I am 62 (going on 63) and have been reading my whole life. I have always wanted to annotate but I just have never been able to bring myself to marking my books, but it never ever occurred to me to do it as a form of reacting to the characters or the story. In almost everything I read there are times I stop to yell, laugh, be sad, call out liar, etc... to the characters or the author for that matter. I am going to give this a try and just react to the book (maybe use post it note, lined ones or maybe the clear ones). Anyway thanks for sharing your ideas
I am glad to hear it, because i jad such "problem" too. I wanted to ask, how it went? Did you try it in your bools? Do you like it? I wish you great time and peaceful moments with whatever you will still do in your life and your books
For the longest time I was the person who REFUSED to write in my books but within the last year I’ve really been getting more into it so I’m still figuring it out 😅 but this video definitely helps me navigate the waters a bit better so thank you!
I LOVE rereading a book I’ve annotated and seeing my old comments. It’s like having inside jokes with myself which I guess is kind of weird haha but it’s so fun
this is like the perfect ultimate guide to annotating, as someone who annotates! i think what's hard to grasp when you first start is the freedom of annotating-if you start annotating a book and the method isn't working, you can either stop or try a different method! you don't ever have to use color if that's not your thing, or you can just tab so you can revisit your favorite pages. it's such a fun process if you allow yourself to do what feels right instead of what you feel you *have* to do. good luck everyone and thank you mel!
literally all of this! the beauty of annotating is the freedom to adjust it to whatever works for you as the reader. as anything else, it’s a whole journey, but it’s super fun❤
The reason I personally like to annotate is because it makes my book one of a kind. When I seize to exist or pass the books along I will forever be part of that copy and that copy only. When my friends and family go through my stuff they can find me in the pages of my favorite book. I just find the thought, that they should look at my books one day, hoping to connect with me, and my copies looking like every other new edition from Amazon, kinda sad Also, if I put myself down in enough books I'll basically live forever, which is fun too I guess
That just changed my whole perspective on it. My wish has always been to have a library for friends and family, but above all for my children. I thought it was a shame that they wouldn't be able to enjoy the book undisturbed, but this view is much nicer!
Even though annotating isn’t for everybody, I think it is a beautiful way to interact with the book. You are becoming one with the story, and it feels like you are putting your love through the pages just by tabbing, writing, or highlighting certain elements in the book. Thank you for these tips, Mel, this would surely help me get my hands dirty by putting my love and interaction into my books. Love your energy, girlie. Can’t wait for more of your chaotic videos in the future ❤❤
obsessed with this background, this green sweater on you, your energy in this video, your makeup and everything you said, basically (as always) just very obsessed with you 🫶
Okay love this!! I’m not much of an annotator because I get anxious about potential future unhauling, so I really appreciated your ideas about writing on sticky notes inside the book and the transparent ones and also the validation that sometimes u just don’t wanna and that’s okay 💖
I found they have highlighter tape and tabs on amazon. They are strips that can be used to “highlight” the book but are removable. I got some in hopes to get my annotated journey started.
Wow, thanks for the tips. I love defiling my books like this lol. I highlight a ton and write in pencil. Annotating improves memory and recall because it forces you to slow down and interact with with the text, but this might make it less fun with fast-paced books especially if they are especially adventurous or comedic. You also have to be someone who's willing to spend 50% more time with the text and not just be trying to go through books as fast as possible.
Let me start by saying you can annotate as much or as little as you want to. I thought I would leave this tip in case anyone finds it helpful. This wont be for everyone. I know it seems like a lot, but for someone like me who overthinks everything, I find this to help me enjoy my reading while messily (at first) keeping note of what I'm liking without worrying to keep information organized all at the same time. I found at the beginning of annotating, it was hard to know what information I truly wanted to reference back to, so I started keeping a little notepad next to my book. Instead of tabbing the book right away, I would write the page number on my notepad and marked my book very lightly with a pencil (to know which paragraph or quote I'm refering to). That was accompanied by if that page has: a quote I like, character traits, worldbuilding, etc. I do this for about 25-50 pages until I get a feel for the book and for what I actually want to annotate and it also serves me to visualize the tabs I want to use for each category. I find this specially helpful because I get a vibe for spefic themes or literary resources I want to keep track of and that way I can always see where those are used throughout the entire book. It also means I dont feel like im wasting tabs or "marking my book for nothing". Once I have an idea of the things I'd like to annotate, I erase the marks that I made on the book by referencing to my notepad and I tab (or not) what feels right for me and the book. As Mel said, each book is different and usually that means I annotate differently, specially across genres. I hope someone finds it helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! :)
I love my transparent sticky notes! If you use a cheap ballpoint pen on them, they typically don't smudge or smear. My personal favorites are the free pens that colleges have given me.
