Nope

It's your book. Do whatever you want.

It's your book, do whatever you want to it. Who cares what other people think?

Personally, I annotate my books and write notes to myself about things I've noticed or questions I have for future read throughs. I also enjoy stumbling upon other people's annotations.

Literally no one cares if you write in your own book. You do not need “the reading community’s” approval.

some people are weird about it and some people are avid practitioners. i myself am the latter - i see annotation as a genuine means of actively engaging and interacting with what i'm reading and it can be helpful when you look back at annotated texts to kind of see what you were thinking!

yeah, agree. i love buying used books filled with other people's scrawls, makes me feel a part of a community of readers and thinkers

I’m an academic. I actually require my students to annotate their readings in some courses. It’s a key method of really engaging with the text and learning the material.

As long as it's not a library book, go ham.

I relish writing in my book, cracking its spine, or dog earring the pages - let the haters tremble with irritation and disdain, they don’t understand the power.

While I think access to and the protection of written works is of the upmost importance, I don't understand treating any particular copy of a given work as precious. Broken spines, dog-eared pages, and annotations are not crimes to me; they are often just signs of a well-used book. Surely that's more important than keeping a particular copy in pristine condition!

Before i got myself a Kindle, i kept a notebook with book name, chapter/page number and my notes. Regardless of whether they were fiction or non fiction, sometimes it was just a quote i liked, sometumes it was reference to something i wanted to study seperately. For me, writing in the book itself didn't give me enough room.

Now i have a kindle, all my notes are saved there, and are exportable to PDF.

Me too. I'll add definitions, or underline parts, or add stars, or whatever. When my book is read, it has been READ.

I'll agree with everything EXCEPT the dog-earring. That's what bookmarks are for. If you think bookmarks are expensive, grab a couple of paint-chip strips.

Frowned upon might be sloppy grammar? Punctuation might be your friend.

I'm a firm believer that anyone should do whatever they feel like doing with their books. Write it down, highlight, use post-its, whatever you feel comfortable with. Everybody has their way of reading, and if annotating books makes it easier for you to understand them then go ahead. There're some people that think books shouldn't be annotated because of the whole "keeping the aesthetic thing" but I think it's cool to put your own part of the experience you had with the book in its pages

I don't like writing in my books but if they're your books you can do whatever you want.

I love annotating, marking pages, folding pages.

It’s like having a conversation with what the author is saying. Also nothing better than going back to your bookshelf and being able to easily go back to your favorite moments and thoughts at the time

If you’re going to be a pedant, you should at least make sure you’re correct first.

I personally don't like annotating books; I feel that doing so takes away the pleasure of reading for me and reminds me too much of being forced to read school books haha. However, I won't judge someone for annotating and processing the book as they wish.

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If you write in library copies or borrowed copies, yes. But books aren't sacred objects and people who treat them as such are very silly.

What even is your point? Frowned upon is perfectly acceptable and needs no punctuation.

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Yeah, I get that, but I've also dog-eared books for reasons other than saving my place. In college, I've dog-eared books to mark pages with important quotations to include in essays or to bring up in class. Ideally, I used Post-Its, but I didn't always have them.

No, its your book.

Annotating a book is a normal practice for those who study literature and literary criticism.

It isnt enough to just underline words and use highlighter. Over time, you might not remember the context for drawing attention to that word or phrase. It becomes a mark on a page.

Instead, you should really engage with the text. Look at it as if you are looking through a microscope. Ask yourself questions. What genre is this book? This forecasts what you should expect. Who is the author? Do you know anything about them and if so, does that knowing tell you anything about the work itself? Look at the front cover and ask yourself, what sorts of impressions do you get from it? Is it making a specific statement? What do you think of the title? How does that compliment or juxtapose any other impressions you get from the work? Feel the paper. What does the texture of the paper tell you? Is it really thin and wispy, is it smooth and glossy, or is it kind of rough and sturdy? These things might give you an idea as to the decisions made by the publisher and the author.

Now look at the typography and the shape of the sentences. Fan through the pages without looking at any particular sentence. Does it look breezy, breathy, or intimidatingly dense?

Now at the text itself: read it on first impression. How does the story speak to you? Note any parts that you find interesting. If you notice parts that are slow to you, maybe parts that irritate you, mark it down and continue. Think about how the story might end and predict (it is okay to be dead wrong) how the events will turn.

Once you get through the story the first time, now you really can start looking at it as if it were under the microscope. You will want to start asking questions. What connotations come up with an author's choice of diction? Does the author employ any poetic or rhetorical devices, and how, if any, does that impact the meaning? Does the author use symbolism, and if so, where and how? Do you pick up on any patterns?

Write in the margins. Highlight in one color and take notes. Impressions that you have, questions, surprises, confusing parts, these you make note. Think about the author's point: is he or she trying to make an argument/to demonstrate something/to provide critique on something particular?

You will not notice everything on the first or second read. You might not even notice it on the third. But you will find more meaning, and you will end up asking more questions.

If you want to build onto that, you can start applying literary theories. These are bodies of thought that center around certain kinds of ideas, beliefs, themes and attitudes. With it, the reader asks specific kinds of questions to engage the text in this way. This would be the equivalent of changing one lens for another in a camera. You would then start reading the work through the lens of that chosen literary theory. Your notes will continue to build, your interpretations may change, and you may have other kinds of highlights.

Just some thoughts for you.

Hmm; understandable.