Arthur Krystal, in his round-up of aphorism collections in the February issue of Harper’s, reminds us of the commonplace book:

Robert Darnton also tells us that “early modern Englishmen read in fits and starts and jumped from book to book. They broke texts into fragments and assembled them into new patterns by transcribing them in different sections of their notebooks. Then they reread the copies and rearranged the patterns while adding more excerpts.” This segmented rather than sequential mode of reading, which prevailed until people started consuming novels, “compelled its practitioners to read actively…to impose their own pattern on their reading matter…Reading and writing were therefore inseparable activities.”

Kind of sounds to me like lit blogging! I can’t speak for my blogging peers (ha), but I know that ever since I’ve started writing here, I’ve been a far more active and engaged reader. I’ve learned read to respond rather than to merely absorb. I’m sure there are a good number of bloggers out there doing exactly this, but it’d be interesting to start a private (or maybe semi-private with a handful of contributers) commonplace blog where we post excerpts and comment on any patterns or connections that emerge. Just a thought. Admittedly a dorky thought.