Those books that are meant to be thoughtfully digested cannot be totally appreciated if one does not read with a writing stick in hand. Write in the book. Put your reactions, questions, or connections in the margins. Draw pictures that come to mind. In other words leave your own personal tracks in the book. Just as an exceptional book becomes a part of you, leaving tracks lets you become a part of the book. Then, if you have courage, lend your copy to a friend with the understanding that he or she will add comments and either return it to you or pass it along. This last suggestion is a challenge for those of us who like to revisit a book as one might revisit an old friend.
Some of my own favorites for leaving tracks? Thoreau's Walden, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and Coelho's The Alchemist. They are meant to be read more than once and digested like comfort food.
What books would you put in this category? I'm always looking for recommendations.
