I had an aunt who was born in the late 1800s. After she died, I inherited her writing bureau and her diaries. Absolute gold. The handwriting was exquisite and thoughts she’d written about nature, people and current affairs
I also keep notes in my commonplace book of youtube videos I watch. If I am just consuming content while I wash up, I don't take notes but I try and have an hour every week where I go back over what I have watched in the last week or several days and pick out the gems. It makes me more selective and attentive to what I watch if I know that I am going to be reviewing it later. Your channel definitely fits that bill.
I actually do the same. I jot notes on random papers..then when I get a chance I file or copy it into a commonplace book which is where it all goes if it doesn’t go in a specific notebook (herbalism, history etc).
In 2024, I had the privilege of reading a large number of books - around 180 in total. While the notes I took weren't as structured as those you showed off at the end of the video, they still captured my impressions and thoughts on each work. In a Google Doc, I took note of the title, author, date completed, and then bullet pointed anything that stood out to me. I also included some quotes as I saw fit. In the future, I would like to include at least one summary sentence for each book, to help me remember the overarching plot of each story. Although the method has yet to be perfected, it allowed me to reflect on my personal reading progress, and see my thoughts at a glance. It also helped to avoid the issue of wanting to "not ruin" a nice journal, since it was just online. I'm glad to see you are touching on the subject, and providing some new ideas!
Journalling has increased my retention of books in recent years. As I read, I note the page number of the book in the left hand margin and record the first appearance of a character and their characteristics, new words for definitions, beautiful passages, etc. My chronological notebook has the name of the book on the top of each page, the date begun or continued, and later the total number of pages of notes for each book (example: 1/12). l also keep my book club notes by date in the same notebook. I can look back at my reading history. I only recently became aware of the commonplace book.
I started journaling in 2023 so I can remember what I read and the impression those books had on me. Depending on the book I journal at the end of the book or, just like you, at the end of one or a few more chapters. I like to use stickers but not on every page 😊
Absolutely!! I have journals after journal with information I want to remember, and save. They are Kind of my own version of common place books. It is a way of life.
I have been taking notes on a plain notebook since last year and I don’t stress too much about how it looks. I developed the habit of reading with the notebook next to me so, whenever I find something interesting or an idea comes to my mind, I simply stop to write it down. I usually write the page number and a few words or phrases, not really full sentences. I feel I am not that structured and I am the only one that will later understand what I was thinking about at that moment.😅 However, I want to change this a bit this year so I'm thinking about keeping my actual system and putting the notes together in a more structured way, after I finish the book I'm reading. Your video was very helpful, thanks for sharing it. And your cat is super adorable. 😊
If you study literature (like me now) you have to take notes on the margins because you can't reread them when it's time for midterms or finals, you *have* to jot down important passages, lines, dialogues, etc .right there on the page or paragraph. Plus, in my case, professors allow us to have our books the day of the exams in case we need to quote something or else. If it's not a copy from the library you can do whatever you want with your books because you paid for them! 💁🏻♀. So each on their own. I've been keeping a reading journal since 2018, but I only write down the rating, the pages and quotes I like. This year I'll be ditching the page number and I'll incorporate mini reviews/thoughts for my future self. Sometimes I remember a lot of what happens in a book, other times my mind is in blank. PS: you have a lovely and neat handwriting :)
@@GladysHunnam Hello! What do you mean with "you can't re-read them"? I'm interested! Also, if it weren't for the exams, would you still annotate in the book itself or use a journal? I love annotating, but there's little room in the book to actually do some writing. 🤭
@@ProseAndPetticoats I mean, you can reread them, of course, but there's no time sometimes to do so (sorry for the confussion on the comment above 🙈.) Annotating saves a lot of time. I do take notes when I read just for fun. I'm currently reading Anna Karenina (for fun) and I'm using sticky notes and plastic tabs with a colour code. For Don Quixote (for a final) on a separate sheet of paper I'm making a mini summary of each chapter. It's a looong book, there's a lot going on, too much background info that's important (both for the story and for the social context at the time) and so I can't forget anything. I'm also annotating on the margins. When I was in my 20s I didn't annotate at all, let alone keeping a journal 😂. On one hand I didn't know how to, and on the other hand I used to read a lot of contemporary crime books and there isn't much stuff to take notes of on those 😅. With classics there's a lot to research (author, background, social context...) and quotes, passages, etc. that it's worth taking annotations of.
I've done this since childhood. I have ADHD and writing everything down helps me to remember what i read. I've got notebooks and notebooks full of things. Im so happy i found your channel ❤
It is very nice to watch your new video in the first days of the new year. I consider it a nice gift! What you are talking about is really a very useful skill and I want to implement it on a permanent basis in the new year. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy New Year! Greetings from indomitable and unconquered Ukraine!
