"How" do you take notes while reading? What do you write down? Is there a certain way of thinking involved in the way you keep your notes? What structure do you use? What kind of passages prompt you to make a note? What observations do you make? Could you give examples of notes that you made?
>>7998455
I have a weird system where I underline, sticky note, and annotate useful, beautiful, or thought provoking passages in the book. Then, when I'm finished the book, I go back through and digitize my notes, thus preserving them and the relevant quotations or observations for quick use or referral.
I had a teacher tell me at a young age to always read with a pen, search for the exigency in the piece of writing, and then have a conversation with it. His advice has followed me for fifteen years now.
I dunno. Every time I want to take notes I just get caught up in the book and forget to write anything down.
>>7998502
>search for the exigency in the piece of writing
what did he mean by this?
>>7998502
>useful, beautiful, or thought provoking passages in the book.
Why do this? I just make a mental note of these things.
I make scribble notes in the margins of anything interesting I notice: historial allegories, recurring themes, interesting devices... whatever else. Then I keep an eye out for where those things recur, underline pertainent quotes, etc. Just pretend that you're expected to write multiple essays about the book after you finish reading it.
>>7998524
I've always thought he might have misused the word slightly, but I also love the idea of any work having exigency. I think he meant 'purpose' of the writing, but exigency traditionally means the 'urgency.' I think he was rather poetically implying that every written work is urgently trying to convey something, be it an argument or observation. And your job as the reader is to pinpoint what that conveyance is and engage with it, for better or for worse.
>>7998531
I dunno. I read a lot. I'd be hard pressed to collect a top ten passages list just from memory, so I like being able to have a physical [sort of] location for all of the written ideas I found worth preserving and passing along.
>>7998455
I don't. I flirted with it for a while but ultimately I found it more oppressive than useful. Too much preponderance of unorganised, unconnected thoughts. I tried to organise them and connect them, it was too much of a pain and I didn't feel I was gaining much, so now I just read and think my thoughts and forget them and I'm happier with that.
>>7998502
I do the same. Instead of just reading a book, you read, you take time to underline or otherwise annotate, and then you revisit the annotated sections after finishing the book. Typing it all up gives you plenty of time to mull over what you've made notes of.
OP it just takes practice. Every field (fiction, history, philosophy, etc) has a different flow, and really the only way to get in tune with it is to immerse yourself in the genre. Read enough and you'll find it easier and quicker to notice what matters.
For example with histories of unfamiliar topics, it takes practice to figure out how much importance to place on certain characters, since you don't already know if they will or will not be important later.
>>7998533
That's perhaps too modernist a way to think about a book. It's fine for your Lolitas and The Old Man And The Seas, but especially not for maximalist texts like Gravity's Rainbow or 2666, say. Death of the author, inability to distinguish between meaning and meaninglessness in the world of media saturation, etc.
Unrelatedly, here's a note building on >>7998531 that I made in Bleeding Edge, although here I was thinking less about the book itself and more about something I might be able to think about in my own writing. It's not a great example of a note (at least not formally), but it's one I have on hand, and it *is* a good example of something you might make a note about.
Mark the beginning and end of the passage or word or whatever and if ncessary I make small notes on the margins. Then when I'm done with the book I make an index in one of the blank pages in the front or back, going one by one and rereading the noted stuff. it's a very efficient way for me to remember the themes I pick up on and passages I like for reference(stealing) the writing and rereading ingrains it better in my memory.
