Pen: Sailor Mini
Ink: Vinta Inks Sirena

Something that I really love doing that combines my love of reading and study with my love of stationery, pens, and ink, is copying out striking quotes from novels that I’m reading.

I’ve always done this a little bit for my research, but it really reached a new level of just being something I do to engage with texts in a different way during the pandemic when I decided to read The Tale of Genji.

Writing down lines that stood out to me provided a way to both document my reading experience and also let the style of the translation get into my body in a different way than the purely visual act of reading.

Now I often recommend to people, if they’re looking for a simple step they can take to deepen their reading experience, try marking the passages that stand out to you, whether that’s with sticky tabs, a highlighter, or writing them in a quotes notebook.

Over time you’ll begin to notice themes emerge in what draws your attention. And you get the pleasure of just spending a little extra time with lines that you love.

I think it’s a nice, low pressure way to get a little more studious with what you’re reading while taking away the pressure of trying to identify what is important or what an expert would pay attention to.

QOTD: do you mark up your books or find external ways of tracking the parts that interest you?

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