i loved seeing the annotations of addie larue!! i first read it last year and it was a library copy so i couldn’t annotate, so i’ve since bought my own copy because i loved addie so much and have yet to annotate it, but it’s always nice seeing other people relate to addie and adore the book as much as i did
I have sometimes done just a pen with underlining and circling without tabs. Sometimes I use tabs and post it’s. It varies. I don’t use a key though… that’s too much for me. Lol.
started annotating my first physical book today after watching this (ive annotated kindle books before but have never been brave enough to annotate a physical copy) but im finding it so fun and i love engaging with my book more. im noticing im really paying closer attention to my story and interacting with it which is nice. i'm so excited to finish the book and see how it looks when it's done !!
I recently started annotating and it’s so much more fun and I remember so much more from the books I’ve annotated! Love this video so much! I seriously need to read and annotate babel! Another quick piece of advice: if you don’t know if you’re going to like the book or not, just try the tabs first but the second you know it’s going to be a 4+ star book, start writing and highlighting because it’s so much fun and makes the reading experience of a favourite book 100x better! 💛
I’m pretty new to annotating, and there are really only two ways I’ve done it so far, both including my favorite books. Heartless by Marissa Meyer is my favorite book ever. I underlined my favorite lines and quotes in the colors that they mentioned (ie. lemon quotes were underlined in yellow), but I actually preferred just underlining in red and black after that (theme of the book/cover). Because this is my favorite book and it has a lot of really cool visuals, I wanted to bring those to life in the book and I actually drew pictures directly onto the pages. I’m probably only going to do that with that book though. The way that I’ve been annotating now is 1 color that matches the cover, color coordinating the highlighter, tabs, and translucent sticky notes, + a pencil because that’s what I found to work on the sticky notes (may switch to a sharpie pen now that I know that works). I don’t have much of a system, I just underline things I like, highlight things I love, tab on the side of the book parts I really love, and then if there’s a place where I had a lot of thoughts and wrote on a sticky note, I’ll put a tab that sticks out of the top of the book to differentiate between those things.
I was never one to write in a book but lately I've been kinda wanting to. So I'm glad I found this video because it puts things into a different perspective for me. Thanks for making this video!
I'm currently rereading Hunger Games and annotating it for the first time. I personally find it quite fun that I can also express my feelings and have opinions on my readings. Relate things as to what is happening in our world, and just enjoying the entire book. Im looking forward to do it more in my other books. ❤️
Annotating the actual physical copies of books must be so fun!!! I only read ebooks cos they're cheaper (cries in non-English speaking country with expensive books 🥲), and I do try to note things that I find interesting, or just highlight some new words since English is my second language, but then I forget about them! I think it's so much easier to "stay in touch" with the book when you can actually see all your highlights and flick through the tabs...
I mostly read ebooks though Libby and I highlight everything I want to remember or beautiful quotes I loved. After I'm finished with the book, I write a review that includes the annotations I wanted to keep. It's quite time-consuming but it has the added benefit of reminding me what the book was about and deeper thoughts on my experience while reading it. I often look back to these reviews when I'm continuing a series or thinking back on a specific book. It's an alternate way of annotating for someone who doesn't read physical copies!
