that's an uptight person!

Someone with too much time on their hands. One other thing that really bugs me is getting a library book that someone has read & turned down the corner on just about every page to use as a bookmark. This happened on a book I just read and returned. Drove me crazy.

worse is food and hair between the pages. Shudderingly off-putting.

the turned corner page thing is weird to me, I confess I do it and it doesn't bother me to see it in other books but I have been recently scolded by daughter and told this is a big non-no. ooops

I feel the same on all of the above, that's why I won't take paperbacks from the library.

Sometimes I'm tempted to say to the librarians that I didn't drool all over the book.

I always flatten the dog ears down.

Yikes, that sounded anal!

uhm, yes, I think it is kind of anal, but it's ok, :)

Happygardener, I straighten out all the wrinkles and turned down pages, too. Somebody has to do it!

I have told you all about the time I bled onto the edges of a library copy of a murder mystery when a stick from a blood test didn't stop bleeding. I didn't realize it, of course, and have often wondered what the next reader(s) thought.

Carolyn,

Maybe it enhanced the murder mystery!

I always unwrinkle pages too & try to get things off the pages, like little crumbs, etc. Just obsessive about books I guess. I got so upset yrs. ago when someone threw out a lot of hard bound books in the trash. I reclaimed them & donated them to the local library. It just struck me as being so sad to see them in the trash.

When I was in college we were actually encouraged to write in books and make notes. At first I thought it was sacrilegious but now I look it as making the book my own personal treasure. It makes it more meaningful and interesting when I reread them again. Of course I do not do this to loaned books which is also why I don't borrow books. I prefer to buy my own and keep them. I like my wall of books, like they are old friends. In the People of the Book, Hanna talks about why she believes that old books should not really be made pristine again because the marks, stains, etc tell the history of the books.

As a retired teacher and a hard-wired editor I am one of those readers who loves to correct a mistake in a book when I read it!
I also love to make remarks in the margins......especially if I am going to pass the book on to a friend.
They love it!
In fact I once read ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AN ORDINARY LIFE and actually made sure I commented on those parts about which I felt strongly! As I passed it on I encouraged my friends to also write in it and initial their remarks.
It was such fun to see what each person thought as I read it.
Of course, that book really lends iself to commentary....it is borderline annoying!

So.....there are many reasons why someone would correct or write in a book!

This makes me think of the time I bought ...And Ladies of the Club from the Book of the Month Club. It had just come out, as I recall it ran to 900+ pages, and it must not have been proofread at all because I found typos in every chapter. It made me crazy, so I finally got out my pen and made corrections. Anal, yes, but I used to work as a writer/proofreader and that training just sticks. I probably wouldn't correct a library book -- but never say never! I do promise that if I ever cross that line I'll do it in pencil :)

I, too, have done work as a writer/proofreader and it is hard to eradicate these habits. I've been known to correct typos and grammar, but only in light pencil, never in ink. That was some years back. Since, I've read so many otherwise fine books that are filled with errors of all sorts that I no longer make the effort....

I just reread "And Ladies..." for the fourth time and for some reason just noticed the typos. I usually am interested when a previous reader has underlined and/or made comments in the margins. I find it very difficult to write notes or underline in a book myself, though I will underline lightly in pencil in my own books. I have at times when I've found something that struck me years ago wondered what I was thinking... Now I keep a book journal with a place for quotes so I don't have to overcome my early aacquired and strong inhibition about writing in books!