I Write In My Books | How I Annotate & Highlight 

Yep. I also just really like reading an already annotated copy and feeling the prior reader's anger and joy, I've been reading some pre-annotated Shakespeare plays recently and it made the reading experience so much better.

My copy of Me Before You has wavy pages from crying 😂😂

@@booksbyleynes I would love for there to be a used book store that only had books that others had written in. Literally my dream bookstore

@@booksbyleynes actually it was very helpful too

Gwendolyn Kensinger couldn’t agree more :)

Pretty SinX thank you :)

Thank you! My ways of annotating also differ from book to book, sometimes I prefer pencils to highlighters but all in all annotating isn't really a hustle for me and quite doable wherever I am... but you are soo right, there is always at least one pencil in my pocket/bag. :D

makes sense, every book is different so annotating should vary as well. Even more reason for you to make more of these flip through videos \^-^/

omg, Anne, I am sooo happy for you that you finally got to see the show. I'm still ... willing to wait for it ;) as it hasn't hit Germany yet!

Ahhhh, this makes me sooo happy. I am also always so excited when I buy used books with annotations in them. I love reading "alongside" another person in that way. :D And gosh yes, I never thought I would enjoy Hamilton's story this much but Lin made it all possible.

That makes me so happy to hear. Have a lovely weekend. :)

You're welcome. :)

Oh ja, diese ganzen Referenzen waren einfach super fun, kann mir das bei Les Mis ebenfalls sehr gut vorstellen... und gurl, du willst nicht wissen, wie sehr ich bei Hamiltons Tod geheult habe. Das war fast eine Stunde Trauer, bis es weitergehen konnte... fun times. ;)

I'm happy to hear that, Silje. I hope you have the best time reading "Wuthering Heights", it's sooo good! And I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, too!

mspoetic888 Yay. I‘m glad you enjoyed it. :)

What do you mean NEARLY cried once? To sob your heart out during It's Quiet Uptown is a duty that shouldn't be taken too lightly. ;) Jokes aside, everyone interacts differently with their books and that's perfectly fine. As much as I like the aesthetic of a book journal it's somewhat too much of a hustle for me to really keep up with it.

Lol! It takes a lot for me to cry, so to say I almost cried is a big deal to me lol!! I think the only books that I could really benefit from your method are GOT I can’t keep the supporting cast straight for the life of me, so much so I’m not getting through the second book and losing inspiration.

You are excused then. ;) And yes, GoT is quite a lot at first, I don't know if that's your thing but watching the TV series helped me put a face to everyone and keep them all apart. :D

du hattest ja schon einen Sneak Peak bekommen :D

Yay for annotating on the bus. And that book sounds super interesting, I'll look it up!

thank you!

oh yeah, I would never annotate in library books but you could still write your thoughts down on a single piece of paper and engage with the book in that way. :)

they're from STABILO BOSS ... not sure if they're only available in Germany though. I highly recommend using pastel colors because they don't bleed through the page as much.

@@booksbyleynes Pastel colours for?

the hightlighters in pastel colors and not in the neon colors. pastel colors don't bleed through the pages as much.^^

I show nothing of myself, though? I only showed my book and annotations?

@@booksbyleynes Allow me to try to convince you: I think it is hardly possible to do anything (so as reviewing a book) without letting some key characteristics of one's being shine through the mask of objectivity/formality. What you do while discussing, talking and explaining is presenting an ongoing stream of information for the observer. Not endless, but uncountable amounts of nouances and tiny details. Some might say, the main focus is on the book and I partly agree, yet there is also another thing being shown. Something that is uncontrollable, impossible to hide. That is you. And yes, that sounds creepy, but I like that specific part.

Yay!

Using pastel/lighter colors usually works. My highlighters are from STABILO, not sure if they’re available in your country.

Happy to hear that. :)

Spinster's Library I‘m glad you liked it. :) And yes, I‘m annotating all of my books, so fiction, poetry, plays, just everything. Even though I usually annotate a little less as I don‘t have to look up that much, it‘s then more about my thoughts and how I like the scene/characters/whatever. :)

It's a mixture between my favorite and/or important quotes to illustrate a certain point I'm trying to make in my review, and then just some of my thoughts. But oftentimes it moves organically into analysing certain themes/characters/whatever. All of my summaries turn at one point into reviews that I then proceed on putting on Goodreads.