Oh, I have a system for things you can’t physically annotate! I read a lot of audiobooks and manga from my library, so I can’t bookmark them like you can in audible, or write in them because they aren’t mine. So what I do is open a new note on my phone with the title of the book, and whenever I want to make a note of anything I’ll just make a note of the time stamp, or the book page (sometimes I’ll even take a picture of the page, especially for manga, and insert it), and then add a little comment about why I wanted to remember that moment. You can change the font formats and sizes to categorize comments the way you would with highlighter colours if you want them in order, or just organize them under little headings for themes or world building or funny things, whatever :)
I normally do tabs n post it’s because I just can’t write on my pages🫠 and I only highlight the Bible and self help/ care or business books- I use the MR.PEN brand of bible highlighters becuz they don’t bleed and last long and have nice light colors
loved this video, i love that you gave different approaches and like a "soft start" with just tabbing & using pencils to start out until you get more confident about annotating, i think that'll be really helpful for me. it didn't really occur to me that it wasn't all or nothing. one issue i have though is that i can't really see myself using tabs. i like the aesthetic of it when you show your examples and the way the reference keys look, but to me personally it feels too fidgety (making sure that they all stick out approximately the same amount, them falling out because usually they're not very sticky, the edges getting kinda messed up over time, sometimes even the colors coming off...) and also too wasteful (especially if they're made of plastic, but also generally needing a set of tabs per book). does anyone have alternatives that serve the same purpose (of being able to color-code sections that you could go back and find very easily) that don't have these downsides?
Thanks so much! I just annotated my first book a few days ago and had a blast. I just did tabs, but as I was going I was like "man I really wanna underline that" "I wanna bracket that". I had that mental block of writing in my book though as I only keep my 5-4 star reads on my shelves and don't want to give away something I've written personal things in obviously. The book I annotated was a 5 star read and I'll never be getting rid of it but I didn't know that at the time so I really love the idea of writing in pencil while I tab and then when I'm sure I'm keeping it I could just go back through and write in pen.
I imagine that annotating is also very good for a book reviewer who may not like the book they’re reviewing. Being able to vent your frustrations with the story onto the page might make it more bearable to get through it.
The crazy thing is I've gotten back into reading and wanted to do this but because I'm new to book reviews and sharing the love for reading on RU-vid I thought I was doing tooooo much. But this video got me excited because it's giving me the green light to be more involved in what I'm reading! Love it!
I clicked so fast! I love your videos; you were also the first person to inspire me to start annotating my books, and now I am addicted. Lots of love, from Colombia
This is awesome Mel! 😘 Thank you! I’m pretty new to annotating, and I love it. I find that I remember more details and it seems to make me possibly more mindful or enveloped in the story.
I think annotating books is a super cool idea. I haven't tried it yet because I don't think I have the attention span to read & absorb the book while annotating. I think for me it would take me out of the story. I also don't like the idea of writing in my books. Maybe I'll try it with a book I buy from a thrift store or second hand because I do think it is kinda cool.
i annote using my phone! i could never scribble in my books because i want them to stay pristine + i get most of my books from the library so i simply snap a pic of the page and use the drawing tools to highlight parts, and then save them in a cam folder lol
for my school books I either just use tabs to reference for class discussion or just use pen with no tabs. And then my own reading varies depending on what the book evokes me to do!
I am about to read Lolita as a study and I didn’t know how to track it to ensure I was tracking the rhetorical use of emotion by Nobekov. This tab system based on emotion is *chefs kiss* 🎉 it’s so simple, but very effective. Thank you for this!
okay so the only things I want to add to this (even though its later than the posting time) is that the writech retractable highlighters are great for annotation as well! Mine never bleed through pages and it takes some stress off my shoulders to not worry about them drying out or losing ink faster because the cap wasnt on all the way.
Love this topic! I’m always looking for annotating inspiration. ❤ I stick with earthy toned tabs and writing directly on the page, in pen if I already know the book is a favorite or something I will be keeping. I also enjoy underlining and highlighting too. I definitely want to give more doodling a shot! It looks so cute to have little hearts/stars/etc. in the margins. 🥰
I love annotating and I LOVE using mildliners and the tombows! They're the best I've ever used! And I also fell into the hole of tabbing, I LOVE buying tabs and I'm literally waiting for a package to come in today of the tabs I ordered! Your video literally came just in time!
I really enjoyed this video because I’m new to annotating and I had difficulty figuring out what exactly to annotate and the categories but you clarified that you do it as you go! I’ll be trying that now!!
