I have tried six annotation systems in about as many years and I am…

I have tried six annotation systems in about as many years and I am back, inevitably, to underlining with whatever pen happens to be nearest.

• Coloured tabs: beautiful, abandoned in a fortnight, currently a drawer of tabs

• A notebook alongside: works, but I stop reading and start taking minutes

• Symbols in the margin with a key at the front: I never once consulted the key

• Nothing at all: unbearable, I forget everything

The pen works because it costs nothing at all, and any system carrying the slightest overhead gets skipped on the night you are tired, which is most nights.