I wish there was more space in books for marginalia. One example i can think of where Marginalia had a profound influence on the field of mathematics was Fermat's Last Theorem that took more than 300 years to solve. And that because of a few lines written in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica by Diophantus that Fermat was studying. Coleridge also was known to annotate in books he read, often questioning the conclusions of the author. I think these spontaneous notes capture a fresh organic outgrowth of thoughts from the root, in a moment of insight, that may have otherwise been lost.
Believe Tell me book, learned in the way All the wisdom you hold The words through your pages Through the ages Beacon of strength and mastery Tell me book, what lesson for today “I bear stories and accounts aplenty Of travels and treasure trove But on this day - look not for the pathway For my pages give in to no words today No quivering soul No foresight nor philosophy Behold the brittled find Today I bring thee token from a fairy A modest garden flower Fragile but not weakly Prized in my folds safely Long ago, awaiting light of day Press it now onto your heart securely Let yesterday live anew today”
Having lost phones and laptops from moves, accidents or planned obsolescence..... Journals have never been lost..... Analog is pretty based and will out last our electronics. Having lived through tapes to CDs to floppy disks to thumb drives to now external hard drives let me tell you whatever I have on a floppy disk can't rightly get off the floppy disk because finding a computer that has a floppy disk reader very difficult. So printing that information out and putting it in binders I have found has been a far better way of storing any electronic information by turning it into printed analog held in your hand storage. 😂😂😂😂 Yes I have agreed myself.
I have 4 books I journal with: 2 philosophy, 2 fiction. I keep it right around 1-200 words per 10 pages from each book (5 pages out of one). It's usually meandering doodles of me recounting dialogue passages, writing certain concepts in Latin, and basically just stream of consciousing it all the way through. Enjoyed the vid!
Hi Emmelie! Happy new year! I remember hearing about journaling and writing down thoughts and doing background research about the author and the period from you, and since then I started doing so for those books I wanted to remember something about. As you said, it's very subjective and the way in which you annotate differs from individual to individual. I found the most pleasure in researching the historical, political, artistic background of when the author lived and when the story of the book takes place (if possible). Writing down my thoughts about the story, either going along with it or at the end of reading the book, is such a pleasant activity that I'm happy to have started doing it: quotes, passages, thoughts about characters, events and so on are so helpful in understanding ourselves and what means the most for us. So I need to thank you for it! Take care and see you soon!
I've been "annotating" books before I could write properly. 🤣 I had a lot to say, but couldn't express it yet. My mom was furious at me for marking up her childhood book. She finally gave it to me. I think I've always read a book with a pencil in my hand so I could annotate. Obviously I didn't mark up library books or books borrowed from friends. But if it was mine, I annotated. If I didn't annotate, it probably wasn't worth reading. However, there are some acceptional editions that we don't want to mark up and that's when a separate journal comes in handy. What I like though, is that even Jane Austen marked her books. Books like that are more valuable, not less valuable. I certainly wouldn't mark up a first edition book, unless I bought it used and it's already marked up. It boils down to common sense and preference. It doesn't make sense for me to try and keep a paperback pristine, like a nice hardcover. I absolutely love journaling and recommend it for everyone. Great topic! Thank you for sharing.
Oh yes, I would never write in a beautiful hardback copy! If I want to annotate, I use the cheapest paperback I can find, or I do it digitally (in E-book form). We can learn a lot from those classic authors. :)
Thanks for this Emmelie! The Victorian era is certainly a fascinating one. Personally I don't journal. However some of my favorite non fiction reading is things like, letters, diaries, journal and book like this. I like the immediacy of them. By the way, Toulouse was so cool behind your left shoulder going through a typical cat grooming routine before settling down for a well earned nap! As always - happy reading!🙂
I like writing in my books, but I also like the idea (which had not occurred to me before your video) of placing notes on each chapter between the pages to be transferred to a notebook later (after all, the margins don’t always have enough room for what I want to say). I do have a journal that is meant to be aesthetically pleasing, but I might have to not only keep notes while reading, but transfer those notes to a simple notebook I can refer to when I finally reach that book in my journal. I hate that I at times only vaguely remember a book by the time I’m ready to place it in my book journal. So having a notebook for notes to refer to when putting together the more prettified review in my main book journal is going to be so much better for me. I’ve gone back a started doing it for “My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams” (which I started yesterday). Thanks!
