Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Do you take notes about the book you are reading as you read?
In brief, no. I don’t take notes of any fiction I’m reading, which is a big bulk of my reading. The closest I come is that I will occasionally flag or underline (in a book I own, of course) a quote that strikes me, often to be written down in my quotes notebook later–but not in the midst of reading. And even that happens…I don’t know, one book in fifty? Or even a hundred?
I will note, when the fifth book of Valente’s Fairyland series came out, I reread the previous four with a pencil in hand, and did copious underlining (like, every page…) because they’re that brilliant. But that’s a vanishingly rare situation.
I also read spiritual books, and for those books I do a lot more flagging or underlining. I have a spiritual journal as well, and after I read one of my spiritual books I transcribe quotes into my journal. But again, it’s after I read the book–I don’t stop reading to copy things out. I tried that and didn’t like it.
Reading is relaxing for me–or it’s a quick snatch in a small space of time. In either case, it’s not conducive to copying down notes.
Do you take notes while you read? Or do you flag things to make notes later?
Cheryl, I never make notes when I am reading fiction either. But I do try to makes notes or note down quotes when I am reading spiritual non-fiction for my church’s book club. I love how you transpose spiritual quotes over to your spiritual journal – I think that would be a great idea for me to start doing in my prayer journal, thank you!
A. Goodness, no. But then, I don’t read text books any more. Then I’d need to refer to my notes again. For reviews – if I can’t remember it, and didn’t highlight it on the ebook, it wasn’t important. 🙂
When I read a physical book, I mark the page and come back to it after I finish the book. When I listen to an audiobook, I will stop it and write the line/paragraph down. But only if it is a really amazing…
Like you, I flag or underline sentences and passages in spiritual books I read. Otherwise, I don’t do that at all for fiction or even non-fiction books. I do find it interesting to see what sentences others have underlined in the books I read on my Kindle. They are not highlighted in my copy, but lightly underlined with a broken line under the sentence or passage. I would have to actually highlight the same passage myself to really make it stand out – and, if it’s a spiritual book, sometimes I do!