Annotating Literature

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I think annotating literature is a really fun way to deeply explore the ideas in books further by making notes or writing something of your own to take the idea and elaborate on it.  Marking passages and words is a good way to appreciate the book even more.  




Now, I personally really enjoy the idea of annotating a book or even getting a used book and being able to see what others thought of the ideas.  However, when I was younger I hated it and I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to write in a book and ruin it for the other people who would read it.  If you don't like the idea of annotating books, that's okay but just hear me out.  

Earlier this year, I believe it was this June, I took an online class using the book The Lord of the Flies.  Essentially, for the class, I had to answer and write a section, (one to three paragraphs) answering different questions and turn them in before Wednesday each week.  Lots of the time the questions were talking about specific sections in the book and I found it helpful to use sticky tabs and annotate the sections in the book that I thought I would be able to use.  

Most of the time I annotate using two different colors sticky tabs and a pencil.  When I use sticky tabs I use two different colors with two different meanings.  When I annotate a book for school I use one color and mark the "good lines" and another color to mark sections I think I will be able to use later or anything else useful.  I annotated "The Street" and used one color for words that I wanted to look up and another for good lines or sections.  When I use tabs in poetry books, I just mark my favorites.  

I have gone through my book of Mary Oliver's poems and annotated them.  Can I just say, Mary Oliver's poems are incredible and I don't know why I haven't read through the entire book already.  They are probably my favorite free verse poems and yes they are all free verse.  I really think annotating a couple of them has heightened my enjoyment of them immensely.   

What do you think about writing and annotating in books?  Let me know in the comments!  

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Comments

  1. Mark11/30/2020 2:38 PM

    One thing you may not realize is that the notes in book margins are preserved for posterity. My Dad would, on occasion, write something in the margin of a book, and it was a bittersweet feeling to see those things after he died.

    Beyond your own understanding of a book, the notes are also little messages to future readers.

    Mark

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