I use Notion (but recently migrated to Noto) app to write my thoughts on the books and to store my exported highlights from Kobo to help me comment on the books i’ve read. But i believe it’s not the same as writing on a physical journal. I do have a commonplace book. And writing is not complete without fountain pen. I’m an old soul too apparently 😅
The idea of keeping a journal of what you're reading is a good idea. I've always shied away from multi-book series where each book is massive because I would have a hard time keeping track of the characters, plots, places, etc... I may have to try this out.
@@Bethany-fo6lt now this might just be out of your reading catalog because it's nothing special but the Horus heresy novels are fantastic from beginning to end. Takes a while to finish it all of course keeping notes on everything would be very very efficient instead of having to go back and forth trying to remember the character from 10 books ago
Funnily enough, when I started journaling I bought a plain composition notebook because I thought “it doesn’t matter what it looks like, I just want something to write in.” It ended up that because it was such a boring looking journal, I did not feel drawn to write in it. Now I buy journals that that are attractive but not extravagantly beautiful.
I studied the history of ideas for 2 years at university and read over a hundred books on Western thought. I didn't retain much despite the fact that I studied really hard. Now that I've graduated, I've decided to start a journey through the "Western canon", so to speak, and this time, I'm going to journal about the books I read. I hope that journaling will allow me to engage with what I read on a personal level, instead of just trying to impress a professor.
I love having pages for the books I read! Depending on what type of book and how I felt about it I will either do a collage with my extracts and thoughts or just go plain structured with extracts followed by what I thought. I generally do it at the end of the book. If I own the book I will dog eat the corner of the page and mark the lines that I want to take notes about and if it is a library book I dog eat the page only and make sure to smooth it back out before I return it! I also always have a pocket notebook with me if I NEED to write about what I am reading immediately. Ha.
I love reading classics and looking for a way to immerse myself in the book and remember information. I already annotate black spines or Oxford world classics as I prefer these editions for notes and specific translations. I'm going to try the journalling technique whilst I read Slaughterhouse 5 part of my A-Z of classics challange.
This video inspires me to return to using hard copy journals again. I have nerve issues so I struggle handwriting sometimes, so I’ve been using cloud word processors and use spreadsheets to organize the highlights of my notes. But the black on white is something I need to reconnect to, making the ideas tactile again :)
Hi!!! I love annotating and journaling..,,both are very satisfying..i have accumulated duplicate copies to keep my leather or more expensive copies clean..,,,lots of journals and supplies!! Yes each read is different ..,,so happy reading and studying.!!
I'd rather be an expert on one hundred books, than one thousand. I bask in every chapter I read, basically practicing my creative method for my own works in progress by dwelling in each chapter I'm crafting, becoming every character, being the very realm in the tome. As a result I'm always prepared to focus on my works in progress. It's a different sort of training regiment for me.
Yes, I agree that this is better, especially for authors. I find myself reading less books every year, because I spend more time on what I read (in minutes). :)
Hello Emmelie! I hope you and your family are doing well. What an interesting video! I really enjoyed listening and learning how you take notes when reading your books. I wish I had started that habit years ago when I started reading classics. I guess now at my age and so far into my classic literary journey, I just do not (maybe laziness too?). Anyway, great video and instructive. I look forward to your next video! Have a great day! :)
Interesting! I've been keeping a very simple book diary with only the dates i read a book, title, author and my rating. Underline my favorites of the month. Do a little drawing for every month plus some little stickers. Very simple but fun. Now im "upgrading " to write down charachters names and the feeling the book gives me. Plus more drawings the book inspire me to do! Its a great way to keep me creative. I hope I can keep it up 😅
Like me, you must be a romantic, old-soul born two hundred years late ... Yes, to everything you mentioned. These days I read exclusively non-fiction so note taking is a must. A LOT of note-taking! I've ammased quite the collection of notebooks in fact! I also keep a book of quotations and interesting new words (and I have filled up a dozen of those, all handwritten - and mind you, my chicken scratch is very small). 55 years ago I started a diary; over the years it has morphed into a commonplace and glue book, an all-in-one thing (actually, VERY many) with magazine/article clippings, poems I like, song lyrics, post cards, business cards and a variety of such items, all accompanied by notes, thoughts, feelings - and journaling (I was an only, lonely child with no one to talk to and while that has changed, books are my best and constant companions. I also dont watch much TV). As you can imagine, I have ammased an extensive book collection, so now I just borrow from the library. And here's something you might find useful: you can purchase 4x6, lined post-it's to use instead of just inserting loose papers between book pages that can fall out. I get mine here tinyurl.com/muay7wbj - Happy New Year to you!
