Do you track your reading? I’ve been tracking the books I read for the past 10 years or more and I love looking back at my lists and see how my taste has changed and how much time I have had in my life each year for reading. For the past few years I have been keeping a book journal that tracks my reading but also many other details of my reading life.
For instance, I am a member of the Book of the Month Club, and typically order one or more books from them each month. However, I do not necessarily get all those books read. I have what I call a TBR (To Be Read) shelf, and these little stickers help me visualize exactly what I have on my shelf. I get the stickers from an Etsy seller. What you do is make a list of what books you want in Goodreads, and send the Etsy sticker lady the link to it. She then makes the book stickers in whatever size you want. I think this is the best invention since sliced bread.
I track all sorts of reading related things: what books I have read, what books were my favorites each month, the books I have on my Kindle, my book purchases, what books I have donated, and much more.
You can really have fun with a book journal. I love playing a game called Book Bingo with myself, which you can see in the photo above. You make a chart with Bingo prompts, such as “book with multiple points of view”, “book set in Paris”, “book set in autumn”. etc. If you need encouragement to get some reading done, this little game could motivate you to read a bit more.
Keeping a book journal offers both practical and personal benefits. It serves as a dedicated space to keep track of your thoughts when you finish a book, and what ranking, if any, you give it. If you take the time to write about what your have read, it encourages critical thinking and is a memory aid as well. How many times have you read a book and two weeks later, you couldn’t recall a single thing about it? Writing down what you thought of a book when you finish it will make it much easier to recall the story later. Best of all, keeping a reading journal provides such a satisfying record of your reading journey, showing your progress and growth as a reader.
So tell me, do you track your reading? Do you keep a reading journal?
24 Responses
When I retired I began keeping a list of what I’d read. I also post reviews on GoodReads. I also post reviews on my blog with the tag “reading.” The problem with keeping track is: what constitutes “finished”? If you peruse a picture book at the library do you write that down? If you leaf through a cookbook? If you grab a quilt book and skip the “how to make a quilt” part and just go for the designs/patterns?
Can I follow you on Goodreads, Nann? I’d love to see what you are reading! For me, I typically only put fiction I have read on my Goodreads list. I don’t really bother keeping track of cookbooks or quilting books etc.
I write down the books I read for the month. That’s all the tracking I do. I also keep a list of the books you recommend that I want to read.
Oh my, I certainly do. My biggest problem is that I read so much that I forget what I have read. Used to drive me nuts to start a book and within a few pages remember I had already read it. I definitely use Goodreads and love it. I also have a journal – not nearly as creative as yours. I use the “For the Love of Reading” journal that can be found on Amazon. They also have a For the Love of Reading for Teens that I bought for my granddaughter. It was so gratifying to see how much she loved it. When I visit or even FaceTime she will go through her journal and bring me up to date on what she has been reading. Be still my grandma heart!
That is fabulous that you gave your granddaughter a reading journal! I wish I had had one as a teen.
My mother-in-law used to read hundreds of cozy mystery books. She would buy one every time she went out-not hardbacks, but mass market paperbacks. She never kept them (she donated them to a local nursing home), but never bothered to track what she had read. This. meant she was constantly re-purchasing books she had already read. It didn’t seem to bother her too much, she would just read it again! A reading journal would have been so useful to her.
This sounds like something I would like to do. Is this just a journal that you have added things to or an actual book journal?
I use the Leuchttrum1917 brand of journal with a dot grid. I may switch to a brand that has thicker paper because I like to use markers and they bleed through the paper of the Leuchttrum. It turns out there are thicknesses of paper for journals. The one I currently use has paper that is 120gsm thick, and what I need is 160 gsm thick. The size of the journal is A5, which is pretty standard.
I do not track my reading in a journal. I use the timeline in the Libby app or Goodreads. Keeping a book journal is great advice. Thank you for all the book recommendations.
Goodreads is great. I have heard a lot of people talk about Storygraph too but haven’t tried it.
I started a journal in 2008 where I keep track of the books I have read. It’s very helpful as I couldn’t remember them all!
I tend to forget the thread of books that are meh but instantly remember the ones I loved! I love your Halloween shelves on your blog banner Nicole!!!
Thank you Kerry! I wanted to be able to change out the pictures every month for variety. Thanks for noticing!
I keep a list of the books finished. It helps when I have read some in a series and lost track of which ones I have read. I refer back to the yearly list and get squared away on where I stopped in a series.
My time is divided with many different activities so my reading list isn’t as long as I would like. My goal is a book a week but rarely hit that mark.
I do find it satisfying to keep track and rather jealous when others lists are so long but time is what it is!
I have seen some videos on YouTube of how people keep track of series they are reading in their book journal. There are some creative ideas out there.
Now that i am retired I get so much more reading done. When I worked and had a family to “do” for I never had enough time to read all I wanted.
I’ve kept a file box of the books I’ve read for many years. After I finish a book I get two 5×8 cards. On one I write the author’s name and under that make a list of the books I’ve read by that writer. I put the date i finished the book beside the title. I keep a file of authors in front of the file of book titles. On the 2nd card I write the book title, the author, its publication date, its publisher. Then I write a synopsis of the story and my likes or dislikes about the book. I can look back and see what I’ve read by a certain writer and remind myself what was the story line. Now and again when I go to make the card, I find I’ve read the book years before…..and forgotten everything about it!
That sounds like a great system Carol!
You must be excited to discover that so many of your readers are keeping track of their books! I’m sorry to let you down…no books read journal, lists or cards here. But I enjoy your reviews & pick up some of the books based on your thoughts, as well as sharing the posts with my sister. Does that count? 🙃
Absolutely!
Nope, I don’t keep track other than lists of authors I like. I do have a small notebook my mother kept of the books I read in elementary school!
Interesting that your Goodreads list can be made into stickers!
Hugs!
I am ridiculously excited about the book stickers!
I log my finished books on GoodReads and StoryGraph.
GoodReads just keeps a list.
StoryGraph gives me graphs and lets me sort all kinds of way. So I let StoryGraph do all the work. Love it.
I need to look into Storygraph. I like the feature it offers regarding trigger warnings. It seems that it can track a lot more details than Goodreads.
No keeping up with books for me. They are just out there in a cloud somewhere. If I can’t get hooked on a new book I will go back to re-read something. A little like watching a movie again . isn’t it fun that we can all do our own “thing”?
Those stickers are so cute and you are way too organized! I just keep track of books you recommend and list the ones I’ve read and rated in my notes. Not fancy but helps a little
Thank you so much for sharing my stickers on Etsy ◡̈ I love your journal – it’s your beautiful!