Submitted by jessicamckenney t3_z8hebh in books

Hey ya’ll!

Does anyone do a reading journal? I’ve been thinking of either buying one or creating one for myself. Right now I only track my reading with goodreads, but I think it might be fun to do a physical reading journal to have some more options.

If you do have a reading journal, what kind of spreads/layouts do you find useful?

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Quesriom t1_iybptd0 wrote

I do! It’s just a normal notebook I had leftover from college. I like it, it feels more personal than a digital tracker.

My layout begins with title, author, and a rating of 1-10 based on how much I enjoyed it. Then I have a few sentences to summarize what the book was about and another small section with how I felt about it. A book I have a lot to say about might take up half a page, but I usually try to keep it brief as it’s just a personalized record.

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QueenRooibos t1_iybr509 wrote

I used to keep one just like this.....then got behind and I never went back to it...wish I had!

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Quesriom t1_iybreai wrote

Oh I’m so bad at updating it. Sometimes I’ll go months without writing anything down and I’ll have to go back through my library loan history to review what I read! I still like keeping it though.

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minimalist_coach t1_iybrsqy wrote

I've just started a reading journal for a long-term reading project. I'm planning to read books by authors from 195 countries. I couldn't think of any way to track it without a journal. I just got a blank journal and created an alphabetical list of all the countries, created sections for each continent, and a page for each country.

I looked at journals at a local bookstore and on Etsy. There are so many options.

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r--evolve t1_iyc26bx wrote

Not a 'reading journal', but I track my reading in a physical notebook as well as digitally. In my notebook:

  • List of books read each year, bubbles to color-code the book format
  • Monthly page listing all books started; X through the bubble to indicate if I DNFed; bubble filled in to indicate it was finished that month. If a book rolls over to the next month, I leave it unfilled but outlined in the book format color
  • DNF list by month; also color-coded

I do my more detailed tracking in Notion (author, audio hours, author representation, etc), Goodreads (mark 'read' and add to recommendation tags, and Storygraph (ratings).

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wompthing t1_iyc91jg wrote

I use a spreadsheet. I basically just did some tinkering with r/mediasheet and a spreadsheet from Book Riot.

PM me if you would like a share

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Bright_Broccoli1844 t1_iybr8cv wrote

I have kept a reading journal. I wrote0 the title, author, the date of the entry, the characters, and my impression of the book.

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Buttercup23nz t1_iybsowc wrote

I have a very basic one, as the many failed journals in my life have taught me to keep it super simple.

I've ruled 4 horizontal lines across a page in my 2022 Brain Dump Book, and headed it '2022 Bookshelf'. Then I turn the book sideways, write the title, author, number of pages and starting date on the day I begin reading it. When I'm done I write the date and a sentence or so summing up how I felt, and how many stars/5 I give it. I then draw a box around it so it kind of looks like a book, and each book I do in a different colour.

And that's it. 11 months in, I've only filled about 3 shelves on an A4 page, but I have recorded every book I've read this year. For me, that's a huge success.

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spaghettisquids t1_iycgoxg wrote

I have a moleskin reading journal - it has a 'pre-made' format, and is alphabetically organized

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TheDunhamnator t1_iycitto wrote

I am in the process of setting one up for next year - I've never used one before. Might get bored of it after three weeks, but I thought it would be fun to try anyway.

So far, I've set up a spread with a calender that I wanna fill in with days I've read, a tbr, series that are not completed yet, and one with publishing dates in 2023.

After this I will take a few spreads per month and see what works out best for me.

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SCBennett2 t1_iyfd5wl wrote

I have a physical reading journal.

It’s just a college ruled notebook with a hard cover.

I record the title, author, year of publication, format, where I got the book, rating/5, date finished, and if it was a re-read.

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