Start a reading journal today!

Oct 28 2008

Do you read a lot of books? If you’re like me, you probably do. While I love reading more than most things in life, sometimes all those books start to blur together. Characters and plot lines become indistinguishable from each other and when trying to recall the details of a particular novel long after finishing it, I find myself struggling to remember basic information about what I had read. This can prove to be very embarrassing during pretentious literary conversations at parties.

Thus I started a reading journal! Can I be any more of a dork? Seriously though, here’s how it works: The reading journal is like any other journal and is very flexible in how it’s organized and what you decide to write. For example, you might want to just stick with the basics and write down the plot line, main characters, supporting characters, setting, and maybe your thoughts about particular events in the novel.

I’m taking a slightly different approach though. While my reading journal will still contain elements of plot, characters and so forth, I’ll also be writing my analysis of the various novel elements. The question I’ll be asking most: What does this mean? While such analytical reading turns a lot of readers off, I got in the habit during my college years and haven’t been able to let go. I live to analyze literature!

For your own journal, however, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. Head down to your local book store and they should have a selection of cool-looking journals (some look pretty sophisticated). The style is up to you. I like the leather journal look. But if a pink diary with flying unicorns suites your fancy, then by all means, use that as your reading journal!

Keep your journal and pen at your side while reading. I prefer to write stuff down as I read rather than wait until I’m done reading, I easily forget important stuff. But you should do whatever works best for you. The important thing is that you can look back through your journal and it will jog your memory about the books you read and wrote about.

And if you really want to be cool, take your journal to the next party you go to, flip it open, and say: "Anyone wanna discuss War and Peace?"

One Response

I’m a dork too! I started using a reading journal earlier this year when I decided I wanted to read more books. Since I was out of the habit of reading, I used it mostly to keep track characters. Now I use it similiar to the way you do.

Sharon 10/28/2008 10:13 pm