My Reading Journal: A Notebook and Diary for Book Lovers

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But when I start coming across passage after passage that makes me pause, read it again, and try to internalize it, I want a meaningful way to engage with those ideas. And obviously, for me, that starts with a reading journal. How a Book Journal Improves Your Reading Life I tend to avoid numbers-based challenges, but I do like to consider my reading habits each year and what kind of books I want to read more of. My 2020 reading challenge was to read one nonfiction book per month and one book from my shelf. For instance, you could make your reading journal double as your monthly calendar. If you want to get serious about reading on a regular basis, this type of setup may be right up your alley. In addition to things I like or don’t like, I include things like the characters, themes, major plot points ( my journal is full of spoilers!). Since my journals are for me and not for an audience, I feel free to include those details in a way that I wouldn’t on the blog or Goodreads. Trust me on this. It’s such a fun, creative outlet to critique a book without the intimidation factor of someone critiquing your critique!

I don’t know about you, but I love a quiet slice of “me time.” But at the same time, I don’t like being UNproductive or should I say, idle. One fan raved: “I absolutely love this book log! I am a bookstagrammer and read 70 or more books a year and this log has everything I need! I bought 2 of them and am so pleased! There’s plenty of room for your review as well as start date/finish date, genre, title, publisher, author, any quotes you liked in the book, and more!” A book club is a wonderful way to share your love of reading with others, and it’s always fun to see things from another’s perspective.Over the last year, I’ve really embraced the idea of using a reading journal. As I’ve explored the role of a book journal in my reading life, I’ve discovered that there are so many ways to use reading journals. Some of the book plots are derived from the imaginative minds of creative geniuses while there are some book plots that are inspired from daily real-life events. Personalised Leather Music Journal Notebook | Refillable | A5 & A6 Sizes | Unlined Premium Quality Paper | Classic Vintage Brown The word “spread” is just a term used for a section within your journal. So for this idea, you would use a year-at-a-glance calendar and pencil in a reading plan for the year.

When you become invested in a book for too long, you become so emotionally attached toward it that you possess the ability to remember almost every detail that happens in the book. But when I started my first reading journal this year, I wasn’t sure how it would work for me. I’d gotten out of the habit of journaling in general and I thought Goodreads might be enough, flawed as it was. It’s one reason I don’t set a yearly goal on Goodreads. While I glance at how many books I’ve read at the end of the year, I never want to get focus on that number–and start avoiding long or slow books so I can read more books. The number of books that a reading journal can log is one of the most important factors to consider when buying one, and this is dependent on both the format and the size of the journal. Much like guided journals, reading journals can offer varying levels of writing prompts as a springboard for your reflections. Some simply ask for the title, author, and genre of the book you’ve read, while others provide sample discussion questions or encourage you to find memorable quotes.When you’re ready to grab a new book, you’ll have a wonderful, pre-vetted selection to choose from. 6. Incorporate a Review Section (& Unleash Your Inner Book Critic)

For instance, you can keep a timeline of the important events in each book to help you chronicle important points. Personalized Songwriting Journal - Custom Song Writing Diary - Songwriters Book - Hardcover Song Writers Journal Mara (They/Them) has accidentally on purpose made their entire life about books and stories. Mara graduated with a B.A in creative writing and theatre and is halfway through an MFA in Creative writing. In addition to writing for Book Riot, Mara also has written for The Independent Book Review, Wargamer, and The Other Half, to name a few. They also work as a fiction editor with The Minison Project. Nearly all of their published articles can be found here.

Book Writing Phase 1: Getting Started

Abby Hargreaves is a New Hampshire native living and working as a Children’s Librarian in Washington, D.C. She fulfills the gamut of the librarian stereotype with a love of cats, coffee, and crocheting (and likes a good run of alliteration). Her MLIS degree enjoys the company of a BA in English from Hollins University, making Abby an advocate of women's universities. Her favorite color is yellow. But keeping a physical journal with pen and paper has had multiple benefits to my reading life, including: A do-it-yourself book journal gives you the freedom to make a journal that works for you. If you like several of the types of journals described above, you can combine them into one journal. If you want to experiment with layouts, you can. Want to make it part of your bullet journal? You can. If you’re like many of us, you’ve probably read the first book in a series and by the time the next book is released, you’ve forgotten the most important points from the first book. It's my first time using a digital reading journal and this one it's so pretty and easy to use!! I love the attention to detail.