My fondness for reading started very late (sigh in regret !!). I remember receiving my first book, Alice in Wonderland. I instantly fell for words and stories after reading it. The thing that first got me in this journey of reading about this book was an excerpt that I read. ‘If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.’. The urge to keep that forever in my heart and never forget that line compelled me to annotate for the first time in my life. I underlined that text and added a coloured tab at the corner end of that page. Ever since then, there was no turning back. Annotation became a part of my reading journey.
An annotation is an act of adding particular notes, comments and highlights in a book or any text. The whole purpose of it is to enhance the reader’s experience while reading. It aids in a comprehensive understanding, reaction and recall of the text. Annotating is a very personal and solitary experience for a reader! A lot of readers choose their own process of annotation; some choose to just add colourful tabs in the book for future references and then there come peculiar junkies who go full-fledged researchers with their reads; they use illustrations, coloured tabs and handwritten comments on every text they feel connected with! You can choose your style of annotation starting with baby steps… No hurry!!
Types of Books to Annotate
This dilemma on the types of books that one can annotate is very common for beginners. Usually, readers and academic students choose non-fiction to annotate for future references and practical use of the things they learn while reading. However, you can challenge this norm and go about annotating fictional books too. Whether you like or dislike any book, you can still choose to do your analysis in a book. It gives you a peek into your style of reflection on stories and perceptions of different characters. It is always refreshing to experiment with every read; Regardless of its genre.
Let me assist you with some interesting tricks and methods of adding your personal touch to your favourite reads… but before you read further, here is a small disclaimer…
Annotate only when you think that a particular text or plot-line is worth recalling for further reference while you decide to re-read the book; this not only helps in keeping your annotation technique more genuine, authentic, meaningful, and purposeful but also, guides you better during the second read.
Now.. let us get back to the baby steps…
Highlight….
Highlighting can be a very neat method for starters. First, read the whole page and then mark your favourite text. You can also use colour coordination for more clarity. Choose different colour highlighters for different references. For instance, I make the best use of highlighters in marking anything or everything interesting and appealing about all the characters. You can categorically use a lot of different colours for different characters; and if you don’t wish to dive that deep in the book, you can choose highlighters for your favourite quotes
A small tip – Only use highlighters when you read books with thick pages. If the pages are thin, the chances of confusing mess and soggy pages might ruin the whole annotating experience for you.
Utilize the Margins
There are so many passages that are very intriguing, it sort of becomes an urgency for the reader to add a comment and write a question around that passage or sentence. Now, if that book is not gonna stay with you for long then you always have an option to play it safe with pencils. Write down your questions and comments around the passage and erase it later, if necessary.
Sourcing Sticky Tabs
The person behind the invention of Sticky-note was a mastermind!! I mean it is so difficult in the present scenario to think about any academic work, reading or even a desk job without the usage of sticky notes! Colour-coded sticky tabs are the most known and practised form of annotating amongst readers.
You can use different coloured tabs for different emotional references. For example, You can choose yellow for laughing-on-the-floor text and passages, pink for aww-so-wholesome text, Blue for gut-wrenching-crying-your-eyes-out passages, Purple for this-is-the-most-romantic-thing-i-have-ever-read texts or excerpts and green for relatable-IRL(in real life ) lines and paragraphs. This can be a really fun and interesting way to use your tabs while annotating. Although, some book lovers go for aesthetics and like to keep it simple yet significant; that kind of reader chooses a single colour that goes in coordination with the shades of the book cover itself.
One additional purpose of sticky notes is that the little tabs peeking outside the pages spare you the trouble of keeping a bookmark within the pages and let you access the context you are looking for directly.
Symbols and illustrations
Symbols are a very fascinating way of annotations. You can use asterisks, inverted commas, question marks or letters denoting a feeling you want to write around a line or paragraph. Just write the purpose of those symbols that you are planning on using while annotating your next read. Let me assist you with some examples to understand.
You can use the * symbol for any important detail or fact to remember later while reading
- A long underline can be used under any important word or vocabulary to learn
- You can use ‘?’ when you feel a statement compels you to question the sentiments behind the text
- Exclamation marks can be used if any statement is very surprising and exciting
- You can draw heart emoji around a line that melts your heart
- Add lol as a comment next to lines that make you laugh till you are rolling on the floor
This can be very helpful for readers who want to take their good time to start going the full way in an annotation.
Book Journals and Notebooks
If you do not like to write anything in your book and keep it as new as a freshly published edition but still want to annotate it; you can use the classic technique of journaling about your reading experience. There are so many ideas and thought processes that one can pen down on paper whilst reading any novel. Journaling about books provides a lot of space for comments and reviews. You can jot down your favourite quotes from your current read, doodle your favourite emotions from different stories and summarize your thoughts at the end of every book in a very comprehensive manner. You can transform your journals into a customized book reviews.
My personal experience with journaling about novels has been very enriching. I create this amazing make-believe writer’s paradise with my journals. Write bullet points on the pros and cons about the book and even rate the book with my style. How amazing is that!?
Don’t hesitate to give it a chance. You never know! Journaling might turn you into an amazing writer from just an avid reader.
Conclusion
There is no correct way to mark your books and also no proper trend to follow while annotating.
While reading a book without adding any notes or comments, the individual mostly just soaks up all that the author has to offer. Annotating a book when reading is a way of turning it into your prized possession. You adapt a story and put your heart and soul into it while marking it and adding your opinions that stand out for you.
Some people are avid readers; but still, you observe stacks of clean books lined up on their shelves without any subtle visible hints of it being read once, twice or numerous times. I personally admire the readers whose copies are very difficult to even borrow; because they are worn out by notes and markings, proving how they have been leafed over and over again and how the reader has put their all into it.
By Manjari Gupta