Hi there! Your comment got marked as spam because of the link, but I have now seen it and approved it. I'm an old, romantic soul for sure, yes. I loved reading this comment and want to thank you for sharing this. Very inspiring!
I purchased a reading journal recently and it includes spaces for notes, but I also think I’d like to keep a commonplace journal to write down meaningful passages and quotes from the books I read. Thank you for not having a fancy, pretty notebook! Like you, I don’t find it necessary!
I write a lot. I love writing anything such as keeping book journals, diaries, story ideas, or learning. I find it very relaxing as fun especially when I'm reading a book and then write what I think is going to happen next. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I can't write in every book I read because they are also library books. Lol.
National makes a chemistry notebook for taking lab notes. It has a very durable binding, but is a very plain notebook. It is a good choice for beginning journaling. Amazon sells them. University bookstores will stock them if they have a chemistry or engineering school. Yes I journal about what I read.
I swear, I buy the ugliest notebooks somebody could think of. The one I'm using rn has a motorcycle on the cover. It didn't even cost 50 cents. That way I can use it however I want! 😂
Me too! I have so many nice journals yet I always end up writing in the simple ones. Now I just have to convince myself that the really pretty ones aren't that pretty😅
For teen grow up in the 90s, reading, making scrap book and wrote a diary is daily activity. But today generation they dont interest in book anymore. They stick to gadget 24 hour everyday.
No way! I use Notion and Tana as my second-brain note-taking tools, but unfortunately, I focus far more on aesthetics than on actually taking notes. Plus, I end up changing my note-taking app almost every month. I prefer to keep my book clean; after all, my handwriting is so atrocious, it might make a pencil give up. I’ve been meaning to start journaling, and I intend to start with Les Misérables - imagine the drama my notes could capture :)
I seriously don,t know how to read without taking notes. I make a ton of connections while reflecting. I think it's supernormal. That's also why I enjoy physical books. I write and mark them a lot.
I started a book log in Notion to remember the books I've read, but most of the time faced with a choice of writing notes or reading more book, I end up skipping the notes. I am weak :(
I'm scared that TH-cam was able to read my mind and gave me a video about what I was thinking about. (I swear I haven't looked for it or anything related before 👀)
Hi Susana. I'm glad you will stick around! I assume you're not from Belgium or the Netherlands, so you can find my English novel on Amazon (The Painter's Muse, Emmelie Arents). 🧡
I had an aunt who was born in the late 1800s. After she died, I inherited her writing bureau and her diaries. Absolute gold. The handwriting was exquisite and thoughts she’d written about nature, people and current affairs
That's so wonderful! What a treasure.
What a lovely legacy. Lucky 🍀 you. ❤
A treasure of original source materials.
Wow awesome family history
I also keep notes in my commonplace book of youtube videos I watch. If I am just consuming content while I wash up, I don't take notes but I try and have an hour every week where I go back over what I have watched in the last week or several days and pick out the gems. It makes me more selective and attentive to what I watch if I know that I am going to be reviewing it later. Your channel definitely fits that bill.
THANK YOU FOR THIS COMMENT!!!!!
I actually do the same. I jot notes on random papers..then when I get a chance I file or copy it into a commonplace book which is where it all goes if it doesn’t go in a specific notebook (herbalism, history etc).
That's great! I also take notes as I watch educational TH-cam videos - otherwise I just consume and forget.
Great comment and I agree , i started doing this last year. This helps retain interesting info
In 2024, I had the privilege of reading a large number of books - around 180 in total. While the notes I took weren't as structured as those you showed off at the end of the video, they still captured my impressions and thoughts on each work. In a Google Doc, I took note of the title, author, date completed, and then bullet pointed anything that stood out to me. I also included some quotes as I saw fit. In the future, I would like to include at least one summary sentence for each book, to help me remember the overarching plot of each story. Although the method has yet to be perfected, it allowed me to reflect on my personal reading progress, and see my thoughts at a glance. It also helped to avoid the issue of wanting to "not ruin" a nice journal, since it was just online. I'm glad to see you are touching on the subject, and providing some new ideas!
Journalling has increased my retention of books in recent years. As I read, I note the page number of the book in the left hand margin and record the first appearance of a character and their characteristics, new words for definitions, beautiful passages, etc. My chronological notebook has the name of the book on the top of each page, the date begun or continued, and later the total number of pages of notes for each book (example: 1/12). l also keep my book club notes by date in the same notebook. I can look back at my reading history.
I only recently became aware of the commonplace book.
I started journaling in 2023 so I can remember what I read and the impression those books had on me. Depending on the book I journal at the end of the book or, just like you, at the end of one or a few more chapters. I like to use stickers but not on every page 😊
Unbelievably beautiful.
