To annotate or not to annotate, that is the question?

Guess what guys... I annotate in my books now!

Hold up, wait a minute! OMG I know what you're thinking, "Monster!! Book abuser! SATAN!!!! You don't love your books, I'm pretty sure you dog ear them, too!!!" Ok, let's WOOSAH for a minute, calm down, take a deep breath, go to your happy place and whatever you do please don't kill me! I still have more books to read. To answer your question no, I don't dog ear my books... whispers but someday I will.

How did this madness start you ask, with an evil laugh... no not really, well let me explain.



Last month, I was binge watching some of my favorite BookTube channels and I came across Naya Reads and Smiles and Ariel Bissett's annotating your books video. How? Well I saw that books were highlighted and written on, I must admit I almost DIED! I thought to myself, who does that?! Why did she not only highlight in her book, but write in it as well?! So I clicked the video and started to listen to her crazy and I know I'm crazy as is, but it all actually made sense.

After watching these videos, I was weirdly inspired by what they both said. They referenced an essay by Adler Mortimer "How to Mark A Book." I must say this essay gave me the extra push I needed to suck it up and annotate in my book. After reading this essay I reflected and remembered something about my reading habits in the past... let me take you down memory lane.

My copy of Flowers in the Attic that I first read when I was in high school is used and abused, battered and torn, has gone through surgery with rips and then taped... but most of all it was very loved! I wouldn't let anyone touch it! It was my baby, my all time favorite book. This book was such a big deal, especially because it was a bit taboo. Funny, I always got away with reading V.C. Andrews books because my mother never knew what was in them. Unfortunately, I don't have that copy anymore because I made the dumb mistake of lending it to a friend... and she lost it, till this day her body was never found. I was just kidding! Or am I?! *insert evil laugh here* I recently read Six of Crows and ACOTAR, two of my favorite reads of 2017, on the other hand, is perfect and clean. I treated these books like if my life depended on it! They are free from having anything on them and if they do, I promise you I complained and raised hell too! I don't know how it happened, but I went from treating a book like a book to treating it like something too precious to even carry around.

Besides, watching videos and reading the essay, when did this shift happen?

In the wonderful bookstagram community, especially on the YA side, books are sacred. "My precious!" They are these precious, beautiful story vessels that for some reason we feel we must protect with our lives. We get so much out of them, so we must protect them, keep them clean, and perfect like the day we first bought them. Before joining this amazing bookstagram community, I was not so paranoid about my books. I loved and respected them because I respect the world and story the author put together for us, but I treated them like the books they are, if that makes sense. But after becoming more involved in this community, my reading views and habits changed. How? Well I began buying WAY more books than I could even read. This happened because I was no longer living under a rock, like Patrick. I was exposed to a whole new world of books I never knew existed and it was the thing everyone was doing. I wanted to be down! Now I have a never ending TBR that's so ginormous that it could avalanche and KILL ME! But we won't get into that, that's a problem we can try to solve another day. I stopped dog earing the pages in my books and started actually buying and somewhat using bookmarks. I say somewhat because there are ever bookmarks that I don't want to use for the same reasons as how I use to treat my books... hmm maybe I have a bit of a problem, I must fix that. I also NEVER, EVER wanted a pen or pencil to touch my precious pages. I didn't want my paperbacks to bend, which in turn changed my buying habits because I didn't want to buy paperbacks because of this paranoia. I didn't want my dustjackets to get messed up, let alone getting anything on the flawless covers. Let's not even get started on the way I began feeling about putting books in my bag, I would literally carry my books because I was so nervous about anything happening to them. I would make sure there was nothing on a flat surface and I was super paranoid about water coming in contact with my books. Long story short, if anything happened to my books, I would actually get mad.

Now that I think about it, it is a bit much.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE books! Books are my world. I enjoy reading and I will always love reading, but it's not fun being paranoid about my books not being perfect or being terrified of someone touching them. Trust me, even when my daughter moves my book I'm like a hawk, what are you doing, why are you moving my book, be careful with my book. I think back to the way I use to treat my books, when you could tell they were loved and it showed, the pages are yellowed and you could tell the book was open more times than you could count. Another funny thing is that I felt I would take my books on adventures with me before and it showed, maybe a coffee stain on the outside or sand on the inside. Everywhere I brought my book, it has been engrained in the book itself. And guess what I love that! Not only does the book take me on a journey, but I can take my book on a journey as well. And I want that for all the books I read. Okay, lets get this straight, I don't want ALL my books looking crazy and beat up, but I don't want to be paranoid or so cautious with them that it gets...well...crazy. And I do want my bookish experience to shine through the book, I want it to be apparent, to be engrained in the book, to OWN my book and make it something personal to me. I also wanted to be more engaged with these precious worlds and characters these author's spend so much time creating for us. So there you have it people that is why I annotate my books.

Now, I am going to pick up A Court of Mist and Fury, grab my annotating bag, and get writing...in my book of course!