That Person Who Had My Book Before Me

Yes, yes, I barely update anymore. I didn't count on this annoying silly little thing called college that interferes a bit with my life. I also have class all day on Monday, until eight in the evening, so by the time I go home, it's all I can do to stay up late enough to finish homework. And is only the beginning of my week.


Key for post:
Italics: means excerpt from book
Pink: means the girl's margin notes
Regular: my writing


So, we've all bought used books from the bookstore. Sometimes they've been used a lot, with lots of highlighting all over the place, and sometimes only a few pages are bent. But, sometimes you get real gems in the used book.


For example, I bought a used copy of Great Expectations for my Victorian Lit class at the Trinity Bookstore, and I have had the most wonderful time seeing some of the notes that the girl who had the book before me wrote in the margins. Yes, I know it was a girl, because her handwriting looks like this:

Anyway, so as I've been plowing through the book, her little notes have kept me entertained-- so entertained, in fact, that I thought I would share!

So, as we all know, Great Expectations is by Charles Dickens. I open up to the first page to see the narrator introducing himself to the reader, and a note off to the margin: England; locator. Okay, I'm glad that this book by Dickens takes place in England, but maybe...he doesn't always start his books in England. Doesn't A Tale of Two Cities take place partly in France? *shrugs, continues reading*

...with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond....

                                                                                                             ---->Looks like lead

Okay, now I knew that I was going to have a good time reading this book. I'm not going to share all of the special moments with you, because I would basically end up reading you the entirety of GE with added commentary, after skimming past a paragraph with a heart drawn next to it, another paragraph with an added note that Pip (the main character) has no parents (I should mention here that the book opens with Pip in a graveyard visiting his parents), and general sparknotes for every single paragraph involving action, I got to the beginning of chapter four to find this:

                                              ----->Constable = police officer

I fully expected to find a Constable in the kitchen, waiting to take me.

....passing by some more hearts, and every other line underlined....question mark next to the word "vicarious".....more present-tense spark-notes on what's happening....

I contrived in an hour or two to print and smear this epistle:

"mI DeEr JO i opE U r KrWitE wEll i opE i shAl soN B haBelL 4 2 teeDge U JO aN theN wE shOrl b sO glOdd aN wEn i M preNgtD 2 u JO woT larX an blEvE ME inF xn PiP"

^not good writer yet <3

...heart heart heart, underline, underline, underline....question mark next to the word "guineas"....slew of question marks by one particularly descriptive paragraph...

Chapter XXI  21

Now we reach my favorite part of the notes. There is one scene where Pip has reached London, and he wants to borrow money from some guy. They debate how much pounds Pip is going to get, having a conversation that goes a little like this:

"Can I have money?"
"Sure! Fifty pounds?"

"No! Not that much! That's crazy talk!"

"Five pounds?"

"No, that's not enough."

"You should be clear, then! How about ((100x10)/5)-(3x50)-30 pounds?"

"Yes, that should work great!"

"Now, boy, tell me how much money you want. Just saying 'yes' isn't going to get you anywhere in the business world of London! You have to solve equations like this!"

"Obviously it's twenty, sir."
"Good job! Here is twenty pounds! Run along now, and cheerio!"

Then I noticed the comment in the margins:

lbs of what?

      of what?

            of what?

First, I facepalmed my face off. Then, I wondered how she'd read twenty five chapters of Charles Dickens and not picked up on the currency of England. Not knowing about guineas, I can maybe understand. Pounds, no. Just...no. Then I asked myself why she was in an upper level (UPPER LEVEL) course on Victorian literature. What was she doing? Did this course used to be required for everybody? Do they use this copy of GE for other English classes....like a seminar class?

*sigh* So, anyway. I still have over half of the book to go, but I'm not sure I can be entertained by these comments so much as stabbed through the chest with a spear of ignorance and margin-hearts. I am not a snob, and I really do believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Except for when the question is stupid. Then it is stupid. 

Has anyone else ever gotten an interesting previous book-owner?