2.17.2011

from the bindery: graffiti dialogues

every once in awhile i come across a book at work that has lots of graffiti in it from different patrons, and every once in awhile that graffiti is actually a dialogue between patrons, and typically the book topic has some bearing on readers' moral and religious beliefs, and inevitably some of those graffiti voices are just a wee bit self-righteous. my find this week was the book of essays, God the Mother, whose title page was covered in impassioned comments. apparently several patrons felt the essays bordered on heresy and felt the need to warn other readers that they would go to hell for reading this book or subscribing to its views. others wrote in the author's defense. 

take a look:

3 comments:

Monica Holtsclaw said...

This is awesome. I wonder if it crosses their minds that the previous writer won't see their response. Maybe it's really the ink and graphite sharing the dialog...

I was at a used bookstore today and found a well used text book that had a chuckle worthy piece of graffiti "In case of fire, add this to the pile, it'll burn well"

Nancy said...

I suppose that is how people communicated before facebook.

Sue Rasmussen said...

I don't know how I missed this post! I love it. I often notate my favorite parts of a book on the end pages (I own those books), but I've never thought of warning future readers. Of course when I disagree with the premises of a book, I usually don't finish it, so I'm not qualified to comment. I especially like the note pointing to the other two notes.