Oh, wie schön. Das freut mich sehr! :) Das mit dem Aussortieren kenne ich gut. Da bin ich in den letzten Jahren auch viel strenger geworden. Allerdings kaufe ich eh sehr viel second hand, von daher ist's dann auch nicht so schlimm, wenn die Bücher danach in einen Bücherschrank gehen, anstatt weiterverkauft zu werden. ;) Mich persönlich stören Randnotizen und Anmerkungen (egal welcher Art) gar nicht beim Rereaden, egal ob Sachbuch oder fiktives Werk. Vor allem Highlighter oder unterstrichene Passagen kann ich komplett ignorieren, und mittlerweile bin ich dazu übergegangen, nur noch am Rand Notizen zu machen (also nicht mehr zwischen den Zeilen). Manchmal finde ich es ganz amüsant, meine alten Annotationen zu lesen, aber wenn ich darauf keine Lust habe, kann ich die Randnotizen auch gekonnt ignorieren. Also für mich ist es wirklich kein Problem. :) Und ein Video zum Gesamtwerk Oscar Wildes wird wohl eher nicht kommen. Ich filme zur Zeit sowieso kaum Videos und wenn doch, hätten erstmal andere Ideen Priorität. Ich werde es mir aber auf meiner "Video-Ideen"-Liste notieren.

That's awesome. I totally feel you on the anger part! :D

omg wow das sind echt viele zufälle :D viel spaß aber bei der lektüre, es ist wirklich eine großartige biografie! :)

@@booksbyleynes Danke! Ich freu mich auch es zu lesen.

www.stabilo.com/de/produkte/markieren/pastell-textmarker/stabilo-boss-original-pastel/

the ones from STABILO BOSS

totally understandable ^^

not sure ... I'm from Germany and I like the pastel ones from STABILO (not sure if they are available where you live).

Ehrlich gesagt schon. Es behandelt halt einen Teil der amerikanischen Geschichte aus sehr politischer Sicht. Da Hamilton im Fokus steht, geht es auch viel ums heranwachsende Finanzsystem und wie Banken aufgebaut sind etc. und das zieht halt viele Fremd- und Fachworte mit sich. Ich kann dein Englischniveau jetzt natürlich nicht einschätzen, aber man sollte mindestens B2, wenn nicht sogar C1-Niveau haben (also knapp unter muttersprachlichem Niveau) um diesen Klopper entspannt und ohne Wörterbuch lesen zu können. ;)

books by leynes okiii danke für die hilfreiche antwort ♥️

It depends on the book. Even back then I didn't necessarily use all annotating styles for one book. I always highlight and write with a pencil in the margins and at the side of the page. In terms of doodling etc. only when the book is very special to me.

😂😂😂👌🏾

No, I'm not. It would be fun to review books professionally but currently I'm headed down another career path. :)

@@booksbyleynes Yes I hear you. I can see this could be a great income stream. I'm talking about for publication; not for book tube. Anyway, best wishes to you.

chboskyy I‘m kind of glad I never studied literature bc so many lit students tell me that it kind of messed with their heads when it came to their reading habits. And yes, I keep all of the books I read (as long as I‘m fortunate enough to have the space for it). And don‘t feel bad for donating annotated copies, you‘re literally giving them books for free, in German we have a saying „einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul“ which basically means if you someone gives you a horse for free, don‘t critically examine it, just cherish the gift. :D

But mistakes are part of the process. They truly don't matter. :)

Me , me

oh wow, this is such a funny coincidence, _Alexander Hamilton_ by Chernow is up to this day my most annotated copy, this book was so interesting and insightful, there was so much to write down. I love the fact that it got you into annotating!

Rae Daniels I‘m so happy to hear that. :) Annotating is a great tool to keep your focus on the story and what is actually being said, because you‘re constantly engaging with the author‘s thoughts by writing your own down. I hope it helps you on your reading journey. :)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'll definitely do more flip throughs in the future. :)

Good to know. :) I would suggest to just go for it, annotating develops over time and you can only find your style if you start it sometime. :)

annotating for the win, write in those books, girl!

BetweenLinesAndLife we are annotating queens 👸🏾 👸🏻

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm. :) Currently I don't have it planned to show more of my annotations but I can see myself doing it in the future. I'm on a tight work schedule now and most of my videos for the next two months are already pre-filmed. ;)

lmao I feel like both of them are very different in tone though :D you can tell that the first one was filmed when I was still a baby :D

I think most people are this way, for me, annotating is just super fun and luckily something that isn't "tainted" by my uni experience. :D

Stabilo Boss, the pastel ones.

I'm not always going all out like that, most of the time I just use a pencil and a highlighter. ;) But I love annotating and engaging on that level with my books. :D

Haha ja, das höre ich öfter. ;)

I'm from Germany so I'm not sure if it's a German company but I like the ones from "STABILO BOSS". However, in general, I would recommend going for the pastel colors because they usually don't transfer onto the next page as they are much lighter and softer than the neon ones.^^

hey :) I'm happy to hear you're interested in these types of videos, it'll probably take me a while to do them but I definitely have flip throughs on my "to-film" list. :)

I really love annotating and you do it for the exact same reason that I do. However I’ve never done doodles or photos in my books before and now I’m tempted to! I go back to this video and watch it for inspiration. Maybe when I actually finish an annotation, (I have several books with only the first third annotated), I’ll make a video too!

