Keeping a record of book passages

[poppy]

Lots of people put quotes from books when they are reviewing them and I wondered how they keep a record of these.

Do you write them down as you find them, make a note in the margin, search desperately for them later?

I've recently discovered those little sticky booktags, which are brilliant. My book ends up looking a bit like a colourful hedgehog sometimes by the time I've finished. And of course with Kindles now, you can highlight passages.

[Devi]

I write/type mine down, I don't like marking my books with pencil or pen, it's almost like defacing the book!

 

I however make exception when my mum gifts me books, she writes a little message with the date she gifted it to me on the inside cover.

[pontalba]

I don't do too much note taking anymore. But when I do I tend to underline in pencil, and bracket the suspect lines in the margin. Cross references also. Occasionally I'll write a definition of an unknown word in the margin as well.

 

I know many people, like Devi above don't like to mark their books, and I can appreciate that. I verra rarely mark a good hardback, but trade paperbacks are at my mercy! I look upon them as workbooks.

 

poppy, I tried using the teensy sticky notes and my copy of Lolita ended up looking like some weird quilt thingy! lol So I made notes instead.

[bree]

I have a little "diary" - and if I'm reading in the day hours - I pause to scribble down the page number - and when I'm done with the book - I go back to the pages and pick out the bit that had caught my eye.

 

But if I'm reading at night - more often than not, the diary will be no where near - and I'll just hope to remember it later - and then "search frantically afterwards" for it

 

Sticky book-tags sound nice - I should look it up.

[poppy]

 

But if I'm reading at night - more often than not, the diary will be no where near - and I'll just hope to remember it later - and then "search frantically afterwards" for it

 

I don't make notes in books but it doesn't shock me if people do, it's their book after all. I do get annoyed when people correct typos in library books, though (I always think 'who are they trying to impress??')

 

I'm like you at night bree, I try to convince myself I'll remember the page number because I'm too lazy to make a note of it, but of course I never do.

[Nollaig]

If there's something I really wanna remember I'll either type it up on my computer or make a note of the page number to go back to later to write it up.

[Devi]

I was browsing through Odd Thomas the other day and found a page that i wanted to take notes from. Instead of writing/typing the notes, I memorised the page number. Big mistake, I can't remember what page number it was, all I remember now is it had two 2's.

[ashleighjane]

Sometimes I will 'highlight' using my kindle, but sometimes that seems more bother than it's worth, so I just type it up.

 

If it's in a physical copy of the book I tend to fold the corner of the page.

I was browsing through Odd Thomas the other day and found a page that i wanted to take notes from. Instead of writing/typing the notes, I memorised the page number. Big mistake, I can't remember what page number it was, all I remember now is it had two 2's.

 

Odd Thomas is a great book I didn't like it's sequel very much though.

[Talisman]

I just highlight them with my Kindle - it's the easy option and it saves time and paper.

[chesilbeach]

When I read paperbacks, I'd rarely quote anything from the book in my review, unless it was something that had particularly stood out while I was reading, and then I'd just go back and look it up. Like others have said, now I'm reading mostly Kindle books, I have started highlighting quotes occasionally.

[Janet]

I like the highlight function on the Kindle.

 

With paper books I usually put a tiny slip of paper in a page when I want to remember something. If it's a book club book then I might mark certain passages, but only ever in pencil.

[Chrissy]

I have this bizarre ability of sorts whereby I can find the quote I am thinking of by flicking back through the book. My theory is that it was something that evolved during my degree years when I had to be able to make references throughout my work and was reading so many many books my brain just came up with it's own solution.

 

Aside from this, especially if it is a line or passage that I need / want to share, I will write it down in one of my many 'to hand' little notebooks, where it'll sit alongside the shopping lists, random 'phone numbers and snatches of wild thoughts and ideas.

[Athena]

These days I don't write in any of my books. When I was younger, I wrote my name in a few that I lend to other people. This may sound odd but I've never thought of keeping a record of book quotes or passages. Is that weird? I've never really needed to I guess. Just recently, I've begun to take notes (on the computer) about books I've read. I guess my reading experience is improving!

[lauraloves]

I used highlight on my kindle too and try to remember things in my paper books,

[bobblybear]

I use the highlight feature in the Kindle. I've only actually started using it on the last book I read, as it makes it easier to remember things when writing reviews.

 

I never used to write in paperbooks as I hate to deface them even if I own them. It's odd, but I can't even bear to scribble in my textbooks.

[frankie]

I have a notebook for quotes and thoughts on books and other things I want to remember, note down etc. When I'm reading a book and find something I want to write down, I might use a piece of paper to record the page number and a few words and then I'll just make sure that I don't lose the piece of paper. I sometimes have piles of these papers to go through. When I have more time on my hands I will then write all the things down on the notebook (it looks a lot nicer when I do it in peace and know what I'm going to write. If I 'freestyle' in the notebook it'll look a lot messier!).

[Karen]

I love quotes and keep a record of the most memorable ones in a simple Word document.  The majority of them are taken from books, but I also have a collection from movies and even television shows.

 

I always used to jot down the page number while reading but more recently I've started using post-it flags to mark the exact place on the page.  The official post-it ones are the best because they're really sticky and reusable but I recently found some greats ones in Waterstones which work just as well and are a lot cheaper.

[Peahen]

I think it is the literature graduate in me, that my books I love to have them dog eared, highlighted and notes in the margin and it always then brings something further to the reading when I pick up the book again.  Saying that my non studied books, I tend to read without highligting or noting and then often wish I had. 

[Brook]

Once I have underlined my favourite passages a book really feels like my own special copy - no longer a mass produced paperback, but something unique. I like it when I get a book from a second hand book shop or a library and there are highlights and notes all over it. It's nice to wonder about the person who owned it before and why the bits they highlighted were important to them.