i mark important texts on my trade books, especially when they're great words/lines that i want to use or share with others. and i also make sure i mark the pages very carefully/neatly--a compromise with myself for this necessary "violation" of the printed page.

That sounds like a nice practice, but I can't make myself do that. Does that make me a neurotic? ;) I somwtimes fold the corner of a page I want to get back to, though.

i hilight phrases and stuff that i like or can relate to, or if its a really good book i'll mark up my fav parts or my thoughts...

i get to in to my books when i ead that i can't bring myself to get up and get a pen to write with

I try to keep them in good condition..marked books annoy me when i go back to read them again.

I can't even bend a page (I'm crazy about keeping books in good condition) ... If I want to remember something, I bookmark it and write in on the bookmark.

I scribble and write haha if the book says something stoopid or if some one dies.

never. it's just wrong.

I don't even write on (or highlight) the textbooks I purchase for class. I think it lowers their resale value. Or it could raise it, people looking for good notes... Hm. No. Defacing a book is just... sacrilegious or something.

If I want to remember something I just remember it xD If it wasn't good enough to stay in my head I won't want to quote it.

i actually would like to get in that habit but once i start reading, i dont want to stop.

The only books I write in are school books and that is not that often.

I write in my school books.. helps me out.. haha

i like to keep them looking nice :)

I love writing in book and reading other people's scribbles. Books are meant to read, loved, and shared, not to be kept pristine. My favorite books are so worn and beaten and I love it.

I try to keep them in good condition and if I want to write something,I write it in a post-it and stick it to the page.

sometimes its nice to see what someone else thinks.

i mark up all my textbooks, even though i hate buying used ones where people have done it already. i have to reread so many passages that if i didn't highlight the important stuff, it would take me three times as long to study. however, apart from highlighting, i always write in pencil so i can at least erase it if need be.
i would never ever write in a novel though. that is sacreligious. somehow it's just different with textbooks.. they're meant for learning i guess.

I can't stand writing in textbooks. It does lower their resale value. Particularly egregious is the use of highlighting markers. I've had to go through some texts and highlight everything just to fix it. See, the problem is, the passages that other people highlight are always so - excuse me - retarded. I agree with atari in that the books are meant to be shared, but not the stupid snippets that I or anyone else thinks might be important at a particular reading.

Here's an example: many of you know Shelley's "Ozymandias", which begins "I met a traveler in an antique land"... A typical person who writes in textbooks will have underlined/highlighted it thus:
"I met a traveler from an antique land"...with the word "meet?" scribbled in the margin.

W?
T?
F????!!??

It is really, to me, obscene. You may think that you have glorious insight into a deeper meaning, but all insights are products of a particular time and usually have little meaning in the future. Try going back and reading your A grade papers from high school, if you want to see what I mean. But if you can handle dealing with your marks in the future, fine. But never, ever try to sell books that you've defaced or even give them to anyone else. If you want to share your thoughts about a book with someone else, the best way to do it is to talk with someone else about the book. No one is going to be able to decipher your notes in any way that doesn't infuriate.

not textbooks, but reading books.
I always circle parts i like or i write something really stupid in the margins cause thats me... :)

no cuz i c books as my treasures n when i barely even ruin the cover i flip out, imagine if i write on a page holy jeez i would probably have a heart attack

I can't stand writing in a book. If I want to comment about something in it I'll talk to someone about it, maybe grab a tiny post-it to mark the page. If I wrote on it, I'd have a harder time selling it an the value would go down. My friends would probably be annoyed to see it if I let them borrow the book. I know that when I get a used book it annoys me how people mark up the text and write in the margins. I just want to read the book how it is - no distractions. Just the way the writer intended. Perhaps the most annoying writings in books are those where minor grammatical errors are marked. That missing e on the end of 'the' really isn't vital information that I need to know of.

In my bible there is writing all over it...

i will ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS NO Writing or other crap on my books!

No it ruins the whole book and the whole look of the book

I think the only time I've done it is the second time I read Lord of the Flies. I did my own mini-novel study, but instead of taking proper notes, I just jotted stuff down in the margins.

I'm the opposite. I write in my school books but wouldn't dare to write in my own personal books. Hee

Noooooo!!!!

I have trouble letting people sign my yearbook; writing in books really bothers me.

some of my books have to most random notes on the most random pages, I feel like it makes them just a little more mine

*Cringes and hugs her books to her*
No. I have brought books and had to go lovingly through to erase marks from them like a mother attending to her childrens wounds. It just seems so despicable somehow, like tattoo-ing a friend against their will just because "I really like that part".

Only with pencil.

I annotate all my Harry Potter books. But in pencil

depends if it's and old book or not

ESPECIALLY NOT on my Twilight Saga Books.

it pains me to think of even doing that!!!!!!! as the page rips, so does my heart.

Writing on books=sacrilege!!!

i always write the date i started and finished the book... its a tradition... plus i'm really very sad lol

I write on my books, I make little notes on the side just to say what I think about it. ONLY IN PENCIL. It's fun to go back years later and see what I've used to think about things that I didn't understand.

When I'm reading non-fiction, in pencil. Fiction, never! lol I literally will by a second book just for writing, which I did for Jane Eyre.

I generally underline the words or quotes I LOVE ^^

in pencil of course!!

only in pencil, and only on my Hobbit and LOTR books, and the other John Tolkien books

I only write on library books or school books, sometimes and only in pencil of course and just a little bit so no one notices xD

I would never write on my own books lol, especially my fave! :)

I get why a lot of people don't like to write in their books but I just started highlighting my favorite parts recently. I really love opening a book and reading the highlighted part and smiling instantly. It makes re-reading a book even more enjoyable to me.

I highlight passages or sentences I like.

not writing..but sometimes underlining

It would annoy me the next time I read it (as I usually do).
I like the pages to be clean and tidy, because then I can picture the scenes without being distracted by stupid scribbles.
If I want to remember a phrase or passage then I acually REMEMBER it - you don't need to write things down to remember them. Or at least I memorise the page number.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not obsessive about keeping my books tidy, I usually dog-ear the pages to keep my place.

i cant stand it when a book has marks in it! it just bugs me.. i dont like it when the corners are folded over ether :) although i do love it when you buy a second hand book and the pages are all yellow from age.. it gives it character (yes i know im strange lol).. but then i also love the fresh new pages of a new book! hehe

Why would I do that!? I bought or borrowed the book for a reason, not to draw all over it!

You don't write on books, you take care of them!

does text books count??? cause ive been righting, and drawing in text books^^)

i sometimes rigth in MY books. hehe i shouldnt really

no way! thats horrible!

I never write in books.

Though I do enjoy reading passages written in used books, regardless of what is written. As long as it doesn't ruin the experience, that is.

I wouldn't dream of it.

Just not the ones that my dad or sister might posibally read :P

by sometimes, I mean i used to when i was younger. I don't anymore :)

No way! Books share stories with us and teach us so how can we treat them in such a fashion! We take care of them and make sure they are not laid down on the highest shelf gathering dust and forgotten.

Only to fix typos.

I'm very OCD, and I can't write on my books. I don't dent pages or bend anything. I keep them kept in perfect condition. I also don't let other people touch them. They are for me to read.

No!

My Lord of the Rings books are full of elvish and The hobbit is all covered in runes.

Only two of the books in my personal library have been written in: "The Lord of the Flies" and "A Man for all Seasons" but I read those in school. There's a few other books I've written in for school, but they're tucked under my bed, never to be read by me again.