How I Annotate My Books - Without Marking Them...

Hey, I have a question for you,

Ever look at people books. those with hundreds of post-it notes in, and wonder what the heck their thought process was, and how they must've been spectacular at English Literature? Well here is my break down of doing just that but without having to put ink on your books and not having random notebooks filled with incomprehensible notes in.

I've been active in the Bookstagram/BookTube community for about 6 months now and it has taken me 6 months to find a way that I like to annotate my books so that I know how I felt about the books generally.

It wasn't the best system, but it was a system that has worked none the less. If you have been a long-term viewer of my blog, you will notice my blog lacks something that many book bloggers do have. 

That is Book Reviews.

It is not for lack of trying that book reviews are absent from my feed, it boils down to my inconvenient way of annotating my books. I didn't put much thought into my post it notes when I first started annotating them as I bought post-it’s from my local supermarket with only 5 colours on and didn't make a note anywhere as to what each colour meant. If you asked me what the page markers in Lord of Shadows means I wouldn't have a way to tell you, I know for definite my way of differentiating the colours has been muddled them up. 

I have since refined my page marking and have taken most of my inspiration from Little Book Owl on YouTube, her way of annotating has really helped. 

I do keep a key on the inside cover of each book with a colour break down (I use the large rectangle neutral post-it notes to do this). Since watching her video I have also bought ten different coloured page markers but off of Amazon, you can by your own here. 

This the colour break down;

Yellow- This is what both Little Book Owl and I use for CHARACTERS. This could be descriptions, their role in the story, their background anything relating to them personally.

Purple - Unlike Little Book Owl, purple is not my favourite colour, to be honest I liked it a lot as a child and now it just haunts me. So, I chose my favourite colour from the back of ten. That turned out to be the purple (ironic really...), as you can probably guess, the purple signifies MY FAVOURITE MOMENTS. That may be favourite quotes, writing moments, anything that makes me feel really positive and gushy. 

Orange - These are my DISLIKES, people, plot, story, history. Anything.

Light Green - This is what I use for character REPRESENTATIONS, or world representations. Anything that sticks out, explicit descriptions or subtle references; like in the Sun Is Also A Star, you don't get explicit descriptions, but you get the character history and subtle references to show who they are both physically and personality wise.

Baby Blue - This is what I use for IMPORTANT Information. Things like stuff that relates to the story, for example; the Edgar Allen Poe poem used in Lady Midnight, it is pivotal for the story line. This can also highlight things like a theory I have and a pivotal moment.

Dark Pink - This stands for WORLD BUILDING. Like what Little Book Owl said in her video, this only really depends on if I am reading anything not set in the real world. That isn't particular either as many of the genres blur together; you can consider Cassandra Clare’s novels to be set in the real world but Idris for example is a world that she has built, and anything associated with how she describes Idris, or the City of Bones would have an Dark Pink page marker. It also applies to novels that go into their 'worlds' gods/beliefs and history. Like the Dark War in The Dark Artifices series and the Blackthorn family history, it is both Yellow and Dark Pink, depending on how I am feeling in that moment. 

Pink - The pink signifies RELATIONSHIPS because, Love. This is when my OTP share heart wrenchingly loving moments that makes me almost want a real-life love life, almost. This page marker will be used when something pivotal for the relationship happens and just general cute moments; even if the love is seemingly unrequited and pining after someone.

Purple/Pink - This is for the MISCELLANEOUS stuff, general authorial methods and grammar.

My Questions - If I am wondering how a certain person or event adds to the plot or anything that confuses me.

There is also a great idea by Little Book Owl and that is the use of Q-Cards/Record Cards and recording notes that I want to make and having 2 or three of them every 50 pages that I can use as I am going through it. It makes me reflect on what I've read as I am going through it instead of trying to remember at the end of the book. It's especially hard if, like me, it’s taken you forever to read the book. 

I think this idea will be good to do if you are buddy reading with someone. Tink and I are going to Buddy Read 'A Court of Thorns and Roses together this year and will talk about the chapters we have read together so the q-cards will come in quite handy!

These are the methods I have begun using, thanks Little Book Owl! It means that I don't have to mark my books physically (still one of those readers that don't break the spine!) and the note cards mean I can recollect my thoughts to have an actual book review ready for you at the end!

What do you do to annotate your books? Do you annotate your books?

Thanks for reading! 

Jess x

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