I will have to get myself a journal and I think it'll encourage me to read more. Thank you
Absolutely!! I have journals after journal with information I want to remember, and save. They are Kind of my own version of common place books. It is a way of life.
I have been taking notes on a plain notebook since last year and I don’t stress too much about how it looks. I developed the habit of reading with the notebook next to me so, whenever I find something interesting or an idea comes to my mind, I simply stop to write it down. I usually write the page number and a few words or phrases, not really full sentences. I feel I am not that structured and I am the only one that will later understand what I was thinking about at that moment.😅 However, I want to change this a bit this year so I'm thinking about keeping my actual system and putting the notes together in a more structured way, after I finish the book I'm reading. Your video was very helpful, thanks for sharing it. And your cat is super adorable. 😊
That's so exciting! Wishing you the best of luck with creating this new habit. Thanks for watching, and thank you for the wonderful comment!
If you study literature (like me now) you have to take notes on the margins because you can't reread them when it's time for midterms or finals, you *have* to jot down important passages, lines, dialogues, etc .right there on the page or paragraph. Plus, in my case, professors allow us to have our books the day of the exams in case we need to quote something or else. If it's not a copy from the library you can do whatever you want with your books because you paid for them! 💁🏻♀. So each on their own.
I've been keeping a reading journal since 2018, but I only write down the rating, the pages and quotes I like. This year I'll be ditching the page number and I'll incorporate mini reviews/thoughts for my future self. Sometimes I remember a lot of what happens in a book, other times my mind is in blank.
PS: you have a lovely and neat handwriting :)
@@GladysHunnam Hello! What do you mean with "you can't re-read them"? I'm interested! Also, if it weren't for the exams, would you still annotate in the book itself or use a journal? I love annotating, but there's little room in the book to actually do some writing. 🤭
@@ProseAndPetticoats I mean, you can reread them, of course, but there's no time sometimes to do so (sorry for the confussion on the comment above 🙈.) Annotating saves a lot of time. I do take notes when I read just for fun. I'm currently reading Anna Karenina (for fun) and I'm using sticky notes and plastic tabs with a colour code. For Don Quixote (for a final) on a separate sheet of paper I'm making a mini summary of each chapter. It's a looong book, there's a lot going on, too much background info that's important (both for the story and for the social context at the time) and so I can't forget anything. I'm also annotating on the margins.
When I was in my 20s I didn't annotate at all, let alone keeping a journal 😂. On one hand I didn't know how to, and on the other hand I used to read a lot of contemporary crime books and there isn't much stuff to take notes of on those 😅. With classics there's a lot to research (author, background, social context...) and quotes, passages, etc. that it's worth taking annotations of.
Oh, I see! Thank you for taking the time to explain. Appreciate it!
I've done this since childhood. I have ADHD and writing everything down helps me to remember what i read. I've got notebooks and notebooks full of things.
Im so happy i found your channel ❤
That's amazing! Great to have you here 😘
It is very nice to watch your new video in the first days of the new year.
I consider it a nice gift!
What you are talking about is really a very useful skill and I want to implement it on a permanent basis in the new year.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy New Year!
Greetings from indomitable and unconquered Ukraine!
Happy New Year, my friend. Wishing you a lot of light.
I wish there was more space in books for marginalia. One example i can think of where Marginalia had a profound influence on the field of mathematics was Fermat's Last Theorem that took more than 300 years to solve. And that because of a few lines written in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica by Diophantus that Fermat was studying. Coleridge also was known to annotate in books he read, often questioning the conclusions of the author.
I think these spontaneous notes capture a fresh organic outgrowth of thoughts from the root, in a moment of insight, that may have otherwise been lost.
Believe
Tell me book, learned in the way
All the wisdom you hold
The words through your pages
Through the ages
Beacon of strength and mastery
Tell me book, what lesson for today
“I bear stories and accounts aplenty
Of travels and treasure trove
But on this day - look not for the pathway
For my pages give in to no words today
No quivering soul
No foresight nor philosophy
Behold the brittled find
Today I bring thee token from a fairy
A modest garden flower
Fragile but not weakly
Prized in my folds safely
Long ago, awaiting light of day
Press it now onto your heart securely
Let yesterday live anew today”
Having lost phones and laptops from moves, accidents or planned obsolescence..... Journals have never been lost..... Analog is pretty based and will out last our electronics. Having lived through tapes to CDs to floppy disks to thumb drives to now external hard drives let me tell you whatever I have on a floppy disk can't rightly get off the floppy disk because finding a computer that has a floppy disk reader very difficult. So printing that information out and putting it in binders I have found has been a far better way of storing any electronic information by turning it into printed analog held in your hand storage. 😂😂😂😂 Yes I have agreed myself.
