Hey guys, today I’m coming at you with a fun and quick guide to annotating books! I don’t annotate every book I read but I do annotate most of them, to differing degrees! I’ve tried to incorporate as many different kinds of types of advice because everyone annotates differently!
TABS & HIGHLIGHTING
- I love tabbing my books, it’s always a good time for me.
- Don’t use really dark highlighters that will bleed through the pages. Press lightly and use brighter colours so if it does bleed through the pages, you should hopefully still be able to read the words!
TAKING NOTES
- I usually get my notebooks from Typo because they’re always on sale and they’re always nerdy which never fails to make me happy. They’re also super easy to use and have pockets in the dividers which is great for me to put my post it’s and tabs in if I’m taking the notebook with me when I leave the house. [LINK]
- To take notes I use my favourite pen ever – the black BIC Gelocity (with the white lines because I’m super specific) [AMAZON LINK] [WOOLIES LINK]
- I also use Mildliner HIghlighters when I take my notes – I own the pink, orange/peach & blue [AMAZON LINK]
TAKING NOTES 2.0
- When I write my notes on my phone I use the Inkpad app [LINK] because I can access the notes on my laptop and my phone – this makes writing my reviews easier because I don’t have to have my phone in the room with me.
- Writing notes on your phone is also super helpful if you don’t want to cart around a big notebook and a pen – using your phone is also super helpful for taking notes on the bus/ in the car because you won’t have illegible handwriting.
- If you’re going to write your notes on the actual pages I recommend a pen that isn’t really inky, like a normal biro.
HAVE FUN!
- When or if you write your notes, make it fun because super bring notes will be super boring to read through when you finish the book/write your review.
- Say what you actually think about the book whether your comment is a few paragraphs or just have a short comment like “WTF???”, it makes the whole experience of re-reading notes so much more fun. Especially, because re-reading your thought process and how you feel about the characters & plot as you read is always really interesting.
POST IT NOTES!
- If you love annotating your books physically and writing notes in your books but you’re reading a library book I recommend using post-it notes. Post its are great for whenever you find a quote you love that’s a bit too long to write down fully – they’re also amazing for writing down all your notes when you don’t want to put them on the actual page.
- Use post-it notes if you find a long quote you love – also easy to write notes with – if you’re going to recommend the book or write a review post-it notes are really helpful!
Post its are also super helpful if you’re reading a library book but want to have physical notes & indicators if you’re going to write a review and need to look back at the book.
DO YOU ANNOTATE THE BOOKS YOU READ?
DO YOU HAVE ANY ANNOTATING TIPS?
I HAVE I HAVE
allonsythornraxx 
These are all great tips! I’ve thought about trying to switch my reading up with annotating but have been a little nervous about trying it because I’ve only ever annotated for school stuff before.
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Thank you, I love annotating – I find it’s a really easy way to focus my thoughts and feelings on the book while I’m reading it and annotating and writing notes makes writing reviews way less daunting because I’ve basically already written the review, I just have to format it.
Annotating the books you read as you read them is also really helpful because when you do have books for school it won’t feel so different if you know what I mean.
If you’re feeling a bit nervous about annotating I recommend starting off with tabs and writing notes in a notebook or writing your notes/reactions on a post-it and stick it on the same page because I know a lot of people use that method.
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Great tips–thanks for sharing!
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💕💕
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I love what you said about annotating exactly what you’re thinking, even if it’s something like “WTF”. Sometimes I’ll go through my backlogged notes of books I haven’t read yet and just chuckle at the word vomit and profanities 😂.
Also, I find it really sweet that you physically write out your annotations?? I have mine all in my Notes app on my phone, and I realize that people must have actual notebooks, but it’s just so interesting to actually see pictures of it hahaha.
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Yes, I love reading those reactions back, it’s always so much fun! I especially love reading things like that when I’m re-reading the book!
I find it really therapeutic to write out my notes and I usually have to do that anyway because the majority of the books I read are library books, it doesn’t bother me though! I usually use my phone if I’m on the bus and then I transfer my notes to my notebook, I think both ways of writing notes are really helpful though!
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Great tips! I love underlining and tabbing my books as well! I freak out a little bit about writing in my own books because I don’t want my handwriting to look sloppy, so I usually write whatever I want to say on a post it note and stick it in the book. The only time I really use a notebook while reading is if I’m reading a review copy because then I have one place where all my thoughts are.
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Thank you! Me too, I find it so therapeutic to write out my thoughts as I read, I also love being able to clearly see how I felt about a book just by looking at it because of the tabs!
I often have the same problem, I really dislike my handwriting so I don’t always write in my books! I love the post it note method and I used to use that annotating method when I was first starting out! I think using a notebook is a great way to gather your thoughts for a review, so that method also works really well for me!
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Great tips, lovely! ♥ I’ve been wanting to start taking notes again lately because I used to all the time, but lately, I pretty much just take notes on my phone if I’m reading an anthology, and otherwise, I’ve only been tabbing pages for important quotes and leaving it at that. I hadn’t heard of the InkPad app but I like what you said about it syncing to your laptop so I’m about to go check it out!
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Thank you! ❤❤ I used to take notes while reading and then I stopped for a couple of years but now I’ve picked up the habit again and it’s already making my reading experience better! I find InkPad REALLY helpful and the syncing makes my life so so helpful – I hope you find it helpful too! 💕
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I don’t annotate on my physical copies, but I love writing on e books! Notes for reviews, favorite quotes and the occasional WTF too!
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I don’t annootate my physical copies often either because they’re usually from the library but I LOVE annotating my ebook copies, it’s so much fun!
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Love this post! i’d love it if you could do a post going in more depth on how you write your notes please. I try and make notes while reading because I know it’ll make my life easier but I never know what to write! I’m good at jotting down representation and trigger warnings but past that I just dont have any clue…
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Thank you!
I’ll definitely do that, I appreciate the feedback. If all goes to plan that post should be going up in the next couple of days!
Writing notes while reading really does make life easier so I’d be happy to show you methods!
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Omg yay!!! Thank you so much 🙏🏻💖
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Excellent! You know for the longest time I did not even think about taking notes while I read to use later. Sure I bookmark pages in my Kindle or fold corners but I don’t always go back. It’s like I thought taking notes for your reviews later is cheating. Lol! Book reviews stressed me out as a kid, I just wanted to read the book. I like to share and talk about books with other people now so it helps to learn how I can improve my reviews. This helps, thank you!!!!
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I’m glad this helped and I hope that taking notes becomes easier for you!
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