It’s like live tweeting but on paper
I've never really annotated before. Not even during university, when I most definitely should have for my literature classes. I recently joined an online book club started by
, and one of the rules listed on her page is to 'form your own opinions' on what you read. I've always had a lot of opinions, but when I look back, I've found that a lot of my opinions have been derivative. This is because the majority of my reading is done on my phone, and most of that is fanfiction. I love fanfiction. I love how it lets me follow the characters I love and worlds I've grown attached to through so many different settings and realities. However, as a result, I've fallen into a comfortable vacuum of letting my opinions of characters and canon be shaped not only by the writers of fanfiction but by other members of the fandom. It happens to everyone - for example, there are quite a few beliefs in the Harry Potter fandom that are drawn from fanon and have been mistaken for canon. Fandom and fanfiction are not bad things, but I've found myself running straight to fan works before I sit and understand canon and its players fully. Annotating The Bell Jar is slowing down my reading, but it's also making me think about these characters and their relationships properly. I think about them, and comment out loud even, when I don't annotate, but I'm a very fast reader who enjoys being fully immersed, so I only really pause to question things when they're very baffling or poorly written (in my opinion). Annotating reminds me of the feeling I get when texting back and forth with my friends our reactions to shows we're watching together. It's fun, it feels fresh, and it gives me a bit more control. I can still throw myself into the story but I'm not drowning in it, having to paddle through my head to remember all my first thoughts and instinctual reactions. I can sit with things that enter my head and solidify my opinions before engaging in outside opinions versus jumping head first while the impressions are still hazy and my opinions only half formed. I like this feeling.