I see that. I hate that we don't "own" anything anymore. It's all online on platforms, and you pay, but nothing is truly yours.
I have 4 books I journal with: 2 philosophy, 2 fiction. I keep it right around 1-200 words per 10 pages from each book (5 pages out of one). It's usually meandering doodles of me recounting dialogue passages, writing certain concepts in Latin, and basically just stream of consciousing it all the way through.
Enjoyed the vid!
Hi Emmelie! Happy new year!
I remember hearing about journaling and writing down thoughts and doing background research about the author and the period from you, and since then I started doing so for those books I wanted to remember something about. As you said, it's very subjective and the way in which you annotate differs from individual to individual. I found the most pleasure in researching the historical, political, artistic background of when the author lived and when the story of the book takes place (if possible). Writing down my thoughts about the story, either going along with it or at the end of reading the book, is such a pleasant activity that I'm happy to have started doing it: quotes, passages, thoughts about characters, events and so on are so helpful in understanding ourselves and what means the most for us. So I need to thank you for it!
Take care and see you soon!
Aww, I'm so glad this works for you. Thank you for sharing your experience with journaling and doing background research!
I've been "annotating" books before I could write properly. 🤣 I had a lot to say, but couldn't express it yet. My mom was furious at me for marking up her childhood book. She finally gave it to me. I think I've always read a book with a pencil in my hand so I could annotate. Obviously I didn't mark up library books or books borrowed from friends. But if it was mine, I annotated. If I didn't annotate, it probably wasn't worth reading. However, there are some acceptional editions that we don't want to mark up and that's when a separate journal comes in handy. What I like though, is that even Jane Austen marked her books. Books like that are more valuable, not less valuable. I certainly wouldn't mark up a first edition book, unless I bought it used and it's already marked up. It boils down to common sense and preference. It doesn't make sense for me to try and keep a paperback pristine, like a nice hardcover.
I absolutely love journaling and recommend it for everyone.
Great topic! Thank you for sharing.
Oh yes, I would never write in a beautiful hardback copy! If I want to annotate, I use the cheapest paperback I can find, or I do it digitally (in E-book form). We can learn a lot from those classic authors. :)
This was just what i needed! Your videos are always my favorites!
Thanks for this Emmelie! The Victorian era is certainly a fascinating one. Personally I don't journal. However some of my favorite non fiction reading is things like, letters, diaries, journal and book like this. I like the immediacy of them.
By the way, Toulouse was so cool behind your left shoulder going through a typical cat grooming routine before settling down for a well earned nap! As always - happy reading!🙂
Haha, isn't he a cutie?! He's my favourite distraction. Thank you for watching, Maria. 🥰
Beautiful cat.
I like writing in my books, but I also like the idea (which had not occurred to me before your video) of placing notes on each chapter between the pages to be transferred to a notebook later (after all, the margins don’t always have enough room for what I want to say). I do have a journal that is meant to be aesthetically pleasing, but I might have to not only keep notes while reading, but transfer those notes to a simple notebook I can refer to when I finally reach that book in my journal. I hate that I at times only vaguely remember a book by the time I’m ready to place it in my book journal. So having a notebook for notes to refer to when putting together the more prettified review in my main book journal is going to be so much better for me.
I’ve gone back a started doing it for “My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams” (which I started yesterday). Thanks!
I love that you keep separate notebooks - it's how I do it also. Happy reading!
I use Notion (but recently migrated to Noto) app to write my thoughts on the books and to store my exported highlights from Kobo to help me comment on the books i’ve read. But i believe it’s not the same as writing on a physical journal. I do have a commonplace book. And writing is not complete without fountain pen. I’m an old soul too apparently 😅
The idea of keeping a journal of what you're reading is a good idea. I've always shied away from multi-book series where each book is massive because I would have a hard time keeping track of the characters, plots, places, etc... I may have to try this out.
@@Bethany-fo6lt now this might just be out of your reading catalog because it's nothing special but the Horus heresy novels are fantastic from beginning to end. Takes a while to finish it all of course keeping notes on everything would be very very efficient instead of having to go back and forth trying to remember the character from 10 books ago
@@tylerholmes2727 I looked it up and I'm intrigued. It's definitely on my radar now. Thanks!
Funnily enough, when I started journaling I bought a plain composition notebook because I thought “it doesn’t matter what it looks like, I just want something to write in.” It ended up that because it was such a boring looking journal, I did not feel drawn to write in it. Now I buy journals that that are attractive but not extravagantly beautiful.
