Dedicated Note-taking.

One of the books I read recently was purchased at the used book sale at the local public library. I love the used book sale…the most I ever paid for a book was $2, and it was a new hardcover book. Once, I got a like-new copy of The Lovely Bones for a dollar. One dollar!! It’s phenomenal. Not to mention that the money you spend goes toward the library. I mark the sale dates on my calendar. (Seriously, I love the used book sale. And I am a huge nerd.)

The book I just finished was one I picked up on a whim, since it had a really good title and cover. Hating Valentine’s Day by Allison Rushby has a pink cover where a woman is stepping on Valentine candy. And since it cost a quarter, I was willing to give it a shot. The reason I mention this book is because of a curious incident that occurred while I read. For the first 115 pages, it was a standard library book—clean pages that have definitely been turned many times. Then, I hit page 116 and that all changed. It’s the end of a chapter, and Random Bitter Library Patron (not me, in case you figured this was one of those, “I have this *big air quotes and wink* friend…”stories) decided to start taking notes. She (I can only assume it’s a woman…) drew boxes around a few things. See Exhibit A:

The blank space when the chapter ended also provided some room for her thoughts. See Exhibit B:

After this, a few [completely random] words are underlined on the next two pages, and then it stops. That’s it! That was the end of the urge to take notes. I tried to make sense of it. There is no pattern at all! A couple of words like ‘theirs’ are underlined, but there isn’t a spelling or grammar issue. A few slang terms are used, but they make sense and aren’t offensive. The author used some words that aren’t necessarily real, such as ‘de-flabbing’…but the note-taker was hit or miss underlining them. There is no way of figuring out what this person was doing!

So, if you happened to be the one taking these notes, please write and let me know what the hell was going on in your head when you read this book. Thank you.