Am I a monster?

So. I have to take this time to admit a categorical cardinal sin. I deface books. I am a very. Very. Bad person. HOWEVER. Please don't hold it against me. I have quite a good reason for my 'defacement' of literary greats. I guess it stems from seminary. I see words that strike a chord? I have this inexplicable desire to underline for future reference. Am I alone? I'm not entirely sure. I suspect I am, but haven't held any poles on this fact, so the jury is out.

Largely however. I expect chants of 'burn her'. I expect the literary community to treat me as some monster in need of extermination and I quite understand their reverence of the written word. I just CAN'T help it. It started with tentatively underlining just my favorite words such as 'capitulated' in very fine pencil.. I didn't realise how ingrained this habit had become until disaster of disasters, I couldn't find a pencil and picked up a biro. The results you can see above. It was SO important to underline, the fact I had no pencil was put to one side, in my mind at the time. It wasn't until a few moments after I considered my sacrilege.

However sorry I am. I know it is a behavior I am destined to repeat. As in my mind, just as with my bible. Words on the page aren't as important as the words in your heart. This way. The manuscript comes to life. So call me a monster if you wish and I'll accept the term. But I will continue to gather words and paragraphs in the same manner, because books are more than things and this is the way I carry their meanings in my heart.

#books #writtenword #words