A while back I wrote a post about trying to find a good way to take notes while reading paper books. The whole time I was writing that I had this niggling feeling in my brain that I had seen a site that was close to what I wanted but I couldn’t find it again. It was named for something else. Like a food or something. I looked at my password histories and couldn’t find anything.
Then, two days after I posted that discussion I got an email from Italic Type. That was the site I was trying to remember. Not a food after all.
I had looked at this when it came out a few years ago. I didn’t really see the point of it. Honestly, I still don’t – EXCEPT – it lets me keep quotes linked to a book on a website. That was the exact thing that I was looking for in my other post.
I’ve been using it for a few weeks now to see if it fits what I wanted and it is doing pretty well.
The idea of Italic Type is that you make a book board for each book you are reading. You can make notes about the book for yourself. This is where I add quotes. You are able to invite people to a group chat to discuss the book but it needs to be people who you know. There is absolutely no social aspect to this site. You aren’t going to see other people who liked this book. So if you don’t know anyone else reading it, you won’t find new people to discuss it with. You aren’t going to get recommendations about other books you might like if you liked this book. That’s why I didn’t see it as a necessary site to remember originally. It is just a place to keep notes for yourself.
Here is my book board so far for Interstellar Megachef.
I also tested the camera function on this board for Memorial Days.
I wish they had an optical reader to extract the quote I wanted but I was able to take the picture and I can type it out later if I want.
I do keep feeling like I’m missing something when I use this site. The site is free to use but they are adding a monthly subscription that is optional. Here’s what they say about it.
“Our number one goal is to create amazing experiences for readers through beautiful design, authentic interaction, and like-minded community building.”
Am I missing something? What community? Interaction with who? For all I know I could be the only person on Earth using this site. Every time I read that I think that there is a corner of the site that I’ve been missing where everyone is.
Have you heard of this site? Is anyone using it? Do you like it?
