Chaos Reading discussion

We ended up on a bit of a tangent in the Anti-Recommendations thread when Ruby mentioned notes. I don't take notes at all when reading for pleasure since I feel that it disrupts the process, and I'm usually reading on the tube so it'd be quite impractical.

Do you take notes? What do you write down, and why?

I never took notes in my life! I am becoming a great fan of the highlighting option in my kindle tho - as it singles that passage out for easy consult if you want to read it again or use it in discussion, or anything of the sort.

I do most of my reading in the subway/bus/breaks from work and between classes.I can't think of a way I could take notes in these cenarios. How do you people do it? Do you keep mental notes and then write everything down every night when u come home?

I tell myself "I must remember this for my review...", and then don't :-)

I am starting to bookmark the books I read on my phone.

Frozenwaffle wrote: "I never took notes in my life! I am becoming a great fan of the highlighting option in my kindle tho - as it singles that passage out for easy consult if you want to read it again or use it in dis..."

I do the same - If I'm out, I'll be on the Kindle/iPhone so I just highlight or note on that. If I'm at home reading a paper copy, I'll either "like" a quote or jot down something in the "private notes" section of the GR entry.

I only take notes if there's a really beautiful section that I want to look back on later, or something I think might be handy for a review. Otherwise, I tend to do what Derek does and forget all about it when the time comes! It has been interesting for me to be able to look back on my GR reviews. There is no way I would have remembered even half of that stuff!

Oh, before I got the Kindle I used to use page flags for my notes on hardcopies. I'd just keep a pack of sticky page flags on the coffee table and when I came across something of note, stick the page flag in and make a small note or prompt on the plastic. Once I'd written my review, I just pulled out the page flags and voila! Pristine book!

The only time I've made notes actually ON the book was while reading Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition. It's written in it's own language, and there are multiple meanings to words and phrases, has its own mythology etc. Part of the fun was "decoding" it. Derek is about to find that out very soon.... :)

i highlight on my kindle and additionally i have a lil notepad app that was developed for it, so if i have any additional notes to add on a title, i title each 'note' with the book title and then cite the page number that corresponds to my comments about it...

i mostly use my notes and highlights to refer to when posting excerpts of works i especially like, which i pair up with imagery that i feel speaks to the passage...i post these snippets in my reading forum at my chatsite, which is a primarily non-interactive space where i provide reading material and others come to quietly read...

When I read, I'm a little more of a visual learner than a logical one. So, I draw the characters in my books, or I draw because I'm bored and I forget to erase my drawings (always!), so they're always there.

I keep reading journals. I am on my 2nd one now. I write down any quote or passage that really awes me or shows why the book is important. I often read through these writings from time to time, and its like enjoying the books all over again.

I used to have a bedroom wall of dark raw bricks, and would write my favourite quotes in glow-in-the-dark chalk. I could kind of make them out as I was falling asleep at night.

Scared the bejeesus out of the guy who broke in while I was sleeping. Well, more the combo of scrawled Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm quotes along with the pentagram. And then when I arose from under the quilt and started screaming.....

Rida wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Scared the bejeesus out of the guy who broke in while I was sleeping. Well, more the combo of scrawled Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm quotes along with the pentagram. And then when I aros..."

Yeah that was almost ten years ago now! It's all good - I scared him way more than he scared me. He didn't know there was anyone home. Plus I saw him walking back from the shops one day and followed him back to his house. From then on, I'd walk that way home from the shops every time and stop out the front of his place for a while. Just lurking. Totally creeped him out :)

Ruby wrote: "I'd walk that way home from the shops every time and stop out the front of his place for a while. Just lurking. Totally creeped him out :) .."

You should have scrawled more pentagrams and glow-in-the-dark Nietzsche quotes on his house, that would have been epic.

Whitney wrote: "You should have scrawled more pentagrams and glow-in-the-dark Nietzsche quotes on his house, that would have been epic...."

Oh yeah - my friends and I debated all the things I could've done: pentagrams on the driveway, goat entrails on the lawn, random runes in his letterbox with a picture of the old mobile phone he stole..... bwahahaha! I never called the cops since he didn't really take much, and he had a wife and small daughter. I didn't want to punish them, just freak him out. And I did. I used to see him peeking at me through his kitchen blinds. :)

I have a writing journal that sometimes serves its purpose as a reading journal. I also write down favorite quotes (I love quotes!) and if planning to write a review, notes to keep my thoughts organized. I've found that I forget things if I don't!

Do you ever go back and read what you've written?

I find I rarely go back and look at my old reviews unless something in one of the discussions here prompts me to.

I don't take notes unless I'm reading in a foreign language, to remember a certain word or expression that might come in useful. If I take notes, I do it in a notepad. I don't like to write my books. In my own language, if I want to go back to some paragraph, I mark it with these 'flags' sticky things that you can remove without damaging the book.

Ƥαʋℓα Я ♏❥ wrote: "I don't take notes unless I'm reading in a foreign language, to remember a certain word or expression that might come in useful. If I take notes, I do it in a notepad. I don't like to write my book..."

Yeah! Another page flagger! It's nice to know I'm not the only one :)

Ruby wrote: "Do you ever go back and read what you've written?

I find I rarely go back and look at my old reviews unless something in one of the discussions here prompts me to."

Come to think of it, I don't go back and read what I wrote that often, even if I am writing the review. But sometimes I do. And I LOVE quotes. (I said that.)

I write down quotes I enjoy, and maybe a few guesses as to what is going to happen.

I get a lot of books from second hand book stores and the like and I always get a kick out of getting a book that someone's written notes in.

I have a couple of JG Ballard's short story collections and whoever had them before me has rated each story. Next to the name on the contents page it says Good, V. Good, Poor, etc.

Joseph wrote: "I have a couple of JG Ballard's short story collections and whoever had them before me has rated each story. Next to the name on the contents page it says Good, V. Good, Poor, etc. ..."

I couldn't handle someone else's notes - I think it would sully my own experience. I have rated short stories in collections before too, but only if I plan to write a review.

Joseph wrote: "I get a lot of books from second hand book stores and the like and I always get a kick out of getting a book that someone's written notes in.

I have a couple of JG Ballard's short story collection..."

How annoying Joseph. I want to read some of Ballard's short stories.

Oh I quite like it. I can understand how it would annoy people - and I don't leave notes in books myself.