Annotation Made Simple with Fable Quick Reactions
Dec 8 2022
Readers have been annotating books since the Middle Ages when monks and other copyists left doodles in the margins of priceless tomes. Fable’s new quick reaction feature makes book annotation easier than ever, helping you share your thoughts about a book with friends, club members, and future readers!
How to use Fable’s quick reaction feature
Annotating books is the process of adding your thoughts, feelings, and research to a book or ebook. In a print book, people use pens, colored pencils, highlighters, sticky notes, colored tape, and other tools to mark important passages and sections in a book.With books on Fable, you can add photos, videos, podcasts, and other links to make your annotations truly special. You’ll have a record of all your favorite passages, personalized with links you explored while reading.Quick reactions are the easiest way to highlight and comment on a moment in a book.- Open your favorite book club on Fable.
- Tap “Read” to open the club book.
- Tap and hold the first word of your favorite passage
- Drag your finger to highlight the complete passage
- Tap “React” and choose your emoji reaction!
What do you mean by annotation?
People have been adding quick reactions to books since at least the 1200s. Back in the Middle Ages, books were copied by hand over many months. Medieval monks made annotations in the margins of religious texts to make notes and observations about the book's content. These annotations were intended to help the monks better understand and interpret the text. Madeleine S. Killacky wrote about this medieval practice for The Conversation:“Squiggly lines (sometimes resembling fish or even elongated people), mini-drawings (a knight fighting a snail, for instance), and random objects appear quite often in medieval books. Usually found in the flyleaves or margins, doodles can often give medievalists (specialists in medieval history and culture) important insights into how people in earlier centuries understood and reacted to the narrative on the page.”
Quick reactions and other ebook annotation tools add a new level of interactivity to the reading experience. Instead of simply reading a book and making notes in the margins, readers can now use emoji reactions to react to specific parts of the book in real time. This helps create a sense of community among readers responding to the same book.It could take many years for a doodle in the margin of a medieval text to be discovered by a reader. In contrast, Fable’s quick reactions allow readers to express their emotions and responses to a book in real-time, making reading a book more engaging and enjoyable.What is the purpose of annotation?
Whether reading an ebook, print book, or audiobook, annotation can help you appreciate the story more.“I personally enjoy my books so much more when I annotate,” explains Désirée Worrall-Bélanger, the founder of Tabbies Annotating Book Club on Fable. Even though she meets with her book club on Fable, she still loves annotating her print books as well.She explained how annotation could change your life:"Creating a system with my tabs, choosing my pen and highlighter, making little drawings in the margins – it’s an experience by itself, but it also helps you find something more in a book. I know that some people might get 'out of the flow' of reading to annotate, but I am one of the lucky ones since I actually find annotating gets me even more in the flow."
Join Tabbies Annotating Book Club on Fable!
The act of reading together with another person is called social reading. There are many benefits of social reading, including:- Enhance your language skills
- Supercharge your critical thinking abilities
- Boost your values of tolerance, inclusion, and respect
- Magnify your intelligence and empathy
- Increase your feelings of fun and engagement