A Week of Annotating
Margins are where reading turns into thinking. The best passages are the ones I copied out by hand. Looking back, the difficult approach was the right call. Short books are not lesser books; regularly they are the opposite.
First steps
Every reading list says as much about the reader as the books. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. Between rereading and reading bit by bit, the second one taught me more. Most problems with long books turn out to be problems with time. I wrote most of this on a still Wednesday morning.
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things fast. Good long books is chiefly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. I keep a short list of things to try next; rereading is near the top.
- Leave room for short mistakes
- Ask someone at the library
- Start with reading lists and nothing else
- Note the date and the weather
Notes along the way
I keep coming back to second-hand books, chiefly because it rewards patience. Nothing here requires a bookmark, though it does make things easier. It took me two attempts to see the pattern. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Translations are a conversation between two writers and a reader.
The details matter less than the habit of paying attention. Good second-hand books is chiefly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. Some of this will be plain; some of it took me years. I tried the unfinished version first. It did not last.
Most of what I know about translations came from getting it wrong first. Modest, repeatable steps beat big plans nearly every time. Looking back, the well-worn approach was the right call. It is not glamorous, but it holds up.
I abandoned it halfway and came back a year later, glad I did.
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