Blog Discussion: Making Notes While Reading

Discussion: Do You Make Notes While Reading?

Published on by Sushmita Fervently Curious

First, let me apologise for being MIA for a while. Life has been keeping me busy but I have been reading; A LOT! I am reading Queen Of Shadows currently, and over the weekend, I finished the first three books in the series. The review will be posted soon, I hope. Anyhoo, on to the post.

I have been watching a lot of booktubers and I have noticed how a lot of them have notes about the book they are reviewing. I understand that they need something akin to a summary of what they will be talking about. But that left me wondering if we as book bloggers take notes. I know I don’t, not as of now anyway. But I can imagine how having my thoughts written down can help me write better reviews and even better discussions.

Now, the majority of the books I read are on my Kindle. I know I have the option to highlight and take notes on the device. Yet, I only use that functionality to highlight quotes I like. I am dead set against not touching my physical copies with a pencil or a pen, though! So if I have to mark quotes I usually write them down in a book I have especially for quotes.

I have been researching online and found a lot of articles on how to take notes while reading, but they sound very academic to me and I am not sure if notes while reading a novel would be the same as notes while reading a textbook.

Apart from what I think, you guys tell me. Do you make notes while reading? If yes, then how? Do you have a set format on how you make notes? What are the benefits, apart from the above of making notes?

For those, like me, who don’t take notes while reading. Have you ever wondered if you should? Would you be willing to take notes in the future?

Talk to me, I am beyond confused! 😦 

 

35 thoughts on “Discussion: Do You Make Notes While Reading?”

  1. I sometimes make notes while I am reading, but usually I wait until after. I finish the book, pick up my spiral notebook and write down all of my opinions. Then I sit on them for a while before writing the review.

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  2. I like this topic! I do take notes, but very sparingly. It’s usually just stuff like “omg I do NOT like this person” or “insta-love here, goodbye” type notes… I need to know what my first impressions/reactions are so I can mention them in my review. I don’t annotate my physical copies either, though – usually for those notes I write them down on like a scrap piece of paper. 🙂

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    1. Thank you! ❤
      I could do something like that I believe. This is easier to do and remember what I felt when I first read something. Oh god, I absolutely hate any kind of marks on my book! Therefore, the Kindle it is when I am reading a book for the first time. I don't know why, but I love the ease the Kindle gives me. I don't have go hunting for a pen and paper at least.

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        1. I must speak to you if I want a more organized system for blogging. I must! Google sheets and now notes.. you are the one to look at my friend!
          p.s. sorry if this sounds weird, I am kinda lost in a literary world and can’t help but speak like some of the characters. Its driving my mom crazy :p

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        2. Haha, I really wouldn’t say I’m the most organised blogger around… I love spreadsheets a LOT though and a huge part of my job is trying to be organised, so. 😛

          It doesn’t sound weird at all, don’t worry! If it does, I hadn’t noticed. ❤

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  3. Interesting question! I take notes for “serious” reading, for school or when I had internships in the publishing industry. In those cases, details can matter.

    While reading for pleasure/reading something I might review on the blog, no. I like to write down all my impressions when I’m done with the book so I don’t forget, but that’s about it. Even though I think I write somewhat long reviews for the book community, I still consider my reviews fairly short pieces of text. It’s really just enough space to get down general impressions about the plot, characters, and writing style, so usually tons of detail isn’t required. Or details are actually considered spoilers.

    I’d probably take more notes if I didn’t try to review the books shorting after finishing reading them, though. I’d also take more notes if I didn’t read fairly quickly. I tend to binge read and finish books in a couple days, so remembering what happened isn’t a problem, If I had to read a book over two weeks, notes might be good.

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    1. I can relate! I used to take notes during college and school but now I am far too invested in the book to bother. I binge read too, but I wait a while before I review. Simply because I like to sit with my opinion for a while and contemplate. God alone knows for what, but I do :p
      I might start making notes, the way you do though. Helps to keep things in mind when I finally do write a review.

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  4. This is such a great subject 🙂 I don’t take notes while I read, because I can’t be bothered to stop reading, actually, and I’m kind of counting on my mind to bring up everything I want to, once I’m trying to write a review. I don’t really like stopping to take notes, however very soon after I’m done, I do a very quick very short first-impressions review on Goodreads, and I go back to it when I’m actually writing my review 🙂

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    1. Thanks Marie ❤
      Hahaha… I forget to take notes as well. I am just so very invested in the book that coming back to real life and actually thinking becomes difficult. I hope that makes sense? :p
      I like that! The whole Goodreads thing. I have seen others do the same. I might give that a shot! Right now I am just on the look out for all the ideas I can get. Then I will experiment and hopefully find a way of my own.

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  5. I never wanted to write anything down into a book. It’s sacred, somehow. But I am losing grasp of that point of view due to many others praising it and making it out to make the experience of reading even more beautiful. I currently just take notes for books in the blog post draft that I am going to use anyway. I’m also wondering how to take better notes for better reviews, but this is quite new to me.

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    1. I know what you mean Lisa! I love looking at other peoples notes in the book but when it comes to me, I start to freak out. I need to make notes too, so desperately need that. Which is why this post, there are so many things other bloggers do. You should read the other comments, maybe they will help?

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  6. I’ve actually been thinking this for a while now 🙂 I do take notes sometimes, when I feel that I have a particularly important point that I should mention, but other than that: no. I always forget to haha.

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  7. Great post! Very interesting 😀 I don’t make notes while I’m reading, unless I find a quote which is brilliant, and I want to remember it. But even then, I will more likely leave a book mark on that page than make notes 🙂 It does seem like a good idea, though, to make sure you remember things 🙂

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  8. Taking notes while reading is a must for me. I find it a lot easier to write a review when I have these notes close by. Like you, I don’t like writing in my books; however, when I do want to take notes in my books, I usually use Post-its. Usually they are color coordinated to specify what I’m marking, which sounds really dorky, but is really helpful when you’re trying to write something about a specific character or the plot of a book. Sometimes I take a lot of notes, sometimes I don’t take very many but I do find that it helps me to recount the novel, to organize my thoughts, specifically if I have a certain impression of a character at the beginning of the book and it changes at the end. I don’t have a specific method that dictates what I should take notes on, but anything that feels like it might be important to understanding the characters or plot is a good way to approach it. Nice discussion post!

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    1. I have spoken to few more people who say taking notes helps them understand the plot and character arc better. I am starting to see how that helps as well. I find it so hard though, to read a book critically ☹️
      I love the whole colour co-ordinated idea! I know it makes taking and understanding notes very easy. I used the colour method for taking notes during college.
      Thank you! ❤️

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  9. I’ve really been trying to start taking notes more as I read–I have a Kindle, but don’t use it as often as I read physical books. But I’ve been at least trying to make note of neat quotes that I liked by jotting them down (I’ve been using my phone as much as anything else). I think it will help me write better reviews; that’s my hope, at least. But I tend to get caught up in the book and forget about it, which I think is okay. If you don’t want to take notes while you read, I don’t think you should feel any pressure to do so.

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    1. Haha…. I know what you mean about being caught up in the book! I also agree that I shouldn’t feel pressured to take notes. I shall keep that in mind.
      But like you said, I am guessing taking notes will help me write better reviews. So I MAY try, may being the key word here.

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