I’ve been reading the Stormlight Archive, which is a massive epic fantasy series.
I take extensive notes on it. There are so many characters, places, events, plotlines, lore, etc. It’s proven to be incredibly useful. It’s the type of series where once you learn some lore, it’s fun to go back and re-read certain chapters with that new understanding. I’ll frequently pick up the previous books and rifle through them. The notes make it much quicker to find the sections I want to find.
At the same time, I think taking extensive notes can sometimes make it a little less fun. Like I’m consistently pulling myself out of the moment to jot stuff down.
Do you take notes on the books you read? If so, how do you take notes?
No. I read the entire book and then forget everything. Nowdays i try to at least jot down my thoughts in a post reading review so i can go back and see what i thought about the book but I even forget that sometimes.
I only did it in the past when I was reading for school, but I’d like to start annotating this year because it helps me really engage critically with the story!
My way of notetaking before was highlighting passages/quotes, or writing small little notes about my thoughts. For example, if something a character said or did related back to an important theme, I’d highlight that and make a small note of it. If a description of the setting emphasized the mood/atmosphere of the story, I’d highlight it and make another note. If I morally disagreed with a character’s actions or if their actions disagreed with the narrative, I’d make note of that. Etc., etc.
I never take notes, but I make frequent use of the glossary and search function on e-books to go back and refer to things I might have misunderstood or want to refresh my memory on
Sometimes, but only really for characters / locations, and more at the beginning than the end.
I’m in stormlight 5 myself just now, and I stopped doing notes after book 3 I think? Similar for The Expanse, a couple years ago.
I read fiction for pleasure. Any book that’s so overly complicated and with places totally foreign (made up) that I need to take notes just to keep track of things…that book is not for me. Taking notes makes me think I’m back in school.
legit. I’ve got a threshold too, for sure. it’s just not zero. :-P
Totally reasonable stance. I just like getting geeky about cool lore.
I might jot down my thoughts after a reading session or between chapters, but not taking notes like I would do for studying… More like bullet points of things I would bring up in a book club, or questions or ideas I want to remember for next time, or my own rambling musings triggered by an idea from the book. I rarely read those notes again, just writing them down is satisfying enough. I wouldn’t want to stop the experience just to do diligent note-taking, but to each their own.
Sometimes I even skip or skim parts on a first read through and then read more thoroughly when I’m acquainted with the world, story and characters, it’s easier to pick up conplicated history or lore once I’ve gotten the main story out of the way.
