Tuesday, May 22, 2007

To Savor or to Study?

How do you read?

Is a book to you the paper-and-ink equivalent of a glass of wine -- drunk down, enjoyed briefly and then forgotten?

Over the last few years, I've established a routine for myself that probably betrays a lack of sanity on my part. I keep a notebook at hand and as I read this book or that, I scribble down details, pithy quotes, etc.

But just as there's something sad about the professional biologist who counts petals, sepals and stamens, who assidiously notes pubescence, leaf structure and growth habit -- and finds himself unable to simply enjoy the flower the way any innocent child would ...

... So I recognize now the problem in my reading plan.

It's great to have notes at hand, to be able to remind myself of plot lines and witticisms, to have actual evidence of having read a certain book. No more do I shut a book at the end of a long read and realize that I remember only the vaguest details of my journey through it.

But great literature is also meant to be savored. Great writers have a flow to their sentences, a rhythm to their chapters. And each time that I stop to scribble a note, it's as if I'm putting the orchestra on hold in the middle of a performance in order to note that b-sharp predominated in this movement, followed by an aria.

Last night, I read Book Two of Ovid's "Art of Love." I resisted interrupting myself and coasted along on the sheer poetry. I therefore have no notes on these passages and can tell the world and myself only that I enjoyed them.

9 comments:

Chase March said...

If I own the book, I have no qualms about writing it in. I only write in books in pencil so that it can be erased and won’t negatively affect anyone else who wants to enjoy the book.

I collect quotations from things that I read and put them in my commonplace book. If it is a book from the library, I read it with a paper book mark. On the paper I will write the page number and the first few words of passages I want to add to my commonplace book. Once I am done reading the entire book, I comb through it and add passages to my collection.

I am thinking about posting some of those in my blog in the upcoming weeks. I have some really great quotations and passages in my book.

Eastcoastdweller said...

Thank you, Chasemarch.

Do you find that notetaking impairs your reading experience, though?

Hope to see you here from time to time. I've been keeping a journal for 21 years now with no expectation of anyone reading it -- but a blog, well, a blog just wants some notice now and then.

Chase March said...

I don't really take too much in the way of notes when I read. I will make underlines with a mechanical pencil that I keep beside me. I don't find that it impairs my experience with the book at all.

I only occasionally write notes of any detail at all though because I find that it does interfere with the pleasure of reading.

Eastcoastdweller said...

Ah, that sounds like quite a cozy and proper way to enjoy a book, Adena.

To make things clear, I don't like to write "in" my books either -- if I absolutely must make a cross reference or something, it will always be in light pencil.

But I fill up notebooks/notepads to go with each book.

I'm finally done with Ovid, btw -- read Metamorphoses, Tristia, Ex Pontis, Amores and Ars Amores. It's been a long and pleasurable journey and I hope that I have done justice to his memory.

Now it's time to read an odd little book that dates to just after that time period -- the Fables of Babrius.

B. was some dude who served in the court of a relative of the Biblical King Herod.

Lance Abel said...

I also take notes!! I write them up on a piece of paper and then on my computer, under different categories...expand on them etc.
The notes grow and grow, today they stand at over 1000 pages in various stages of editing, classification etc, and some have been developed in to plot lines etc...
it is a lifelong activity, and i think something cool might one day pop up out of it.

Eastcoastdweller said...

No, my problem is that I start too many books without finishing others first. I've got about four going at once right now.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I came across a book that was so compelling that I couldn't stop reading it. Maybe when I get out of reading about Rome and back into some good fiction again.

Lance Abel said...

how do you do that? (be in to more than 1 book at a time). I mean, I can do it, but it feels...wrong

Eastcoastdweller said...

Easy, Lance, you just don't tell one book about the other, and you try very hard not to call one by the other's title. (o;

Lance Abel said...

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

- long pause

Oh dear. women.