Day 26: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

Ok, this book is awesome! It's a book about how a reader who is an author thinks--really. This lady even proofreads like I do; she reads everything and looks so closely that she even edits menus. I totally do that! I didn't know that other people do it, but I'm glad that it's not just me. There's another chapter about merging libraries and inscriptions...I love the inscriptions chapter, because she explains how important personal inscriptions are, and it makes you wonder about the history of the people included in the inscription...At least I've always wanted to find out. I've never found a book with an inscription yet that I've bought, but if I ever buy an old book, I will be searching for inscriptions and marginalia. That reminds me of a time that I wrote a ton of marginalia in a copy of The Odyssey when I was a Freshman in college at BYU--It included movie quotes and quotes from an all-nighter, soon followed up by another all-nighter and Parsifal. Quotes like "She's a witch, burn her!" in the margins where Circe tricks Odysseus on her island...this was like four in the morning, and I sold it back to the BYU bookstore. Whoever has the book now probably either thinks I was on something or gets a good laugh out of it...hopefully the latter. I love notes like that from other people in books. It gives you insight into another person's life--someone who could be your friend through the book. Anyway, anyone who wants to understand a writer's mind should read this book! Huzzah!