they would. Sorry it has been such a rough week for you since your return, hope next week is much better.

Oh and thanks for pointing out the regular Orange features I feel like this is Orange year, where I want to follow the prize lots. I reviewed ‘The Still Point’ last week by the way. Just mentioning it because I know you bought it after the list was announced.
Rebecca Reid
March 29th, 2010 @ 12:39 pm

I used to write in books, and underline, etc. all the time when I was in school, trying to write papers. But only books I owned and they were usually used and falling apart anyway. I can’t stand it now. I hate even reading those old books.

Very interesting that a library patron felt the need to fact check the book. That’s actually pretty sad. Apparently they had a hard time focusing on the book itself….
Sakura
March 29th, 2010 @ 2:21 pm

I never write in books, although I don’t mind if others do as long as what they write isn’t trivial or annoying!

About the Orange Prize, I didn’t write a post because there were so many posts that were better and more knowledgeable than mine would’ve been. But if you like books, of course you’d be interested in the longlist wouldn’t you?