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This has always been something I've struggled with. I have a book open, pencil poised, and I just can't think of anything to write. I guess this is freaking me out a little (hence this post) seeing as they massively push this in Universities, and I'm just not who writes in books.

To a certain extent, I have nothing against making notes/underlining. Just as long as it's in pencil, and certainly not in highlighter. I see highlighted paperbacks and part of my soul blackens and dies...

A blogger I follow recently posted a picture of her copy of Middlemarch, lovely an annotated and pretty from use. Part of me dreams about being able to do that, and this is why I've made this thread. Does anyone have any tips for writing in them? My mind goes blank when I want to annotate something, therefore I have an absence of scribbles and underlinings in my books.

Any help would be much appreciated!

*looks at pictures*

Okay, I would seriously DIE OF GUILT if I did that to a book. I underline passages (in pencil) that really mean a lot to me sometimes, especially if it's philosophy or non-fiction of some kind, but to actually WRITE something? Well, okay, once I did write in the margin of The Life of Samuel Johnson, calling Boswell out for being an egotistical jerkface, but I was feeling uncharacteristically passionate about my opinion of him at the time, heh.

Um... all that to say, I have no advice, sorry. ;)

Oh dear god highlighting hurts. I could never do that. I've only done it once in a textbook because I needed to get the information down to the key points, and there was so much of it...

I've started doing underlinings and quick notes in the margins, in pencil of course. Paradise Lost is being good practice, as I'm generally writing really simply what is happening, and if there is anything that stands out, or references I don't understand. Perhaps I'll get better at it, I don't know!

It has been ages since I've done either, and that was mostly just in text books for school. (Shows how long ago it was I was in school). For text books it was usually just light pencil marks and then at the end of the year (or semester depending on the duration of the class) having to erase all the marks you made to return the book. I only highlighted in workbooks and books that we could keep. In college since you have to buy all your books anyway some of those I highlighted.

When doing theatre and they give you a script that doesn't have to be returned I of course highlight my lines, or if I as doing tech the cues for whatever tech I was doing. usually for techies you get photocopied pages of the script anyway so you can highlight them to your hearts desire and put them in whatever notebook works for you to use.

I've never written in any non-academic book. When I did it was to highlight (by underlining) key points that I thought would be useful in essay questions, or a note to better define a key term for myself, and cross reference to other parts of the book when I thought it was useful. I've never had to study any other kind of book. I imagine if I did, then I would employ the same strategy - just underlining key quotes, and making margin notes that clarified the meaning of a phrase or word, or make note of some literary device, or maybe even write questions to myself, or cross reference passages highlighting particular themes etc. I think the key point is that the annotations need to be useful to you, and they have no value beyond that. So just do what you are comfortable with. I'm sure that the more you do it, the more proficient you will get at making the right notes for you. :)

I would never put a mark on my book. I do however keep a page of notes in each book. It says where in the book I can find the description of characters, events that happened, what something is/does, the history of characters/objects/places, etc.
I would never in a million years put a pencil mark in my book. I don't know why. It could be my OCD with having things neat and in order, but I also find the notes easier. If you forget something you have all the details right there and you don't have to flip through pages trying to find the mark you made.

Holly I use post-it notes or note cards that way you don't ruin the book. Hope this helps :)

I would never do this. I actually feel like it would be wrong to mark a book in any way. I don't even highlight my kindle books. Love the post-it notes idea. My kids have been taught to do it that way at school.

The only books in which I write are cookbooks and psychology/self-improvement types. I write in cookbooks because it helps me for future reference. What I did or didn't like about a recipe. What I altered. Also, so I can remember which ones I've tried. (I have a lot of cookbooks.)

I write/highlight in my psychology books for essentially the same reason, and also because no-one-else-will-ever-see-them-they-will-be-destroyed-before-my-death.

