MAKE YOUR OWN READING JOURNAL

A reading journal is such a great tool to have for an avid reader. I know from personal experience how much they come in handy, and how much fun they can be to keep. There are some beautiful pre-made reading journals out there if you choose that route (and you can still decorate the heck out of it) but if you decide you would rather make your own, here are some ideas to get you started.

Pick a journal

The first step is, of course, to pick a journal. It can be a spiral notebook, or a fancy watermarked hard cover, or a bullet journal. You can also find awesome printable pages and put them in a binder, or use a digital reading planner. As long as it feels good to you, it will make an awesome reading journal. 

Make a section for books you want to read

I like to make a TBR ( To Be Read) list and check it off as I go along. It’s okay not to read every book on the list. lt’s just a great place to write titles you want to come back to. It can be so satisfying when you go back and check books off of your list throughout the year. You can categorize your TBR into sections, by genre, or by season, by month, or keep a long running list. 

Make a section to write down the books you’ve read as you go along

This is a great way to keep track of the books you’ve read at a glance. I’ve referred to this list in my journal many times. Just recently, I was thinking about a book I read years ago, and was trying to find it on amazon. I couldn’t find it, so I went back to my reading journal and realized I had the title wrong. I looked it up again and found it instantly, and I was so happy I had written it down. 

 I like to  write the title, the author’s name, the year I read the book, and draw a line along the side making a section my rating of the book. That’s my layout, but you can organize yours however suits you best.

Set up part of the journal to be book notes and review pages

This will most likely take up the majority of the space, especially if you take a lot of notes on your book. In my reading journal I write in a continuous log where I identify the notes with the date and the book title, but I have seen some journals where each book is given a specific page for a review and a rating.

Now for the best part, decorating!

This is the fun part, and the possibilities are endless. You can doodle in it, write inspirational quotes or passages from books, draw your reactions, make a doodle of the book cover, or print a mini version, staple in your sticky notes, make your review pages a collage if you want to with stickers, most importantly, have fun!

Now that you have some ideas on where to start, grab a journal and make it your own. Have fun! Happy journaling!