in conversation with literature

[adrian_turtle]

With all the places I could conceivably post this, I choose to share it here, where I can't include a picture. Maybe it's because I like you so much.

I picked up a book from a little free library recently, and it included an actual breakup note. Not a goodbye note like, "Farewell, little book! May you find another lonely teenager to love you as I once did!"
This one says "I don't think I'm ever going to pick you up again" and "I love the first two books in the series, but not you," followed by a paragraph of [absolutely fair] criticism that appears to have been written with a purple gel pen.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

I love this so much.

What was the book? Would it feel like you were invading the book's privacy if you told us?

(Also, my 19-year-old daughter likes to write in books; she and her friends will add marginalia as they pass books around. She did this with a Sarah Dessen book, since we both like Sarah Dessen, and I have done the same with some books I thought she would enjoy, most recently YELLOWFACE by Rebecca Kuang. I feel like a lot of Gen X'ers are very precious about books as a physical object, and Gen Z'ers less so -- which I approve of, tbh. If it's a library book, then of course don't write in it, but if you OWN it, that is a mass-produced object! You can absolutely write all over it! I think interesting marginalia add value!)

[adrian_turtle]

What was the book? Would it feel like you were invading the book's privacy if you told us?

It's THE MISLAID MAGICIAN. The first two books really are better. I loved the first book and found the second one dragged a bit. I read half the third and it's taking me ages to get through the rest so I'm sure I'll put it back in the LFL. The question is whether I should co-sign the purple note, or add something to it. The purple one is signed "Katy," which is either really cool or a great coincidence. And of course it invites the question of whether I should sign "Laura," "Adrian," or some variation of "Cecilia."

[naomikritzer]

...I totally think you should add your own comments.

[evalerie]

Hm. I write oodles of notes in cookbooks, and I do solve puzzles in puzzle books (logic puzzles, crosswords, etc.). In other books, once in a while, if a typo really badly bothers me, I will write a correction. But it hadn't occurred to me to write on non-cookbook books. Thank you for the idea!

[adrian_turtle]

I know! I remember buying used books (mostly the kinds of novels used in English classes) full of underlining and little marginal notes about the Freudian significance of chicken pox.