Chapter #25: How I Annotate My Books

Without writing in them!

Feeling My Shelf is a bi-weekly newsletter about books, life, and well, life with books. Grab your favorite caffeinated beverage and get comfy. First up, some recent reads.

The Bounce Back by Addie Woolridge

A rom-com following an artist named Neale, whose career and relationship go up in flames (literally). After the setback, she pivots to a 9 to 5 at a greeting card company and soon finds herself smitten with a coworker. It’s a light read featuring some entertaining sister dynamics. The romance wasn’t as central to the story as I thought it would be from the description, but I didn’t mind in the end.

Love Buzz by Neely Tubati Alexander

A chance encounter with a hot stranger during a bachelorette weekend in New Orleans leaves 29-year-old Serena questioning her meticulously planned life—which she soon blows up. The story is dramatic, messy, and, at times, a bit ridiculous (case in point: that chance encounter lasts like 15 min, and she’s in love after. GIRL WHAT?!) But it’s also funny, heartfelt, and incredibly relatable too.

You’ve Been Served by Kristen Alicia

The star of this story is a Magic 8 Ball that “tells” Simone to go to law school after quitting her job as a chef. Just because. On a whim. (Me again: GIRL WHAT?!) We follow along as she stumbles through her first semester Elle Woods style—minus the catty classmates and whole following an-ex-to-law-school thing. I breezed through this and liked it overall, but wonder how the book could have been different (better?) with higher stakes.

To annotate or to not annotate?

For readers, that’s always the question. For some, marking up books with thoughts and doodles is a given. For others? Not a chance in hell, as the mere thought gives them flashbacks to school. For a long time, I fell into the latter camp. I just wanted to read for fun. Also, who has the time?

But as I started writing this newsletter and joining book clubs, I was breezing through books and not really remembering or digesting what I’d read. So, I decided to give it a try. And it turns out that it’s not so bad.

Wait, what is annotating?

It essentially boils down to adding comments, thoughts, and notes on the text—highlighting, underlining, and even writing directly in the margins.

A few benefits of annotating…

• It makes it easier to keep track of key things: Quotes I loved, beautiful prose, scenes/moments I want to discuss during book club, etc. I’m often reading 4+ books a month, so organizing my thoughts is necessary.

• It makes for an entertaining reread: It’s nice to look back on something that I previously read and annotated and know exactly how I felt/what stood out to me at that moment in time.

• It encourages active reading: No more speeding through and skipping lines!

How I annotate & my annotation key

Different readers annotate different things. I like to keep it simple with a color-coded system. Below is what each of the tabs/flags in the above photo represent.

Blue: Memorable Quotes/Dialogue
Purple: Sensory details
Green: Characters
Orange: Standout moments (funny, relatable, plot twists!)
Pink: Chemistry/romantic banter
Yellow: Misc/random thoughts (basically anything that makes me feel something that isn’t any of the above)

Note: I don’t annotate everything I read, or even flag all of these things in every book I do annotate. It just depends on the book and how I’m feeling at the moment.

My favorite supplies

All you truly need is a book and a pen (or pencil or highlighter, whatever!) But if you’d like to take your annotating up a notch, here are some of my favorite tools:

Transparent sticky notes: I can write notes on the pages without completely obstructing the books’ text. Or actually writing in the book.

Post-it Flags: Small and colorful. They help me reference my thoughts quickly.

Highlighter tape: Again, since I don’t like writing or highlighting directly in my books, I use this easy-to-remove and see-through tape.

Pens: If a ballpoint and a gel pen had a baby, they’d be these pens! And they don’t smear!

Reading journals are another good alternative—you get to keep your books free of tabs/markings, but are still able to record and organize your thoughts. I have this one.

Best books to annotate

Obviously, any book can be annotated, but if you’re looking for easy places to start my suggestions are:

• Your favorite book

• A book you didn’t particularly enjoy

• Non-fiction

Looking for annotating inspo?

A quick search for “annotating books” or #annotatingbooks on any social media platform reveals a plethora of ideas.

Who We Are Now by Lauryn Chamberlain, which follows four friends over the course of fifteen years through “professional setbacks, deep loss, and creative success.” Because I need a breather from lighter books/romances! On that note: if you’ve recently read any good mysteries/thrillers, let me know!

Fire devastated this NYC Chinatown bookshop — community has rushed to its aid. The gamification of reading is changing how we approach books. The most beautiful libraries in the world. Do you have to be rich to be a fan today? A reading guide for grownups who don’t read. The best memoirs by women still to come in 2023. Readers will fall in love with New York’s first all-romance bookstore (there’s one in L.A. too!)

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