Annotating your books is not sacrilege.
I grew up around people who didn’t believe in annotating. Books were always to be kept polished and pristine, like china. I do not share this belief—which is probably another reason why an ereader is best for me. I spent most of my adolescence borrowing books from libraries. Naturally, defacing public property is frowned upon. This made it even harder for me to start annotating when I finally started buying my own books.
Trust me, it’s nothing akin to vandalism. The exact moment I decided to really try it was inspired by a TV scene. I was 12 or 13 years old and convinced Rory Gilmore was living my best life in a parallel universe. A montage of the stunning Jesse Mariano doing a variety of chores while periodically pulling out a paperback from the back pocket of his fitted jeans to read and annotate was seared into my brain. I recall it vividly: he had a pencil behind his ear as while reading a passage, dark brows furrowed in deep thought. I thought to myself: that is the man of my dreams. Also, I should start doing that.
I would like to take this moment to thank Jesse Mariano for helping me unlock a vital component of making reading experiences enjoyable. Here are three reasons why you should start doing it, too.
You deepen your engagement with the book.
Annotating captures your reaction to what you’ve just read. You are forced to pause and consider both the text and your thoughts a little longer than you would have otherwise. Doing this makes you an active reader. Your eyes aren’t simply glossing over words. You are considering the meaning behind them, evaluating their significance to you. That, my friends, is the essence of thinking.
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You increase your chances of remembering what you read.
Have you ever had at least one teacher ban laptops for notetaking in class? Did she go on to extol that writing helps with memory retention? She was right. They all were. Physically annotating a book (highlighting, underlining, writing a note, etc) engages more senses. The concerted effort of multiple senses to understand makes the thought memorable. Mortimer J. Adler, the author of the short essay, How To Mark A Book, says:
To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions.
You personalize the reading experience and book.
What distinguishes one copy from a hundred others on one shelf at a bookstore? Nothing. That is, until you buy it, crease the spine, read it, and annotate it. Your imprint makes the book unique. Reading a book is a chance to immerse into one person’s deepest thoughts and feelings. It’s personal. Annotating is a way of reciprocating and conversing with those thoughts and feelings. Make the encounter unique for you.
Closing remarks
Don’t click out of this article feeling like you need to have profound thoughts when annotating. I typically just highlight striking passages. I add a little note as to why it caught my attention. Sometimes it’s as simple as paraphrasing the passage into simpler terms. As always, do what works best for you.
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My most recent annotation is from Madonna In A Fur Coat:
We rarely seek that which we do not expect to find. Send a hero into a dragon’s den, and his task is clear. It is a hero of another order who can summon up the courage to lower himself into a well of which we have no knowledge.
But isn’t this how souls come together, by holding another’s every idea to be true and making it their own?
Share your recent annotations below!