To underline certain bits while reading books.

[LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer]

I LOVE reading and quite often have the urge to underline certain bits that resonate with me or is particularly powerful. It might even develop into margin notes. Is this odd?

I've never done it until today I have always not wanted to "deface" my book incase I want to pass it on and today I thought sod it it's my book if I want to I will......

Is a highlighter too far

It's quite enlightening to learn that so many readers take their literature so seriously. I must be rather shallow in that I only read a book for pure pleasure and to get lost in the story, and for no other reason.

@RampantIvy

It's quite enlightening to learn that so many readers take their literature so seriously. I must be rather shallow in that I only read a book for pure pleasure and to get lost in the story, and for no other reason.

High fives fellow shallow person

I have read Tolstoy, Orwell, Huxley, various Toman authors and poets (occasionally in the original Latin) as well as more mainstream books - why have I never had the urge to make a note?

All our school books were shared so of course we weren't supposed to write in them (although my earlier post proves that we didn't listen).

Definitely not unreasonable! I write all over my books. Absolutely loads of annotations in highlighter, pen and pencil. Sticky notes too. I had some old man berate me for it on public transport and I had no idea why he thought my £5 paperback was any of his concern. Books are paper and their use for note making reflects interaction from the reader, IMO. I don’t care what anyone else thinks - I teach English and annotation is my way to engage with the text and observe things as I read.

No no no! Breaking spines? Turning down corners? I feel a bit faint. I put strips of paper into pages I like, and then copy down the bits I like in a notebook when I've finished. One from The Shadow Of The Wind is about hanging about waiting for someone - "Waiting is rust for the soul". (Sighs contentedly.)

Again, what do you make notes about? I'm trying to understand

I mean - is it to remind yourself of the plot, is it a particularly phrase you like?

@LukeEvansWife

I mean - is it to remind yourself of the plot, is it a particularly phrase you like?

I will occasionally underline a phrase I liked/want to remember.

I like reading a book a few years later and seeing which bits I enjoyed the first time and if it's the same now. But I reread a lot!

Also, my best friend and I lend each other books loads and sometimes scribble a note to each other like 'oh my god the ROMANCE' or something (they're usually chicklit, we're not trying to be literature wankers, we just like leaving each other little notes on bits we know they'll like).

Do it. Crack the spines too and turn corners over.
I love a book with notes in.

My best beloved book is one that DP gave me because it is COVERED in his notes and post its and highlighter pens. It's hilarious! Whenever I'm missing him, I open it up at any page and will read some of his commentary and laugh to myself because I can hear his voice as his wrote 'here we go again...' or something similar.

I scribble notes in my books all the time, it's a brilliant way of going back and seeing where your head was at the last time you read it.

Thank you! I get it now It makes sense. I wasn't trying to be goady but I have ASD and like to understand things about people.

I would hate to buy a second hand book, and find it defaced covered in notes.

Seems a bit wanky

I write in books all the time. If it annoys people they can buy their own book. Whenever I get them from the charity box I love finding comments in the borders etc

Surely if you’re so desperate to remember certain lines (and you think you won’t remember them) it’s best to write them in a notebook for that specific purpose?

If you’re making notes in the actual book to remember lines, you would need to remember the line to look for it. Or read the book all the way through again.

If you want to keep the book after you have read it, then I can't see the harm in it.

I only keep the books that I love and may re-read. Others go to charity so I wouldn't want to deface them.

I use a pencil OP.

Not really …

Writing the note inside the actual book sets up a dialogue with that book - and the thought becomes embodied in your pencil markings.

Obviously for academic or technical material you need more space, so would then use a separate notebook. But I always find that separation a barrier - it feels like work and all sorts of doubts and hesitations find their way into what I write down. It’s not nearly as joyful and spontaneous as a scribbled note in the margin.

(That was to Kanaloa.)

Ah, I see. I wouldn’t do it personally so it wouldn’t feel joyful to me, but I was more questioning how it would help you ‘remember’ a specific line, because surely you’d then need to refer back to the book to see which lines you highlighted. So you would forget the line all the same, whereas if you wrote it down in a notebook that you checked over you would then see the line you wanted to remember.

To be honest I wouldn’t experience a separation, if I wanted to jot a line down I would just copy it down? And the rest of my thoughts I organise in my head. Or if I’m reading for academic purposes I make links between my notes afterwards.

Mmm … You know, I don’t think my purpose, in underlining or making a note in a book is specifically to remember a sentence or passage. It is purely, as others have said, to engage with it - to respond, to speak back - to say “yes, I get you”. And then a little of the wisdom or humour or whatever of the printed words becomes embodied in me - they make me more … whole. I don’t need to have learned them by heart.

Which is why it’s different to note-making for academic purposes. Thankfully it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever be examined on what I’ve read in the undergraduate format again, but now, even though I delight in the constant discovery involved in academic reading, there’s too much and the notes are too cumbersome for it to be a truly enriching experience. It feels more like building a house I don’t believe I’ll ever actually live in.

Mmm … You know, I don’t think my purpose, in underlining or making a note in a book is specifically to remember a sentence or passage. It is purely, as others have said, to engage with it - to respond, to speak back - to say “yes, I get you”. And then a little of the wisdom or humour or whatever of the printed words becomes embodied in me - they make me more … whole.. Yep hit the nail on the head.

@RampantIvy

It's quite enlightening to learn that so many readers take their literature so seriously. I must be rather shallow in that I only read a book for pure pleasure and to get lost in the story, and for no other reason.

If I’m reading a simple, quick and easy-read book like a crime thriller or just a bit of popular fiction, I rarely feel compelled to write anything. I just read it, enjoy the story and move on to the next. But if I’m reading something more challenging, more notable, then I may underline phraseology that leaps out at me, things I want to look up like historical references or unusual vocabulary, or things I just think are brilliant and clever. I’m a writer so that might be why I ponder the motivation behind the author’s choices.

@LukeEvansWife I hope that helps.

Oh, I don't just read quick, easy read books @Onairjunkie. I have read a lot of classics, one of my favourites being Jane Eyre. I am also a member of a book club. I just don't feel the need to make notes, although the anorak in me means that I follow up any geographical references on google map because I love geography.

I also google any historical references, especially when reading a Philippa Gregory or other historical fiction because it interests me.

I also enjoy a lot of non fiction.

Ah well I obviously don't read anything challenging enough - or I have been doing this reading thing all wrong. I enjoy books ( mainly electronic as I love being able to carry thousands of books) immensely and will literally be reading when walking along the street.

Perhaps I should change my settings to see what other people have highlighted!