You can always decorate the cover of the plain composition books.
I also need my journals to be a little elegant! ;)
Thank you for showing practically how you do journaling. Really helps to see an example. Happy New Year to you. ❤ your videos.
Thank you so much. Happy 2025!
I studied the history of ideas for 2 years at university and read over a hundred books on Western thought. I didn't retain much despite the fact that I studied really hard. Now that I've graduated, I've decided to start a journey through the "Western canon", so to speak, and this time, I'm going to journal about the books I read. I hope that journaling will allow me to engage with what I read on a personal level, instead of just trying to impress a professor.
That's exciting! I hope this works for you. Returning to your notes once in a while is a lovely way to revisit a book!
i love it so much, your content is incredible! 💖
I love having pages for the books I read! Depending on what type of book and how I felt about it I will either do a collage with my extracts and thoughts or just go plain structured with extracts followed by what I thought. I generally do it at the end of the book. If I own the book I will dog eat the corner of the page and mark the lines that I want to take notes about and if it is a library book I dog eat the page only and make sure to smooth it back out before I return it! I also always have a pocket notebook with me if I NEED to write about what I am reading immediately. Ha.
The collage is so creative. I love that!
This was such a good informative yet personal video. I loved it! Thank you for sharing!
I love reading classics and looking for a way to immerse myself in the book and remember information. I already annotate black spines or Oxford world classics as I prefer these editions for notes and specific translations. I'm going to try the journalling technique whilst I read Slaughterhouse 5 part of my A-Z of classics challange.
This video inspires me to return to using hard copy journals again. I have nerve issues so I struggle handwriting sometimes, so I’ve been using cloud word processors and use spreadsheets to organize the highlights of my notes. But the black on white is something I need to reconnect to, making the ideas tactile again :)
Writing with pen on paper can have a huge impact. I hope you will give it a try!
@@ProseAndPetticoats I mostly certainly will :D
Hi!!! I love annotating and journaling..,,both are very satisfying..i have accumulated duplicate copies to keep my leather or more expensive copies clean..,,,lots of journals and supplies!! Yes each read is different ..,,so happy reading and studying.!!
I'd rather be an expert on one hundred books, than one thousand. I bask in every chapter I read, basically practicing my creative method for my own works in progress by dwelling in each chapter I'm crafting, becoming every character, being the very realm in the tome. As a result I'm always prepared to focus on my works in progress. It's a different sort of training regiment for me.
Yes, I agree that this is better, especially for authors. I find myself reading less books every year, because I spend more time on what I read (in minutes). :)
I subscribed eight minutes and 33 seconds in. I'm looking forward to more of this channel.
Thank you so much! I'm happy you will be joining me here!
I agree. I can't bring myself to write within my book. Much easier for me to keep a notebook attached to the book I'm reading.
Hello Emmelie! I hope you and your family are doing well. What an interesting video! I really enjoyed listening and learning how you take notes when reading your books. I wish I had started that habit years ago when I started reading classics. I guess now at my age and so far into my classic literary journey, I just do not (maybe laziness too?). Anyway, great video and instructive. I look forward to your next video! Have a great day! :)
Emmelie, i don't mark my books, but i love journaling. Oh! How beautiful this victorian scrapbooks! Thanks for the tips and for the wonderful video. ❤
Thank you, Denise!
Super cute cat in the background...
He's my favourite distraction!
Interesting! I've been keeping a very simple book diary with only the dates i read a book, title, author and my rating. Underline my favorites of the month. Do a little drawing for every month plus some little stickers. Very simple but fun. Now im "upgrading " to write down charachters names and the feeling the book gives me. Plus more drawings the book inspire me to do! Its a great way to keep me creative. I hope I can keep it up 😅
That sounds amazing :D Happy reading!
@ProseAndPetticoats thank you 😊. The same to you!
Like me, you must be a romantic, old-soul born two hundred years late ... Yes, to everything you mentioned. These days I read exclusively non-fiction so note taking is a must. A LOT of note-taking! I've ammased quite the collection of notebooks in fact! I also keep a book of quotations and interesting new words (and I have filled up a dozen of those, all handwritten - and mind you, my chicken scratch is very small). 55 years ago I started a diary; over the years it has morphed into a commonplace and glue book, an all-in-one thing (actually, VERY many) with magazine/article clippings, poems I like, song lyrics, post cards, business cards and a variety of such items, all accompanied by notes, thoughts, feelings - and journaling (I was an only, lonely child with no one to talk to and while that has changed, books are my best and constant companions. I also dont watch much TV). As you can imagine, I have ammased an extensive book collection, so now I just borrow from the library. And here's something you might find useful: you can purchase 4x6, lined post-it's to use instead of just inserting loose papers between book pages that can fall out. I get mine here tinyurl.com/muay7wbj - Happy New Year to you!
