/lit/ - Literature

Worth reading or pseudointellectual?

I've started reading and oftentimes I will finish a book and miss readings and come away with a crude understanding of the novel. How can I improve my analytical skills with regards to literature?

Are there books for this (pic related, I've seen it recommended here?), does it pay to understand common story structure, etc, how do I learn about this? Hoping that one of you nerds who paid to be taught this stuff can point me in the right direction im just a STEMlord

how do you guys take notes?
over the past two weeks i haven't taken a note down, and i can tell my comprehension has suffered for it. i find that taking notes greatly helps with recall; i can still remember all the little details of the man who fell to earth, even from the very beginning. i feel a little disjointed, and now that i am ~400 pages into the idiot, i find that some of the characters are hard to remember. it doesn't help that each character has 2-3 different ways they are referred as, but now i feel it's too late to put in the effort to fix this (because i dont want to, desu).
i think it would help me get back into the habit if i learn how some of you take your notes.