"His eye disease rendered his tears ambivalent. But, since he had the simple heart of one who boos the villain, when, as he often did, he found he was crying, he usually became sad." -- Angela Carter, Love (1971)
I read a lot of fiction, and take many notes. A novel regardless of its size usually results in one A4 page of bibliographic information, summary, and the best bit: favourite quotes. The quotes are usually the sort that work well out of the context of the novel often as a bit of wisdom, or passages that introduce a particularly stunning metaphor.
"As long as I could make-believe that love lasted, I was happy - I think I was even good to live with, and so love did last. But if love had to die, I wanted it to die quickly. It was as though our love were a creature caught in a trap and bleeding to death: I had to shut my eyes and wring its neck." -- Graham Greene, The End of The Affair (1951)
Before I started taking notes I would read books and promptly forget them. I would forget the glorious details hiding between the covers. Though I will concede there are many experiences that you would prefer to promptly forget, but books aren't one of them.
"...and that's the thing about some librarians - they love telling you a book is out of print, borrowed, lost, or not even written yet. I have a list of titles that I leave at the desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue." -- Jeanette Winterson, Lighthousekeeping (2004).
The best thing: Taking down a quote and not quite knowing why at the time, but one day it will make sense -- when you meet or become the library-user, the neck-wringer, or the boy with the leaking eyes.
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