Hi there! Your comment got marked as spam because of the link, but I have now seen it and approved it. I'm an old, romantic soul for sure, yes. I loved reading this comment and want to thank you for sharing this. Very inspiring!
Beautiful ❤❤ I took notes in my commonplacd book :)
@@thejournaldiaries I love that! 🥰
I purchased a reading journal recently and it includes spaces for notes, but I also think I’d like to keep a commonplace journal to write down meaningful passages and quotes from the books I read. Thank you for not having a fancy, pretty notebook! Like you, I don’t find it necessary!
Good luck!
Hazy characters, fading storyline? I thought that was because I’m over 60 and needed to journal!
@@Sujowi 😂
Bishop Myriel in Les Misérables annotates and keeps notes! It is mentioned at the beginning. 🥰
Indeed!!
Thanks!
You're amazing! Thank you so much - I appreciate it!
@@ProseAndPetticoats // Enjoyed your writing sample Emmelie!
I write a lot. I love writing anything such as keeping book journals, diaries, story ideas, or learning. I find it very relaxing as fun especially when I'm reading a book and then write what I think is going to happen next.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), I can't write in every book I read because they are also library books. Lol.
Great ideas from the classic. Today I mostly read books in iPad from Apple Books which allow to underline and also make notes.
That's the only reason why I love digital books! Annotating without guilt, haha.
National makes a chemistry notebook for taking lab notes. It has a very durable binding, but is a very plain notebook. It is a good choice for beginning journaling. Amazon sells them. University bookstores will stock them if they have a chemistry or engineering school.
Yes I journal about what I read.
That's interesting! I love that.
Very inspiring topic. Thanks for sharing📚
This video is perfect! ❤
I swear, I buy the ugliest notebooks somebody could think of. The one I'm using rn has a motorcycle on the cover. It didn't even cost 50 cents. That way I can use it however I want! 😂
Haha I love that.
Me too! I have so many nice journals yet I always end up writing in the simple ones. Now I just have to convince myself that the really pretty ones aren't that pretty😅
Thank you. Have a look at the method of Robert de Sorbon (1201-1274) whose study method was very like what you are practicing.
Interesting! I have never heard of him, but I will be looking into this :)
great video as always
For teen grow up in the 90s, reading, making scrap book and wrote a diary is daily activity. But today generation they dont interest in book anymore. They stick to gadget 24 hour everyday.
I agree. I hate seeing how addicted they are to their phones.
TY for such good video
No way! I use Notion and Tana as my second-brain note-taking tools, but unfortunately, I focus far more on aesthetics than on actually taking notes. Plus, I end up changing my note-taking app almost every month. I prefer to keep my book clean; after all, my handwriting is so atrocious, it might make a pencil give up. I’ve been meaning to start journaling, and I intend to start with Les Misérables - imagine the drama my notes could capture :)
Les Misérables is the most beautiful fiction novel ever written, in my opinion! Good luck ;)
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍😍😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I seriously don,t know how to read without taking notes. I make a ton of connections while reflecting. I think it's supernormal. That's also why I enjoy physical books. I write and mark them a lot.
The only way I can get anything out of a non-fiction book is in hard copy with some kind of annotation or note taking!
Sorry Emmelie... I just couldn't help noticing Toulouse waking up from a nap, only to move a few inches and try another.
@@DarrenRosenow Always napping 😂
I started a book log in Notion to remember the books I've read, but most of the time faced with a choice of writing notes or reading more book, I end up skipping the notes. I am weak :(
It's a process, and you shouldn't see it as weakness. Just keep going - you will improve!
I'm scared that TH-cam was able to read my mind and gave me a video about what I was thinking about. (I swear I haven't looked for it or anything related before 👀)
@@PrizAmezcua Haha. Glad you're here 😘
Have u read LEAD ME WHERE THE LIGHT IS OURS ?
Never heard of it!
@@ProseAndPetticoats Every chapter has something to highlight or underline so good!
Hi I recently discovered your Channel and I am enjoying it very much.
I’d love to buy your books. Where can I find them?
Hi Susana. I'm glad you will stick around! I assume you're not from Belgium or the Netherlands, so you can find my English novel on Amazon (The Painter's Muse, Emmelie Arents). 🧡
♍
I love your cat in the background 😂
Have you read a bout grangerizing books?
What is that? Never heard of it ;)
😮 I write on books but don't think I could do this. Maybe a cheap copy of my favourite books so I could journal with it.