Today’s tutorial is simple.  It is probably too simple to even merit a tutorial, but the notebooks we got are just too cute not to share.  Vintage Harlequin Romance covers!

The purpose of a reading journal is to keep track of what you read. (I hope I’m not moving too fast.)  You can keep a simple list of the books you read, à la elementary school summer reading programs, or you can get a bit more detailed.  I like to jot down enough information to remind me what I liked (or did not like) about the book. Sometimes I will include a quote that stuck with me.

For our purposes we created a template and gathered a notebook, scissors and glue stick package.  Ideally when you reach into your supply box the glue stick package will contain actual glue sticks.  If you live in the Word Nerd household, you make do with tape until you can replenish the glue sticks.

Our template contains the info we decide to include in our journal: date, number, title, author, genre, ISBN, rating (1 to 5 librarians) and thoughts.  The template was then affixed to the first left hand page in the notebook.  Why the left hand page? We want to be able to refer back to it when we are writing on the right hand pages.  Pretty simple stuff.

Now…the most important part of the book journal…start tracking the books you read.  Even if you are in a rush, take a moment as soon as you finish a book to jot down a few words.  Don’t trust yourself to do it later.

I love to flip through my old book journals and see how my tastes have changed over the years.  You may learn something about yourself along the way- I discovered that I read more books in the two weeks after Christmas than any other time of year.  I’m not sure why that is, but I have the book journals to back it up!

Here’s a small look at my first book of the year.  It is small because a book journal is a personal thing (and I have a review of this book scheduled to post later this month).

How do you keep track of your reading? 

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