Writing between the lines

Writing in the margins is not defacing a favorite book.

One of the advantages of reading print over e-books is the ability to flip back through the pages to find a quote or check a detail. Even the most devoted readers of e-books admit that this is a flaw in the digital format. One woman at a book group I led recently said she doesn't even bother bringing her e-book to the discussion because she knows it will be useless.

Some people are meticulously careful with their print books. I happen to be a messy reader. I long ago abandoned the idea of keeping my books pristine and display-ready; I'd rather they showed evidence of the passion they invoked while I read them — by way of my underlining and marginalia. And while once I wrote my commentary in pencil, thinking it less destructive, I now use whatever writing implement I have nearby, of whatever hue it may be. (And alas, the original commentary in my now six-times read college copy of The Great Gatsby has faded to unreadability, leaving the insights of my college-age brain lost to history.)

I thought it might be fun to share some of the things that I thought were worth underlining or next to which I scribbled notes in the margins from a terrific new novel I've just finished reading, Us by David Nicholls. As the story begins, Douglas, a rather ordinary guy and a biochemist who happens to be married, for over twenty years, to a stunning artist named Connie, is awakened by his wife in the middle of the night and told she thinks their marriage may be coming to an end. Before she makes a final decision, however, she insists that they continue with their planned "Grand Tour" of Europe, which they are about to embark upon with their ornery 17-year-old son before he heads off for college. Douglas hopes to use the trip to cement the family and save his marriage. And with that premise, the novel is off and running on an insightful, thoughtful, and very often LOL funny journey.

Here are some of my highlights:

p. 75: Looking back on the exciting time when he first met Connie: "I felt the proximity of change, and I had wanted more than anything for something in my life to change. Is it still possible to feel like that, I wonder? Or does it only happen to us once?"

p. 78 On touring an art museum and not knowing what to say about the paintings: "Perhaps this was why those museum-audio-guides had become so popular; a reassuring voice in your ear, telling you what to think and feel. . . . how terrific it would be to carry that voice with you always, out of the museum and throughout all of life."

p. 124: On listening to the Mozart he loves while driving: "Over-familiar, the music has become a kind of audio-Valium, background music rather than something I listen to actively and attentively. A gin and tonic after a long day. A shame, I think, because while each note remains the same, I used to hear them differently. It used to sound better."

p 162: On discussing someone's five-year-old son: "'Five is a lovely age,' I said, which I've always thought an idiotic remark. When do ages stop being 'lovely'? 'Five's lovely, but fifty-four's a bastard' – that should be the follow up."

p. 192: He refers to a night after a drinking binge as "that long, dehydrated night of the soul." F. Scott Fitzgerald would agree!

p. 210: Taking a train through the Alps and greatly enjoying the scenery, he finally says: "...awe is a hard emotion to sustain for hours on end and soon it all became rather boring."

p. 223: On marriage: "There are ravines and great jagged peaks and hidden crevasses that send the both of you scrabbling into darkness."

p. 153: I saved this for last. Do pardon me if you think this one in bad taste, but I thought it was hilarious. Douglas, who is rather anal about making and keeping to plans, is rushing the family, now visiting Amsterdam, to get to the Anne Frank House. Connie says: "Douglas, can we leave it be? Even the Gestapo didn't want to get there this much."

Great stuff, huh? And not to worry, I haven't given away the best lines, not by a long shot!