I used to be against marking up books, but sometimes I just have to. If I'm reading a rather long book or dense fantasy novel, I will mark passages with a highlighter and tab pages with small post-its. It helps me remember what's happened in the book.
I underline, for sure. And I go back to novels and essayists and look for those passages. I love this essay on reading. You should see all my books by Nabokov--it was hard for me not underline everything--which of course would have been silly. but you get me point.
Sorry to say, but I get really annoyed if I read a book that someone else has written in. My husband underlines when he reads, which “ruins” the book for me when I want to read it! I like to put removable tabs on pages when I read - I can go back to specific pages and re-read the passages I wanted to remember, without damaging the reading experience for someone else who might pick up that book in the future. I don’t mark the specific passage - just the page - so I can re-read the entire page and relive the reading experience.
Very true. I guess I'm imagining that I would hold on to my books. I do wonder how other readers react to the underlines when they're sent out. Do you think they double underline if they like it? :)
Yes! Yes, I do! And I just posed this question on my FB page last week. Especially curious to me was if others did this to fiction and not just nonfiction/self-help. With fiction, when a sentence makes me stop and gasp at its beauty, I want to capture it on the page. I used to dogear and sometimes I still do, but highlighting takes me right back to that beautiful passage. Do I ever go back? Umm. Nope. Not so far. Also, I don't write fiction. Yet. Not sure if I'll get around to that genre....
I've only started doing this in the last year or two, but I'm a big fan of defacing books with my own scrawl and notes now. It makes them feel mine, it makes me feel more connected to them, plus it makes it good to come back to them and find sections I loved (or didn't love) and read my own note marginalia.
I always want to be that person who marks up a book--nonfiction or fiction--but I just can't bring myself to do it. To me, stopping to highlight or underline impedes my enjoyment of the story. If I'm caught up in the book, I just want to read, read, read, not stop!
Maybe it depends on the book. For me, I'm often studying writing (for my own enjoyment) when I'm reading now, so the process of stopping to underline and take notes etc is part of all that. If it's purely a page-turner, I'm less inclined to do this, but if it's a meatier piece of fiction or some classic then I've started annotating a lot and it's been a lovely process.
Somehow, I find it hard to bring myself to mark up a book. I used to, in English class, for sure. But I have those urges and connections all the time when I'm reading! Sometimes I use post-its, but that gets hard to manage. After reading this, I feel like maybe I might change my thinking on this if it's a book I plan on keeping.
I used to be against marking up books, but sometimes I just have to. If I'm reading a rather long book or dense fantasy novel, I will mark passages with a highlighter and tab pages with small post-its. It helps me remember what's happened in the book.
Yes, agreed. I just love the idea of knowing the parts that hit me when I read it because it's always impossible to go back and find them!
I underline, for sure. And I go back to novels and essayists and look for those passages. I love this essay on reading. You should see all my books by Nabokov--it was hard for me not underline everything--which of course would have been silly. but you get me point.
Haha! Yes, sometimes you want to underline the whole book. I felt that when I was reading Black Cake. So many great lines!
Sorry to say, but I get really annoyed if I read a book that someone else has written in. My husband underlines when he reads, which “ruins” the book for me when I want to read it! I like to put removable tabs on pages when I read - I can go back to specific pages and re-read the passages I wanted to remember, without damaging the reading experience for someone else who might pick up that book in the future. I don’t mark the specific passage - just the page - so I can re-read the entire page and relive the reading experience.
Very true. I guess I'm imagining that I would hold on to my books. I do wonder how other readers react to the underlines when they're sent out. Do you think they double underline if they like it? :)
Yes! Yes, I do! And I just posed this question on my FB page last week. Especially curious to me was if others did this to fiction and not just nonfiction/self-help. With fiction, when a sentence makes me stop and gasp at its beauty, I want to capture it on the page. I used to dogear and sometimes I still do, but highlighting takes me right back to that beautiful passage. Do I ever go back? Umm. Nope. Not so far. Also, I don't write fiction. Yet. Not sure if I'll get around to that genre....
I've only started doing this in the last year or two, but I'm a big fan of defacing books with my own scrawl and notes now. It makes them feel mine, it makes me feel more connected to them, plus it makes it good to come back to them and find sections I loved (or didn't love) and read my own note marginalia.
Agreed. 👍🏼 This is me
I always want to be that person who marks up a book--nonfiction or fiction--but I just can't bring myself to do it. To me, stopping to highlight or underline impedes my enjoyment of the story. If I'm caught up in the book, I just want to read, read, read, not stop!
Maybe it depends on the book. For me, I'm often studying writing (for my own enjoyment) when I'm reading now, so the process of stopping to underline and take notes etc is part of all that. If it's purely a page-turner, I'm less inclined to do this, but if it's a meatier piece of fiction or some classic then I've started annotating a lot and it's been a lovely process.
Some prose are so perfect they need to be pondered and reflected upon. I certainly go back and smile at my highlights.
Somehow, I find it hard to bring myself to mark up a book. I used to, in English class, for sure. But I have those urges and connections all the time when I'm reading! Sometimes I use post-its, but that gets hard to manage. After reading this, I feel like maybe I might change my thinking on this if it's a book I plan on keeping.