How We Treat Books

Recently a group of acquaintances confessed that they don’t ever, ever write in their books—not even text books! They were taught to respect books and it was nothing short of sacrilegious to deface a book. I said nothing, afraid they would discover my secret—that I write in books. They expressed such disdain for book graffiti that I would have probably copped to picking my nose before admitting I am a passage highlighter. 

Fortunately George Bernard Shaw came to my rescue:

As soon as I open [a book], I occupy the book, I stomp around in it. I underline passages, scribble in the margins, leave my mark. . . . I like to be able to hear myself responding to a book, answering it, agreeing and disagreeing in a manner I recognize as peculiarly my own.
— George Bernard Shaw

I was kidding about the nose...