I never really understood the concept of keeping a book “pristine” without annotating. My books are shoved in whatever shelf they can squeeze into, typically spilling out onto my floor when I go crazy at a bookstore.
I love to crack spines and dog-ear my pages. The pages of my books are worn with tear stains, sloppy highlighting, and quick scribbles. Almost every book I own has my name and the age I was when I read it scrawled on the very first page.
Annotating books is such a fun way to immerse yourself in the art of reading with a rich history behind it. You allow yourself to have a conversation with the author and their writing, and you can come back to it years later to see where your own thought process was years ago.
Annotating can seem scary to someone who’s never done it before. The idea of permanently marking a book you bought, possibly ruining it, can cause a lot of hesitation. However, I want to share some fun ideas that make annotating seem a little less daunting and so much more fun!
- Start With a Book You Already Love
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Have you been meaning to reread your favorite YA novel from high school, or a classic that you love to tell people you read so you seem smart? Yeah, me too, girl.
When you go to annotate a book, you already know you won’t feel as scared to highlight or underline the “wrong thing”. You can feel more relaxed and simply focus on what you love about the book and placing tabs on scenes you always come back to.
It’s also fun to annotate a book you and your friend both love, writing silly comments and highlighting all of your favorite moments. My friends and I have one copy of Twilight that has been passed around and annotated so many times over the years. The terrible drawings, wonky lines, and creased pages bring us all so much joy and laughter every time we revisit it.
Annotating a book you love gives you such a deeper appreciation for every line and moment that makes the book so special.
- It Doesn’t Have to be Permanent
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When high school me discovered transparent sticky notes, a whole new world opened up for me. You can overlay them in your book without any damage or permanent marks on the page. Transparent sticky notes are so useful, especially if you have a rented textbook or library book that you need to take notes on for an exam.
Small sticky tabs are super helpful as well! You can stick them onto pages to signal different scenes you like, clues to a bigger mystery, or parts you might want to target in your 1-star review on Goodreads later.
Whenever you finish reading, you can take the tabs or sticky notes out to once again have a pristine book. And you even have some new pieces to add to a journal or scrapbook to keep track of your yearly goals and reading!
- Just Go With It
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All you really need to get started is a pen. Once you make that first mark on the page, it becomes so much easier to create more. Annotation itself is such a relaxing process that can feel so personal. You don’t have to post pictures of the book afterward online or bring it to book club to show around. You can genuinely write whatever whenever you want.
I have some books I annotated in middle school and cringe at all the time. Yet, I still enjoy coming back to them and seeing what ridiculous notes I wrote in the margins or paragraphs that I thought were so deep and edgy.
Annotation is a great skill to have, especially as you’re asked to do it more and more in classes with required reading. Taking the time to enjoy a book and document how and why it makes you feel is an essential skill that will make those long required English novels feel much easier to get through. So go grab your color-coded pens and sticky tabs, grab a fun drink, and mark up your books. They’re not meant to sit on shelves and be pristine relics. Cherish them and their art; experience all that books have to offer.
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