THOUGHTS ON ANNOTATING BOOKS

Writing this at around midnight while listening to some jazz (Nighttime Ramen by Chillhop Music) on Youtube. Temperature: AC reads 25 but feels cooler.

I brewed coffee, added some milk to it and I just can't seem to put myself to sleep yet. I still feel full from having some fried sweet potatoes in butter. What a lovely snack after doing the chores.

I want to write my thoughts on annotating books. This year, I stumbled upon an article by Mortimer Adler, titled How to Mark a Book. It is from The Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1941. He wrote about annotating books and why we should mark our books to truly own them. Well, of course, that is if the books were purchased by you or they were given as a gift.  He also mentioned the 3 types of book owners. I really loved the article and I have shared it with some of my book-lover friends.

I didn't usually write in books. I usually kept them good as new, although I didn't develop the habit of covering them with vinyl, plastic, or paper. But this year, I made a 180-degree change by writing in the books I've read and I felt better by doing so. I made notes on new vocabularies, wrote down my immediate reactions, some sentiments I wanted to share as if talking to the author. I highlighted sentences, underlined funny remarks, circled unusual names and words. Annotating is leaving imprints of you. Writing in books means sharing some pieces of your thoughts and soul.

Normally, I highlight using my Stabilo in pastel green because it's not overwhelming to look at. Green because, duh, it's my favorite color. If I need to make some notes, I use a 0.5 mechanical pencil or 0.3 Pilot G-Tech since it's micro-fine. Notes are usually placed in margins.

I do reread books. I tried rereading one of the books that I made some notes in and I was so happy to see the annotations. They were actually helpful and made things easier for me when it comes to speed and keen comprehension. Felt like reading a journal or diary entry. In my opinion, marking a book can come in handy when you need to do a book review and you want it to be as detailed, as personal, and as comprehensive.

I want to add some pics but they are yet to be taken. Will try to make some updates asap.