So I have ‘just started reading’. After a lifetime of being dyslexic and thinking I disliked books, I’ve realised that if I find something in my wheel house and with a little perseverance of getting over the inital hump, I’m really enjoying it. However a few months after reading a book, I’ve kind of forgotten the finer points and details I enjoyed. Does anyone write up books they’ve read and what tips have you got/do you have any templates?
i take notes as i read, and i write about stuff that i’ve read.
I forget too. Which is why I reread books. I’ve reread Pratchett’s Night Watch so often I’ve lost count, and every time it’s like reading a new book. It’s not a competition, there are no tests later, just enjoy reading already.
Most people just read them again. At least, that’s what I do when I’ve forgotten why I loved a certain book. It’s also why I can’t bring myself to get rid of any.
Because it already takes me so much time and I feel so ‘behind’ on books, I have a weird mental block to going back instead or instead of reading new things. I do now see what people collect books though 😂
If it’s about a topic I’m studying or I find something worth noting, I may take notes, but usually not. I actually like forgetting some details, as if it’s a book that I love I will probably re-read it in the future. I know that some people like to annotate their books, though I personally don’t (I tried it and now feel very guilty). That may be something you would like, or you can dedicate a notebook to taking notes on books.
Also, I am very happy to hear you’re getting into reading!
- Congrats for getting into reading :)
- I’ve been reading most of my life (nearing my 60s) and the one thing I do with every single book I read is take ‘reading notes’ on handmade index cards (handmade because I I like to recycle stuff, including old sheets of paper, and because 'm cheap. One could buy them new, obviously ;)) and while I read I take succinct notes of what I want to remind and of any idea or question that crosses my mind. I have a short pile of index cards and a pen or pencil and I jot stuff down as I read.
I don’t write full sentences, save when I want to record a passage from the book, just keywords or, using my own shorthand, things that remotely looks like sentences. Using some shorthand makes it incredibly quick to write stuff down.
And when I finish the book I index the card(s) and archive them in a storage system that lets me retrieve any book or author I’ve read to check my notes, even years later. I often forget about the books I read… but I know my external brain remembers them for me ;)
I’ve not invented the system, it has been a thing since there was books to be reads and people willing to think and write. It also has been most formalized by Luhmann (he calls it a Zettelkasten, aka ‘cards in box’), he was an academic… but one can start very simply without much, if any, consideration for academia either ;)
BTW, I do that for books and also for my own writings. It’s all on index cards before it gets a chance to morph into a more structured project. Making it dead simple to retrieve any idea or comment or whatever I need.
For nonfiction books I do. I note the name on my reading list with completion date and I take notes using what I learned from
“How to take smart notes” - Sonke Ahrens
Which is short and I would recommend it to anyone who occasionally reads to learn something.
I never keep track, and if I forget all the details of a book, either it’s time to read it again, or perhaps it simply hasn’t memorable enough for a second taste?
I enjoy forgetting. After 50 books a year for a couple decades, if I remembered everything that sounds exhausting
Have you heard of the OpenDyslexic font? I’m always surprised how many people haven’t. I’ve known a couple people that it helped quite a lot. Of course, it won’t help if you’re reading print books
I had the plugin on my browser but found I wasn’t reading big chunks of text on there and it felt clunky. That was like 10 years ago though. I might try again and maybe get an eReader to see if that helps. Thanks!
Was going to ask about this. There’s some good dyslexic-friendly fonts now, and if you get set up on an e-reader that might be a great way to make it easier to digest.
Have you tried mixing audiobooks with their ebook/paper variant? My neurospicy brain can only process a book if do both at the same time :)
I read much fast than i hear. Isnt that annoying for you?
Depending on the source, you can increase the speed of the audio to fit your own reading speed.
Oh yes, right.
I read much faster than I hear, but I’m ALWAYS doing something else when I’m listening to audio, which slows down my brain’s ability to process words, even if it’s something mindless like cleaning. So it works out.
And as others have said, I generally will increase speed, usually up to 1.3x or so is my sweet spot.
Oh, of course, I listen to 1.5-2x speed, depending on the narrator.
After hearing all these year end “I read xxx books this year”, I realized I never kept track. At my peak I could read a book a day, but I have no idea where I stand now.
So I picked up a couple of book apps that you can use to track your reading and write reviews.
Fable, Goodreads, Hardcover, and Storygraph.
So far, I’ve read 9 books this year, but I got slowed down by cancer surgery, just coming out the other side of it now.
Of the four apps, I think I like Fable the least, it’s a challenge every time to just go in and add a new book.
It’s a weird metric because a “book” is such a variable thing. Last year I read 27, but the last 3 that I have read this year total 6500 pages alone. You can read a romance novel in an afternoon, but my last Joe Abercrombie book took like 32 hours, and 14 books of wheel of time took me 3 years.
All that to say, I feel like there should be another metric, but non-space characters seems the most fair and also a bridge too far :).
Definitely depends on the book and the writer. I blew through Stephen King’s Insomnia in one sitting, 800+ pages or so. But Wheel of Time is a tougher pull.
It wouldn’t have been so bad but my friend who read WoT first said there was foreshadowing everywhere that was super evident the second read, so I was trying to predict the series the whole time. I couldn’t.
Yeah, that’s rough. Most of it only becomes apparent in retrospect. The problem with WoT is that it was so long between books, it was hard to keep it all in your head when the next one came out.
I stopped reading them around book 6 or 7 figuring “You know what? Let’s just wait for it to finish and read the whole thing…”
Edit Book 6 - Lord of Chaos, that’s where I stopped. 1994. Scored an autographed copy though!
Series would finish 19 years later(!)
Then he died, and Sanderson finished it, and I never went back. Maybe some day!
It’s worth finishing IMO. I didn’t start until they were all released. The ending is pretty legit, only a handful of minor strings not tied up it felt like.
Aa book a year seems completely insane to me! I won’t get to that level but in also ‘worried’ about the intentionally of reading. I don’t want it to just become another source of consumption for the sake of it. While I agree some books will be and that it’s better social media, I want to ve intentional with it.
Glad you’re coming out the other side of it!
Do any of these app have questions or things you like about them more or is it more of the design of the app? I was thinking of more analog ways of recording to help with my memory
Each app does some things similarly and differently. You can leave notes about how a particular book made you feel, you can add tags and things. Track how long it took you to finish, that sort of thing.
There’s a social aspect where you can join groups, share reviews, and so on.
I take occasional notes (especially for non-fiction books), and after finishing, write a small “review”/opinion on my site.
Nope, sounds like schoolwork!
I occasionally post reviews/reactions here in this community. It’s a nice way to get my thoughts out and also engage with others.
I don’t keep notes or do any write ups when I read, I read mostly for enjoyment instead of watching of tv. The most I’ll do is write a quick review in a few popular book spaces as a courtesy to authors for providing me entertainment. I do use StoryGraph to track what I am reading, so I can plug it into a Book Riot spreadsheet at the end of the year that has charts to breakdown what I’ve read. I remember and recommend books mostly based on vibe and not necessarily content.
I don’t reread books very often because there is so much out there that I want to read and I’m a pretty slow reader, so my rereads are always via audiobook, I’ve only reread 2 series and a few of other books. I also don’t typically do first time reads on audiobook because my mind wanders a lot while listening and I get lost.
I also don’t mind reading as just another consumption because I get a lot of entertainment for very little money.
I add sticky markers at key passages so I can easily find those and get a quick refresher if I want.
