Lesson 6 of 10 · REMEMBER THE STORY · 2 min read

Notes, highlights and reading journals: keeping your own reminders

By The Margin Desk · Smart Bookmark Compare · Published 2026-10-07 · Updated 2026-10-11

Why your own notes work

A note written at page 140 cannot spoil page 300. It is also in your own words, so it reminds you of what mattered to you, not what a summary thinks mattered. The cost is effort: notes only exist if you write them.

What kinds of capture do the apps offer?

• Typed, spoken or photographed notes. Bookly takes notes and quotes by typing, voice or photo. Voice is the quickest at the end of a session.
• Highlights from printed pages. Basmo has a highlight scanner for print, and Literal saves highlights with the camera or by hand.
• Ebook highlights. Basmo imports Kindle highlights and lists Kindle and Notion sync.
• A journal. Basmo has a reading journal, and The StoryGraph has a private reading journal.

What makes a useful note?

Keep it short and write it when you stop, not when you start:

1. Where the scene is and who is in it.
2. The question the story has just raised.
3. One name you might forget.

Three lines take less than a minute and do most of the work a recap would.

Where do notes fall short?

Notes need the habit, and the habit breaks exactly when life gets busy, which is also when the long breaks happen. They also cannot tell you about characters you did not think to write down. That is the gap an app that knows the book tries to fill, covered in lesson 7.

How do we score this?

Story recall carries 20% of our total. Basmo scores 8 for its journal and highlight tools, Bookly and Literal 7 and 7, and The StoryGraph 5. Magic Bookmark scores 10 for its recap and cast view, with the limit that you cannot add notes of your own.