Annotating books can seem like a daunting task, potentially because we’re encouraged to do it the most in an educational environment, but beyond the realm of the classroom, the process is what you make of it. You get to decide what to highlight, underline, and comment on. Whether it’s a stylistic technique, a literary device, or just something that drew a laugh from you, anything is fair game for your pen, your highlighter, your colourful tabs or—if you’re like me—your tiny post-it notes.
The problem with a blank book for me, a book without any tabs, underlines or notes in the margins, is that if I look back on it, I can’t remember what I thought about the book, only how it made me feel overall, which creates the sensation of a gap in my memory I’ll never be able to fill. You can’t read a book for the first time again, but you could have a record of what you experienced when you did.
A lack of annotation makes books harder to draw anything from, less personal and it’s a lot more difficult to go back and find those great quotes you came across along the journey through the book.
Obviously, if you’re reading a library book or one that does not belong to you, you should avoid annotating or doing anything the actual owner would not want you to. However, if you do own your books and you haven’t given annotating them a go, I think it can be a great way to get a little more out of your reading.
Why you should consider annotating your books
Reading is a personal experience, so unless you’re reading a book educationally and focusing solely on themes, devices, and characters, you can make a note of anything you want in your books. You can take the time to engage a little more with your book in a way that makes it more interesting to you and since you’ve taken the time to reread and underline something that caught your eye, it will become more memorable.
These underlines, whether in pencil, pen or highlight make for easy reference if you’re writing a review or sharing quotes online or with friends. It makes a book, initially a vast collection of words, more accessible too.
For whatever reason, it’s a freeing experience to write in your books. Make one line or a single comment and you feel like a Real Reader, and it does not matter whether that comment next to a particularly unique section of imagery just says, ‘pretty’, it matters that the comment represents how what you read made you feel, what it made you think. It’s more enjoyable if you can gush about the books you love without anyone stopping you or needing anyone to listen, though as a side note it does feel good if you can let a writer know the things you enjoy too.
I should also admit that annotating is another endeavour that I enjoy not just for the outcome or the process but also for the aesthetic. The edge of a book littered with tabs? The bold, black lines and circles scattered across the pages? I can’t get enough, and as long as I keep collecting books, I’ll keep writing in them.
With everything considered, I highly recommend giving annotating your books a try if you don’t because you might just find that when you can make your own rules, it’s a wonderful experience. It’s the only thing I really miss when reading eBooks and I’d give anything for it to be easier to make handwritten notes on my Kindle.
Do you like to annotate? What’s your go-to method for decorating your books?
Read 'N Riot 