P365 Day 89: In which I annotate my books

(Picture of Death from the Sandman calendar. Being choosy about what I read doesn't make me a book snob.)

The other day, a friend and I were discussing how we annotated our books, and I mentioned that I have a much-loved and well-worn copy of Walden floating around. There's plenty of wisdom in Walden, but it's hidden among themes that turn off the average reader. And that's all I can say about Walden because my friend is planning his own Walden-theme blog post and I'm not going to snipe it.

Then last night, talk turned to T.S. Eliot ... and he turned up his nose again, after admitting he'd never read any Eliot! I made him read "Prufrock" — which he proclaimed "certainly didn't suck" (ahem) — but then he asked why I can't like "normal authors" (he mentioned Vonnegut and a couple others).

... All this rhetoric coming from a guy who prefaced reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by actually reading Pride and Prejudice ... and who text messaged me a few days ago with this: "Mr. Bingley proposed to Jane! Hot damn! I do so hope Mr. Darcy is soon to follow!"

I don't read nearly as much as I should, so I'm picky about what I do read. I don't think that makes me a book snob. It makes me an ... informed consumer of books. How's that for justification?

TL;DR: Try new authors. You might like them.