I am so glad you said this I felt bad about not rereading books because it sucks because I don't forget what was in the book but some books I do have to and its hard
I love seeing people who are heavier annotators. I am shocking for running out of tabs. 😂 And YES responding to characters! I’ve written NO FuuCK OFF to certain characters in annotations. I don’t annotate using the same system every time I annotate. I’ll do categories that reflect the book with emotional categories. Like “family trauma” or “tech info” or “queer specific”. Depends on the book. Like when I read The Kiss Quotient, I annotated the passages about autism, and Vietnamese culture/family.
This was so so helpful and actually felt accessible I'm how to start compared to other methods I've heard, thank you! I've been wanting to start annotating for a while, I know I always enjoyed it growing up in school. Just subscribed! 💗
I also love annotating my books. I’m a hoarder when it comes to sticky tabs I got a lifetime supply of it no joke lol. Because I need the sticky tabs to match the book covers and the highlighters, markers & pens that I use have to match the color of the tabs. It’s embarrassing how anal I am about my annotation supplies and the system I use 🙈 😂
Absolutely love those Vessi trainers 😍 It is an absolute pleasure to have you back in another video. I recently read We Spread and holy sh*t I wrote on every inch of that book and tabbed it to bits. Btw if you haven’t read We Spread by Iain Reid…please give it a whirl, it ripped my heart out and shredded it 😢 but my god did I love it even though I initially wanted to kill one of the characters until things took a turn x
What I find that helps me is I usually put the tab near the quote or the text and since my system is color coded I fine it works out perfectly. Still can’t find myself to annotate my new books but I did do it with my older book
I have a lot of tabs as well (not as much as all the people who has every single tab brand and color in existence), but my tabs are the basic post it tabs in the basic colors (blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple).
I've recently gotten really into annotating. The only books I don't annotate are books that are special edifions or hardbacks. Hardbacks might have tabs though 💕✨️
Wow this is kind of crazy 😀 I was just watching your video about anotaiting from a year ago and now I notice that you posted few hours ago an updated video lol
My personal advise is to not force yourself to do things that don't work for you. 4 example i tried the every color is a different feeling thing and it just didn't work for me in the long run so i just have a very basic system: 1 color for things i love, 1 worldbuilding things, and the rest is just a mess of color! And it works for me the best and i love doing it!
I've always wanted to annotate books but don't want to write directly on the pages. I have a Sharpie so I really need to get myself some see through post it's (or sticky notes as us Brits call them)
I just started annotating books - I’m to scared to write on my books so I’ve got a note book and tabs. I number the tabs and then write the comment in my notebook 😊
I had tried...but just cannot annotate using anything just a red pen... i scribble and write on the margins but I never forget anything * dont know how or what it takes that helps me but I helps your annotations look so beautiful and sorted. I love it... ❤
I think for begginers it is very helpfull to start out with a maximum of 4-5 different colored tabs. This will help the reader to focus on the most important aspects whithout the overwhelming fear to annotate too much. With more confidence and expierience you can start to add more tabs as you go.
I don't annotate fiction books too much but when I do I usually use one color tabs pointing to the paragraph or line I want to bring attention to and also use the last couple of pages of the book to put the number of the page where some idea came up and the note/idea itself. Now I'm reading a classic of Ukrainian literature (Garden of Gethsemane by Ivan Bahrianyi) which is almost 600pages long, so I'm sure my notes won't fit in those couple of pages in the end. Will try your approach, thanks for sharing!
I just joined a traveling book group. We each have to read, annotate and send out a book to the next person in line. I’ve never annotated I’m so nervous. Ty for this
When you look at my books. They are sparkling clean. Not a a wrinkle. Not a mark. I read the book and not a scratch. Not a bit of ink... but now... now i am tempted to start annotating 😅
segun yo el lapiz y los estilografos tampoco se corren en papel transparente pero no se si sea diferente al que yo he usado (se usa para escribir la información de un especímen que se va a conservar en alcohol, p ej. peces o insectos etc).
Hi, I'd like to ask you something if I may. If I wanted to write down to summarize the plot, the story and better remember what a book is about, and if I came across a book without chapters, but still containing spaces that divide various pieces of text, it would be necessary to write down when you reach the end of a piece of text or can it be annotated while reading? A thousand thanks. Greetings from Italy!
