How to start a reading journal

And why you should consider keeping one

Keeping a reading journal helps me track what I’m reading

How to start a reading journal

Here’s a spread from my reading journal plus some of the things I use to make it

Before I get into the how, here are some reasons why you should consider starting a reading journal:

Why I love having a reading journal

• It’s an excuse to buy a new notebook (and stickers and colourful pens…)

• It acts as a record of what I’ve read and helps me remember the titles of the books I’ve enjoyed (something I’m terrible at unless I have a prompt!). Now, if a friend asks for a book recommendation I just have to flick through my reading journal.

• It’s really interesting to see what genres I actually read most frequently. I categorise each book by genre and at the end of the year plan to make a chart showing which genres I’ve read.

• I find the act of writing in it very therapeutic. It’s a lovely gentle activity that doesn’t require too much effort but still feels creative.

What you’ll need for your reading journal

If I’ve convinced you to start your own reading journal then the first step is to choose a suitable notebook. I went for one with a square grid instead of lines as I thought it would help me keep it more organised. But you could equally go for lined or blank pages. It’s up to you!

There are also plenty of guided reading journals out there where you just have to fill in the information, like these from Papier.

I got a bunch of colourful felt-tip pens to help decorate and categorise my journal (I use a different colour for different genres). I also had great fun choosing book-themed stickers on Etsy.

I started out drawing the covers of the books I’d read, which was a fun exercise but ultimately too time-consuming for me to keep up. Now I print out the covers of the books I read on my printer and stick them in with Pritt stick. I think it looks neater this way too!

Some other things that might help with your reading journal: washi tape for decoration, a ruler if you want to be really neat, alphabet stickers or stencils for spelling out the titles of the books, star stickers to do ratings.

How to organise your reading journal

I left a couple of pages blank at the very start of the notebook where I plan to go back at the end of the year and fill out highlights of the year, looking at my most-read authors, genres and my top picks of the year. I’m thinking of it as Spotify Unwrapped, but for books.

I also dedicate a page at the start of each month for a monthly summary. On this page, I list how many books I started, how many books I finished, my top book of the month plus sometimes a favourite quote or my favourite reading spot that month.

I then typically allow a page or two per book, listing the genre, a synopsis, things I loved, a star rating and maybe a favourite quote.

Other things you could include:

• number of pages

• how you felt when you finished reading

• whether you would recommend it to a friend (and who?)

• where and when you bought the book

• when you started it and when you finished it

• if the author has other books that you will read next.

There are no rules when it comes to reading journals and that’s one of the things I love so much about having mine. I may well change up how I organise mine in future. I think of mine as a fun, creative project that celebrates my love of reading and comes with no pressure.

A few prompts for your reading journal…

• Write a list of your all-time favourite books

• Write a list of your ‘bucket-list’ books

• Draw a picture of your favourite character from your favourite book

• Write a poem or short story inspired by one of your favourite books or a book you’ve recently finished

• Ask your friends and family to contribute to your journal by giving you their five favourite novels and writing them down in your journal

• Add in pictures that make you think of the book - they could be photos, drawings or images torn from magazines.

• Go back through some of your favourite books and write down your favourite quotes

• Write a list of all the books in your house that you haven’t read yet. And then tick them off!

• Create a page that’s dedicated to you: your favourite book, your favourite childhood book, your favourite place to read, your favourite reading snack, the characters from books that you’d most like to meet in real life.

Do you have a reading journal? How do you organise yours? I’d love to know!