Write It Down:Start a Book Journal |
Have I read that? Who wrote that great book with the bartender turned lawyer? There was a great book on Thomas Jefferson that I read last year, but I can't remember the title. Sound familiar? If so, you need a book journal. It's super easy to make a book journal. It really takes about five minutes. Just go through your desk and pull out one of those old spiral notebooks, and you're ready. Otherwise, pick one up at the store. You can get a good journal for $5. Or, if you're high end, $10. I recently got a journal with a shark on it. How cool is that? And Lisa Frank has made a comeback. Now that's neat.
In all seriousness, a simple book journal can be a game changer. It's a record of your reading history. Reading journals serve multiple purposes. A journal reminds you of what you have read; it is a visual demonstration of your reading progress; it allows you to recall titles and authors that you otherwise might have forgotten. A reading journal will trace your intellectual and imaginative journey through life. In October of 2017 you read your first Grisham novel, and you liked it. In May of 2018 you encountered a great introduction to Chinese philosophy, and now you have a special appreciation for Confucius. In January of 2019 you were tired of the holiday drama and you took read a funny mystery about a cat and a cake. Think of your reading journal as a personalized history of ideas. If you would like to dive into the wonderful world of book journaling, take a gander at a pretty journal such as one of these from Chronicle Books:
Reading journals can have multiple indexes. The front of the journal can arrange the books you read chronologically; simply write down the book title, the author, and the month and year you finished it. Then, in the middle of the journal, you can create your own indexes. Dogear this page, so it's easy to flip to. To make an alphabetical index, simply put the letter "A" on the top of the dogeared page. Put a "B" on the next page, and so on and so forth. You can now list your books by author or by title in an alphabetical fashion.
Alphabetical indexes aren't the only kind of indexes. You can, for instance, dogear the page in the middle of the journal, but instead of putting an "A" at the top of the page, put "Mysteries" or "Romance" or "History." If you are a heavy nonfiction reader, you can head the page with something like "American History (Colonial)" and the next page "American History (Revolution)" and so on. These are all subject indexes.
You can also create a book index that is qualitative. Put "Life Changing" on the top of a page or "Great Characters" or "Funny" on other pages. Qualitative indexes show what books you liked, and (just as importantly) books you didn't.
Book journals can add a new dimension to your reading life. They create a record of your reading adventures, act as reminders of favorite authors and titles, and also provide a sense of accomplishment to your reading life. When you start journaling, you will be amazed at how much progress you really do make as a reader. And the next time somebody asks you what you enjoyed reading recently, you won't have to strain to hard.
Updated July 2019
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