@@wyatt8724 That's so nice to hear. :) I would definitely watch an annotating video of yours. I love seeing in which ways other people are getting creative.

@@booksbyleynes Hi again! This interaction inspired me and I decided to film and upload a video about annotation; I'd be honored if you'd give it a watch!

@@wyatt8724 can't wait to watch it! thanks for letting me know. :)

this comment makes me so happy, I'm so glad that annotating your books worked out for you as well, yay!

Yes, that man is in fact not 265 years old ... shocking, I know.

Lmao😂

I'll do more flip throughs. I'm happy you started to annotate yourself, as I keep all the books I read I don't have the problem of wanting to sell them but I could see how that would make the annotating process harder, I hope you find a way that works for you. :)

:)

I did the same thing! Happy reading!

Vielen Dank! Mein Englisch hat sich über die Jahre aber auch stark verbessert. Früher hat man das noch viel stärker rausgehört.

sometimes it does but when i use pastel colors it doesn't happen that often

I'm so happy that you're going on your annotating journey now! Wishing you the best of fun! :)

haha "WTF"s and "SMH"s are the best, even though I also use a fair share of snarky "LOL"s when characters are acting stupid. :D

yay, the more the merrier. :)

Vielen Dank! :) And good luck with annotating some of your books!

Couldn't agree more, annotating helps me a lot with staying focused whilst reading and keeping track of things. I annotate every book that I read but I realised that I tend to annotate less when reading fantasy because these reads aren't necessarily "educative" for me, I just read fantasy for fun so it's usually just a bunch of "LOL"s and "WTF"s in the margins... but I do like to underline beautiful quotes. :D

That's so amazing to hear. You're very welcome. :)

Ich kenne viele, die Bleistifte zum Markieren benutzen, ich mag's dann doch etwas farbenfroher. :> Ich finde es auch schon nach Abschluss der Lektüre nochmals durch Buch zu blättern... da fällt mir dann auch immer auf, welch schlechtes Gedächtnis ich habe. :D

Yes, yes, yes! Fiction deserves to be annotated as well. Also, Animal Farm is a brilliant book!

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

That's why I never read library books ... I cannot read without a pen in my hand.

Awesome!

thank you and thank you. :D

I hosted a read along for this book, where we only read around 100 pages a week, so it was an 8-weeks-long event. I uploaded 20-30 minutes videos each week to discuss the content etc. Therefore, it took me much longer than it usually would've taken me reading and annotating a book of this size (usually it would've taken me 1-2 weeks, depending on the subject and writing style).

I'm from Germany so I'm not sure if it's a German company, but I use the pastel ones from STABILO BOSS.

I get you on the anger part, sometimes I get so frustrated the page isn't looking pretty afterwards. :D But as I have the rule to keep all the books I read, I don't have the dilemma of having to give a torn book to charity. :D

Haha, I don't keep books that are less than 4 stars. I loooooooooooooove to move and I'm not hauling my books from one flat to another every year. But it's cool that you can keep yours, it makes for beautiful shelves, full of memories!

yep, to each their own and it's cool that you move around so much, a small book collection definitely comes in handy for that. :D

I'm so happy to hear that. :)

Sonja Katrin Das freut mich unheimlich zu hören. Ich hoffe, dir bringt das Markieren so viel Freude wie mir. :) Zum „Buddy Readen“ hätte ich mehrere Tipps: 1) wenn du selbst einen Kanal, Insta oder Goodreads hast, kannst du dich halt direkt an deine Freunde und Follower dort wenden und am besten gleich ein Buch vorschlagen, für das du einen Lesepartner brauchst. 2) sollte das keine Option sein, kannst du dich ruhig trauen, Leute, die du so schaust, einfach mal anzuschreiben. Die meisten antworten und sind total lieb. 3) ansonsten gibt es auf Goodreads auch so richtige Lesegruppen, denen jeder beitreten kann, manche sind für bestimmte Bücher, andere eher so wie „monthly book clubs“, in denen jeden Monat ein anderes Buch besprochen wird. Vielleicht ist da was für dich mit dabei. :)

books by leynes vielen dank für deine tipps! Ich werde mich mal nach Gruppen bei goodreads umschauen :)

Thank you! :)

thank you and I feel the same way, annotating makes the books you read much more personal and unique. :)

I'm happy to hear that. :)

Sahithi Andoju yeah 🥳

thanks :)

Chris you‘re welcome :)

Totally feel you, and I am sorry that it is not. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to transcribe my videos. I hope that the function with the automatic subtitles is enough for now to understand what I'm saying.

I understand. I just can't get the automatic subtitles to work.

Roni Hartman oh, that‘s weird, I‘ll try to research the reason why automatic subtitles aren’t available for this video. If I can change it, I‘ll let you know!

@@booksbyleynes That would be SUPER because I'd love to share it with my students and know that all of them will be able to benefit from it. :)

Thanks. :)