Dannotated editions

Books don’t tend to stay in my possession for long, which isn’t to say I lose them. Unlike my brother, I’ve never had to pay the library for a book I’ve lost. No, when I buy books, it’s usually an impulse buy because the title sounds cool or I like the author. Sometimes I’ll just be walking through, wasting time on my way somewhere else, and something will catch my eye, and I’ll be drawn to a certain book. I trust these feelings more than I think most people.

I remember the first time it happened too. I was in a Waldenbooks located in my hometown’s mall with friends. We were just browsing, making general not-so-nuisances of ourselves while we hung out when I saw it, The Zombie Survival Guide. It must have been right after Christmas or something, because I happened to have cash in my pocket.

Seeing that book made me remember a conversation I had with this red-headed kid I’d met the previous July. It was a debate really, on what my plans would/should be if there were to be a Zombie plague upon the earth. The fact that a single title could make me remember in oddly specific detail a conversation from months before is what sealed the deal. I had to buy the book and send it to my Canadian friend.

But I didn’t just buy the book and immediately entrust it to the postal service. That seemed rather pointless considering I had the book in my possession, so I read the book. As I was reading, it reminded me of a used book I bought where one of the previous owners had annotated it, writing notes in the margins about the plot and the characters. That book to me had such personality.

So I took this copy of The Zombie Survival Guide and when I finished reading it, I read it again. As I read it again, I wrote in it, leaving marks and scribbles. Sometimes a word or a smiley face, often underlining important survival techniques because it’s a survival guide so knowing which bits will help you live through the undead holocaust could very well come in handy.

About a month later I turned this into a tradition when I Dannotated (yes, that’s what I called it, and while that may seem egotistical, it fits both my name and what I did to the book in a beautiful schmooshing of words) a copy of The Mistfits by James Howe for a friend’s birthday.

There was this guy I kind of had a crush on a few months after that. I had a book sitting on my shelf that I thought would be the perfect book for him, though I didn’t know exactly how much so until later: Lucky by Eddie de Oliveira about a bi soccer player in London. Didn’t really end up getting me anywhere relationship-wise, but I got to draw a bloody question (a literal interpretation of the British colloquialism).

Most recently, I was caught by I Am The Messenger. What grabbed my attention about Mark Zusak’s latest release was the fact that it involved cards, because I had recently taken an interest in card reading.

This one went to another summer friend and pen pal, and he’s told me that he wants to find someone who he can send it to and thus pass on the message. I kind of like the idea of that, partly because of the book in question, and partly because it means I’ve started something.

Books don’t stay in my possession for very long because I prefer to give them away. Some people would accuse me of ruining books. I just call it personalizing them.