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Do you take book notes?

I usually "actively read" (english teachers have been trying to get all the students to do so) when I am reading in French, or when I'm reading poetry. Or both. For prose, or nonfiction, I usually don't take notes unless there's something I need to look up, etc. .
 
I took notes in re-reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The wife asked if I had a test to take or something.
 
I started taking notes the last few books I read. If I want to remember some saying or something I want to post on BOM I write it down.
 
I tend to just mark the margin next to the relevant passage very lightly with a pencil. It's just a straight vertical line. I don't write words or any other symbols. By marking it like this, I merely hope and pray that I can remember my point/argument just by rereading that passage. It's not a good practice, but I'm too lazy to take detailed notes on a separate piece of paper. Later, I'll just erase the markings, especially if it's a borrowed library book. (Sssshhhhh...don't tell them!)
 
I dont usually take book notes. The only time i do is when i have to for a report. I am starting to take notes on the books in my book competition, that i have to remember everything about them.
 
I should take notes for the non-fiction that I read. It would certainly help with writing about them after I finish the book.
 
Do you take notes of the book you're reading?

I'm starting to read One hundred years of solitude now. A friend of mine lent me the book and I found a paper inside of it in which a family tree is printed. He explained me that it is the family's the story is about. So I asked him what was that for, I mean if that was really necessary, and he said there are so many characters in the story that it's necessary to make notes of this tree if I want to understand the book. I've never read anything that required me to take notes like this. I've read in Wikipedia as well about the need of tracing this family tree.

However, the book seems to be great, because Gabriel García Márquez won the Literature Nobel Prize for this book and everyone I know who has read it says it is one of the best books they had read in their lives.

Have anyone ever read a book that required any note to be taken?
 
Yes, I frequently mark in my books for any number of reasons. First is to keep the characters straight, as you have already found. Second somtimes is to keep the timeline straight when the author is making extensive use of flashbacks or changes in point of view. These notes I write or draw directly on the iinside of the back cover to have them handy. Also, I will mark the text directly for key points, page cross references, scene shifts, and so forth in books that will be part of a detailed forum book discussion. The Sea by John Banville is a book that I have just now finished marking up in this manner, and if memory serves correctly I have also marked up a fair number of Nabokov's works plus one by Faulkner.
 
I very rarely do, but if notes are taken, it's for two reasons.

Firstly, to mark down any key points that I want to remember.

Secondly, as you mentioned, to keep characters straight. If the book is on sparknotes, many times I'll just refer to the character list instead if I've forgotton someone.
 
I constantly underline, and if/when I start finding themes or references, I'll note the page numbers on the opposite reference. I'll underline what I consider to be key phrases so I can spot them on a quick flip through, or underline references that jive with other books or authors.
Yes, lots of notes on the side, and if I need to look up a definition, I'll underline the word and write the definition out on the side, that way imprinting the meaning in a more efficient manner.
 
I sometimes have to make notes. Especially when it comes to political or historical books or books with more than 1000 pages. :D
Mostly I use them for reasearch when I feel there is a topic I want to know more of. Last time that grapped me was with Steve Alten's The Shell Game. I had 10 pages of notes and questions I wanted to answer myself and in the end did it. :)
 
I'm just starting to take notes actually. I have read Capote's In Cold Blood already but now (in this re-read) I am taking it apart in order to learn how to correctly structure sentences- phrase them in order to produce a specific feeling in the reading. Tall task I know.
 
There are certain writers whose books demand I make a vocabulary list, usually a notecard or two work just fine. I think I used three cards for Lolita:flowers:
 
I only do it very rarely. Usually only if I'm reading something where I know I'm going to have trouble keeping track of names, last book I did that would have been The Wizard of the Crow so I could tell my giant ears and eyes and lips apart. I did cross out the map sections as they were closed off in Battle Royale, but in pencil for when I want to reread.
 
I remember the first book I scribbled all over was The Count of Monte Cristo because there are so many characters to remember in that novel and it can be a bit daunting :p but now I write in most of my books. This is fun because then I lend them to friends and allow them to write their thoughts as well so that if I ever go back and read it I can see what they were thinking.
 
As I said, I don't use to take notes of the book I'm reading but I had to make an exception for the one I'm reading right now. So I accessed Wikipedia and printed the family tree I need to follow the story line. There really are a lot of characters... This will make things a lot easier.
 
The first time i read Proust i read him for an acedemic course - i took notes and thought it was the most boring piece of writing ever! THEN i realised it should be read like a novel - so got some tea and biscuits and sat in bed and read it like a novel and now i love the man! I guess different strokes for different folks . . .
 
Bacherries said:
The first time i read Proust i read him for an acedemic course - i took notes and thought it was the most boring piece of writing ever! THEN i realised it should be read like a novel - so got some tea and biscuits and sat in bed and read it like a novel and now i love the man! I guess different strokes for different folks . . .
Click to expand...

I'd like to read In Search of Lost Time, it seems to be great.
 
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