Comments on: How to Read a Book http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/ the agony and ecstasy of a reading life Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:53:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Stefanie http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11924 Tue, 22 May 2007 01:27:22 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11924 I have a pencil in hand while I read Proust too LK. And you blog about a book just fine!

Becky, what a fantastic story! Church would be the last place I’d think of learning something like marking up a text, but how wonderful that is!

]]> By: Becky http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11906 Mon, 21 May 2007 19:53:47 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11906 I’m a book marker, as long as it’s my own book. If not, I go the post-it route of taking notes. While reading your post I was thinking about why I write in books and when I started doing it and I suddenly realized it was because of church! Everyone I knew read their scriptures with colored pencils at the ready to mark verses, underline phrases, and write notes or cross-references in the margins. We were encouraged to do this in every church class I took. The more heavily marked your scriptures were, the more you had studied. I guess I just got used to reading with a pencil in my hand!

]]> By: LK http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11901 Mon, 21 May 2007 18:07:06 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11901 Great resource, thank you! I started marking up books when I started Proust, and now I can’t read him without a pencil in hand.

I am a bit of a cheater still when it comes to blogging about a book. I get all freaked out, as if I am having to write a term paper. I am hoping to get over that and be as witty, succinct and helpful as other bloggers are about the books they read.

]]> By: Stefanie http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11852 Sun, 20 May 2007 23:55:43 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11852 John, marking in library books is verboten. I find it interesting that while you don’t like marking in books you like to buy books others have marked in.

Sylvia, anthologies are multipurpose buildings, you know the kinds that have apartments, condos, and retail space :)

Danielle, If your neighborhood is going to have crime, it’s good to have some of the best detectives on the case ;)

Rod, marks in a book can be distracting, but it sounds like your notebook serves the purpose well.

Whatladder, your husband sounds like a really great guy. I agree with you on the highlighting. I only ever use pencil.

Steve, sounds like you have a great reading system. I love the conversation between books too, they way one book leads to another or provides additional information or commentary that adds to our experience. I’ve read Cloud Atlas and I have been wanting to read Mishima. You have me intrigued about Spring Snow. I’ll have to track down a copy for myself!

Nick, I’m always happy to talk about a god book :)

Litlove, your force for good comment made me smile.

Dorothy, I have yet to really go back and look at old posts, but I like knowing I can.

JS, what a wise teacher you had.

Not schizophrenic Emily, but energetic, active, and diverse :)

Polaris, I like the neighborhood metaphor too. Good luck with the interview!

Gentle Reader, index cards are a good solution, and even better that you save them. Kind of neat that you have all those cards you can flip through, a walk down memory lane of sorts.

]]> By: Gentle Reader http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11832 Sun, 20 May 2007 15:40:02 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2007/05/18/how-to-read-a-book/#comment-11832 I love the neighborhood metaphor, too.

And I can’t bring myself to mark my books, like some of the others who have commented. My semi-solution to that problem is index cards. I use index cards as bookmarks, and make notes there. Then I label the cards and stick them in a little index card file so I can go back and find passages that I loved or whatever. It’s not a great system, because it’s pretty easy to lose cards, and you have to have to be willing to keep a card file. But it’s better than nothing…

And I’ve seen many bloggers who keep reading notebooks, which is another way of keeping the “conversation” going…

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