When I first started reading as a hobby again (rather than an academic obligation to get an A), I was investing in a bunch of transparent yet colorful sticky tabs and notepads so I could annotate every thought I had about the book.
I loved accompanying the author's words with my own thoughts, whether it was the vocabulary used, the shock value, or the romantic, dreamy lines that were memorable and sought after.
Whether the genre ranged from romance to fantasy to literary fiction, I would tab on a line that works for the book or one I really liked and wanted to remember.
However, one problem I have as a reader—and from the perspective of a writer—is that I am a very slow reader. It was always a problem since I was a child. I take my time reading each word, and I sometimes reread certain parts of the book I didn't get.
When a writer reads a book, they take into consideration the syntax and style used in the book and wonder how they can either replicate or reprimand it.
Adding colorful sticky tabs and notes just slows down the progress even further, and I worry more about the aesthetic pleasure of the reading journey than the journey itself.
Instead of grasping any information from the content, I am too distracted by the colors popping from the spread of my books. It takes away from the experience.
My Old Annotation Method
As a writer, it was still important for me to find learning opportunities while I read. Reading fantasy and romance novels still taught me a lot about sentence structure and using certain phrases in the correct context.
In these kinds of genres, I set up a system of sticky tabs that coincided with the following categories:
- something important to remember
- quality writing to admire
- something frisky and rash happened
- shocking!
- this pissed me tf off!
- aww cute
Regardless of whether I have been a published writer with years of editing experience, I'm still a girl with a teenage heart who enjoys reading and giggling to herself.
For literary fiction, the method is similar to that of the fantasy and romance genres. However, my reading strategy evolved to a more character-focused endeavor, especially when reading a character-driven novel. The more I learn about them, the more I can understand their motives and how they influence the plot.
Thus, the sticky-tab system would contain these categories:
- something to remember about [character name]
- I love how this was written
- this is an important detail
- shock value (potential plot twist)
- this pissed me tf off!
- aww cute
Because I'm a sucker for jumping on the bandwagon of great ideas, I also organized my sticky tabs into the color scheme of the book cover. It was a personal aesthetic choice that satisfied me long before I decided to disregard them altogether.
The Breaking Point
While there wasn't a clear breaking point when I finally stopped annotating my books, there was a time when I forgot my supplies were even there. They were buried in my drawer without a thought crossing my mind.
And when I started reading books from start to finish with ease and enough information retained, I finally started to notice how unnecessary it all was.
It became much more useful when I had assigned novels to read in World Lit., but picking out the colors for my tabs was difficult.
I looked at Iris Murdoch's A Severed Head, thinking, "What would go with this book cover?" knowing that I was wasting time that would've been used on my assigned readings.
The reason I would tab these readings in the first place was to remember certain details from the books that I thought would be used on a test. However, it was improbable that I would revisit those tabs. They were nothing but pieces of colorful paper that were going to be thrown out anyway.
Overall, it's both economically and pitifully wasteful, considering that one buys in bulk and then discards unwanted sticky tabs from borrowed or unwanted books.
Every time I am reading a book and I need to document something that happened in the book, I'm obsessing over trying to remember it rather than actually remembering anything at all. You could say that I have terrible recall, but the experience doesn't help me, regardless.
What I Do Instead
It's very simply said, but I just read a book until I reached its end. No more sideline conversations or colorful rivers flowing through the pages.
If I really wanted to document something about the book, it's a good thing I have a Goodreads account that allows me to update my progress and share my thoughts simultaneously.
What does reading look like to me? As a writer, I feel like it's such an ironic thing to say that I didn't always enjoy reading. Not because it was boring, but my process of reading led me to believe I was behind on it, or I wasn't reading right, and that explained the lack of enjoyment.
As social media increased the popularity of reading and literature, the aesthetics of reading became higher in demand, and participation seemed necessary.
However, being able to create an emotional and intimate connection with a book without distractions like sticky tabs and notes helped me understand the content and improve my reading experience.
Jotting brief notes down separately also helped in the process. Since I already have a thousand journals in my room, I stick with Goodreads whenever I update my reading progress.
Reading is not about competition on who can read the most books, and colorful sticky tabs won't prove that you are well-read, either.
Being able to grasp, react, and relate to the book and feel the emotional waves it elicits leads to a special bond with the book that sticky tabs could never accomplish.