PrairieAir Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 how do you do it? I've tried keeping a journal for several books with varying degrees of success. Too often I'm too engrossed in what I'm reading to stop and jot something down. Too often I'm lying in bed or on the couch reading--not a good position for writing notes. Do you read at a desk or table? Do you highlight passages, underline in pencil, or bookmark pages so you can go back and write quotes and your thoughts later? I want to do this, but I need a good method that will not interrupt the fow of my reading too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 I am interested in this, too. I am reading SWB's History of the Ancient World, and I feel like I should be taking notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 If I'm reading it for myself I will make notes in pencil in the book. If it is a book I want ds to read down the road, I'll use a notebook. I'm only starting to do that however, so I don't have a real system in place. The first book I ever truly notebooked was "The Pearl" I have notes all over that book. Then I got to the ending and hated it, the ending that is!!!! I was so mad, I had taken so much time with that book only to despise it in the end. I haven't gotten that detailed with a book since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieAir Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 If I'm reading it for myself I will make notes in pencil in the book. If it is a book I want ds to read down the road, I'll use a notebook. I'm only starting to do that however, so I don't have a real system in place. The first book I ever truly notebooked was "The Pearl" I have notes all over that book. Then I got to the ending and hated it, the ending that is!!!! I was so mad, I had taken so much time with that book only to despise it in the end. I haven't gotten that detailed with a book since. Oh yeah, the ending is a total downer. I think there's a lot of good there, though, so I'll forgive it. Of course I read it for the first time in high school and then never tried to re-read it while I had little babies of my own. That would have upset me. I had a parakeet in high school that I named Coyotito after the baby in the book:D This had nothing to do with my original response, but I'm running on little sleep and grabbing a cup of coffee and quick board break before taking the kids and some of dd's friends cosmic bowling. Plus it will bump the thread back up to the top and maybe it'll get some more responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 how do you do it? I've tried keeping a journal for several books with varying degrees of success. Too often I'm too engrossed in what I'm reading to stop and jot something down. Too often I'm lying in bed or on the couch reading--not a good position for writing notes. Do you read at a desk or table? Do you highlight passages, underline in pencil, or bookmark pages so you can go back and write quotes and your thoughts later? I want to do this, but I need a good method that will not interrupt the fow of my reading too much. bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in VA Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Just wanted to say that when I read the title of this thread it sounded like you were going to reprimand those who keep reading other people's journals.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I've used the pencil in the margins method. On a very few books I've actually sat down at the computer and have done an outline of the book. (These were non-fiction books that I really wanted to understand - one of them was "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I like a two journal system, one where I log the books I read and one that works out more like a quote journal. When I want more study or to mark things for discussion I tend to use pencil in the book or drylighters. I could never get the hang of outlining whole books as a separate document. Ok- I can do it but it just seemed time consuming by the time I was at university. It worked in high school with textbooks that are written that way but much harder with true primary and secondary source material. For fiction that I wanted to analyze I tended to list page references in notes and then mark the passages in the book. If I needed more than one or two words in the margin I would put my observations on the list with the page references. Perhaps a multi color system would help you for making notes in books-one color for quotes you want to pull, another for items to look up more information on, etc. I hope these ideas give you something to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Just wanted to say that when I read the title of this thread it sounded like you were going to reprimand those who keep reading other people's journals.:D I too thought it was about reading others' journals! Funny how sentences can be misconstrued. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.