To the Editor:
Is it just me – or do others feel appalled and violated when, in reading a library book, they come upon comments and underlines on these sacred pages?
I am still trying to deal with over some 50 years of admonitions of: Don’t write in a book, don’t fold the page corner, and never lay an open book face down!
How dare these unknown critics’ hands mar my reading and interpretations by their rapid expressions of “Oh, sure!” or “…in what country?” or some such ilk, and to dare to do it in ink, forever inscribed – a legacy of ignorance – one supposedly lessened by reading!
It’s one thing – to come upon these notations or highlighting of passages in a second-hand book. In a library book – never!
Shall I become an eccentric old woman who hoards books and never shares? Shall I caution people of the dire consequences of daring to deface these hallowed tomes?
I do try to erase any penciled notations I find or lighten the irreverent ink marks set on pages.
Am I an anomaly in this apathetic society? Am I alone, a single voice protesting the audacity of these transgressions? I hope not!
Fran Gay
Newcastle