Very interesting! I love annotating my books. When I finish reading a book I pretty much know if I will keep that book forever or if it will find a home with somebody else, but for those books that I do keep annotating is my way of making those books a deep part of myself. It's a way of honouring a writer to highlight a phrase or passage which has profounding shifted the way you view the world rather than disrepecting the book itself. I think it comes to this: do you respect the physical book or is it the ideas and soul of the writer poured out onto the pages which are most profound? For me, annotating makes a book mine. There might be millions of people out there with the exact same copy of Middlemarch but if you put them all together I would know mine because part of me is on those pages.

Oh Jude, you spoke exactly what I feel! The books I love and adore have my writing or highlighting everywhere in them! To me it's not a sign of disrespecting the book or author by making notes, highlighting even with highlighter, it says that you relate to what the author wrote on a deep level. The only time I don't make annotations or highlight is when it's an old copy that would be considered a collectible or if it's a book that just doesn't register with me. But that is just me and how I am. I don't think it makes me less if a book lover and I certainly don't view others who won't mark their books as loving them any less. It's just different.

They do little post it notes shaped like arrows I found this quite useful when I did my dissertation. When I was in school I remember being forced to write in some books we had to use for a piece of coursework so I brought myself duplicates, so I had an annotated copy and a pristine copy (I still have them both).

I have no inherent block against highlighting but I do like it to be neat. So I typically use two colors and a ruler (I kid you not). Notes are made on Post-its. If it is for say a semester long course, I may use thin transparent ones but if I need to come back to the book repeatedly I may use some of those that are more like index cards. Margin notes are for really critical info, esp. cross-referencing or definitions I absolutely need in order to understand what's on that page.

Since you have a block against highlighting, might I suggest highlighting tape? It comes on a dispenser and is colored but transparent. It can be removed, and if I recall correctly you can write on it.

Post-it flags as suggested above might be a less obtrusive option for you as well.

Finally, how about using an electronic copy? You can highlight and make notes without feeling like you have destroyed a physical book. That tactic seems similar to Abbey's.

In any event, I hope you find a solution that works for you!

I know this is an old thread, but this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I'm normally the person that would not write in my book for anything in the world. But lately my roommate started an English class in school and the professor showed on of his examples of annotative reading. I can't explain how or why, but I fell in love.

I started reading Eat, Pray, Love and I've been putting post-it notes all over the place. I haven't marked in the actual book yet, but if I decide to I'll just use pencil and stay as neat as possible. But I can't wait to reread some of my old books and annotate! The thought alone, annotating and really reading deeper into the writing, has me excited to finish more. This literally is getting me out of my reading slump.

I have read two interesting books about Marginalia, also known as writing in books. Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books and Romantic Readers: The Evidence of Marginalia by H.J. Jackson.

They are dense books, but worth a read if you have the time. They talk about why certain people write in books, and how.

I am glad you are out of your reading slump. Happy reading.

I've never written i. books but i enjoy getting books that have notes in them. I use the higlight feature ony kindle

I never write in books or highlight ebooks. Recipe books? - no, not even to adapt a recipe, as I use a recipe notebook & list a book & page reference plus the changes I made. My books have to look perfect! Though I have fond memories of my first couple of years teaching, when I used school text books annotated by my predecessor - her notes were invaluable, especially for topics where I wasn't very confident. She was wonderful - in an area the size of a postage stamp she could give a complete solution to the most complex problem.

I wrote in a book once, for my GCSE's, and only after I went to the shop and got the exact same book to keep as a pristine copy next to it. Since then the closest I got was post it noting my dissertation books for my BA and MA.

It evens feels wrong writing in a pretty notebook or journal, which is crazy because that's what they're for, but I just feel that I'm not going to write something worth while enough, and will thus have destroyed the beauty of it. - Writing this down makes me realise I may be crazy.

Abbey, I love having pretty notebooks. But I usually have them for ages before I start to use them - like you, I don't want to spoil them.

I have highlighted textbooks, just like almost everyone, Never in any other books. I keep a notebook and a phone file. If I see something that I want to remember, I jot it down in one of those places, noting where it came from. I like to remember certain passages or lines from favorite books. I look through it every now and then to refresh my memory.