BOOKED & BEWILDERED

The first marginalia note was “lol.” Readers have always been unserious.

✗ FAKE
Marginalia, notes written in the margins of books, go back to medieval manuscripts. The first marginal note is unknown, and 'lol' is a joke since the abbreviation is modern.

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The first “unreliable narrator” was invented because honesty is hard and drama sells.The first library was built to store gossip safely in alphabetical order.Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ is divided into Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso — a guided tour of the afterlife.The first “slow burn” romance was created to torture readers professionally.Gabriel García Márquez popularized magical realism — everyday life with a splash of impossible.The first hardcover was invented so a book could double as a self-defense tool. Knowledge hits harder.See all Booked & Bewildered facts →

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