Index Cards as Bookmarks

nastyjman · Dec 23, 2014

I've been doing this lately after adopting the index card system of organizing story elements and capturing wayward ideas. I bring index cards in my bag and have a boxful at home.

Also, I've been using them as bookmarks, which becomes a tool for expanding my vocabulary. When I encounter a word that I don't know or vaguely remember, I write the word down on the index card. After a reading session, I'll look up the word and try to use it in a sentence in my head (The priest was a perfidious punk, selling salvation by the cent.).

After finishing the whole book, I'll have an index card with words that I had to find the definition of. They'll also be part of my vocabulary collection, labeling it with the name of the book.

I just wanted to share what I do to expand my vocabulary. Share yours or critique mine.

Ken · Dec 23, 2014

nastyjman said:
When I encounter a word that I don't know or vaguely remember, I write the word down on the index card.

Used to do something similar. Only I jotted down the word and definition in the margins of the novels (classics) I was reading. Then when I reread the books, as I always used to, it'd be right there to reference. And that did help me increase my vocabulary.

nastyjman · Dec 23, 2014

Ken said:
Used to do something similar. Only I jotted down the word and definition in the margins of the novels (classics) I was reading. Then when I reread the books, as I always used to, it'd be right there to reference. And that did help me increase my vocabulary.

Once I had asked (could be this forum or somewhere else) what writers thought of making notes and notations on a fiction book for analysis. Mind you these are books you would read after college/school.

Almost all had a conniption.

Ken · Dec 23, 2014

Have experienced that reaction myself, lol.

To me, books are books. It's what you get outta them that matters. So if you can get more by "desecrating" them so be it ;-)

ps Plz keep that to yourself.

frimble3 · Dec 23, 2014

I think as long as you're doing it to your own books, go for it. You paid for it, it's yours to do with as you will. Just don't do it to library books, as it may annoy the next reader to have to ignore your interpretations, questions, etc.
And, be aware that writing in books kills the resale value.

OT, I love index cards as bookmarks, because there's enough room for a big note, or explanation, or bit of writing inspired by something in the book.

blacbird · Dec 23, 2014

I'd go with large post-it notes instead of index cards. They stick harmlessly to the page you desire, and won't fall out. I use them regularly with textbooks in classes I teach.

caw

Old Hack · Dec 24, 2014

nastyjman said:
Once I had asked (could be this forum or somewhere else) what writers thought of making notes and notations on a fiction book for analysis. Mind you these are books you would read after college/school.

Almost all had a conniption.

Tim Parks wrote a great article about this recently.

buirechain · Dec 24, 2014

nastyjman said:
Once I had asked (could be this forum or somewhere else) what writers thought of making notes and notations on a fiction book for analysis. Mind you these are books you would read after college/school.

Almost all had a conniption.

I tend to use blank paper for bookmarks so I can write down notes (they can be notes about the story I'm reading or about something I'm writing). If I tended to want to take more notes, I'd probably write in the book, but I don't tend to feel that those notes are something that I'll want prejudicing my reading the next time I pick up a book (it was definitely more helpful if I was likely to want to refer back shortly after for a class). Besides, I read too many library books to get in the habit of writing in them.

That said, re the conniption fit, we treat books as too sacred. Yeah, don't burn books because they're evil or immoral or...But I've seen a librarian tear a book in half because it had no value, there were plenty of other copies of it going unread; no one needed that copy. (Some of the other students with me were aghast, though)

nastyjman · Dec 24, 2014

I like the idea of really owning your book. I tried, though. I really tried. I think I made notations on The Road during my first reading, but I just stopped doing it because I was really sucked in by the book.

But I think it's still possible. I recently finished reading a book, and I think I'll make notations on the second reading. Basically, first reading is for pleasure, second for critique.

Ken · Dec 24, 2014

frimble3 said:
Just don't do it to library books,

Agreed. Those, I treat with reverence and don't even dogear pgs.

ps Good article by Tim Parks ^

Jamesaritchie · Dec 25, 2014

I treat all books with reverence. Even cheap paperbacks. I also never saw much value in writing in the margins. You still have to bookmark your margin notations in order to find them again, so you may as well do the writing on the bookmark itself.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 25, 2014

Old Hack said:
Tim Parks wrote a great article about this recently.

This might, or might not, be useful in dissecting literature textbooks, but I think it's a pretty silly way to read a book for plausible. My experience says it doesn't work very well for students, either. They can't remember anything, have to use more bookmarks than those of us who write our comments on sheets of paper, and take forever, to find and explain what they're talking about.

The article also has a lot of self-contradictions.

Roxxsmom · Dec 27, 2014

nastyjman said:
Once I had asked (could be this forum or somewhere else) what writers thought of making notes and notations on a fiction book for analysis. Mind you these are books you would read after college/school.

Almost all had a conniption.

Totally depends on why a person is reading. If you're just reading for entertainment, the thought of taking notes while writing is probably anathema. If you are a writer and you are reading outside your comfort zone sometimes, or reading partially in order to learn how to be a better storyteller or writer yourself, then it makes perfect sense. I read differently since I've been writing fiction with an eye to actually getting something published. I read much more slowly, and I do take notes sometimes. I read on my ipad a lot, or on a nook, so I have tons of notes in the margins of the novels I'm reading. I don't tend to encounter unfamiliar words all that often, or ones where I can't at least figure out what the word means from its context, but when I do, it's easy to look definitions up with ebooks too.

I read much more slowly than I once did as a consequence.

Index Cards as Bookmarks

nastyjman

not nasty at all

Ken

nastyjman

not nasty at all

Ken

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

blacbird

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

buirechain

Caution: (tries to) Walk on Water

nastyjman

not nasty at all

Ken

Jamesaritchie

Jamesaritchie

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido