Lexi Talks: Why I write In Books

This is going to be a little different than normal.

I have a confession to make: I write and highlight in my books. I know, tragic. But here's the thing, it makes me feel better.

Let me explain before you crucify me! When I write in a book, when I highlight my favorite line, when I have a tear stain on the page, it leaves a message. It proves that the book did its job: touched me.

I have a favorite quote in dang near every book that I read, in fact, I'm getting one of those quotes tattooed on my body permanently. When I highlight it or annotate beside it, I leave a permanent mark behind telling others what I think. When I grow old and blind ( when I can no longer get up or am finally put in the worm-infested dirt) my friends, significant other, children, etc. will be getting my library. I like to believe that what speaks to me, what I jotted down and highlighted and mentioned, will speak to them too.

In some Hamilton-esce view, it is my Legacy. It is what I leave behind.

Those books will, hopefully, pass from person to person until someone who didn't know me holds the book in their hands and Sees Me.

When you read my books, you see what I'm feeling. You see what makes me "tick". You see my likes and dislikes, my fears and dreams, my tears and laughs. And, for me, that's what matters in a personal library. I want to connect with people through my favorite literature, but it's near impossible to get those gut-reaction moments that are so vital. Something in the first hundred pages that makes you bark out an awkward laugh in a crowded room, can easily be forgotten two or three chapters later.

I admit, I'm probably more open to highlighting because of the insistence of my AP teachers, but at the same time it has become near impossible for me to read without a highlighter or pen at my side. I like rereading past loves and seeing what I was thinking, feeling, or annoyed by at the time. In my copy of Catcher in the Rye, I circled every single "sort of" to make a point. Now I read it and laugh. In Empire of Storms, nearly every Aelin line is highlighted because her sass and pain and struggles speak to me.

That, in the end, is what I see the Job of books to be. To make people feel. I mean, it is art after all.

Cheers,
Lexi