I’ve decided to keep a reading journal for at least the month of June in hopes of adding more meat to my reviews. I have a habit of binge reading books without taking the time to really absorb the content. That really affects my reviews when I go to write them because I have a hard time remembering why I liked or didn’t like the book… it’s just some vague notion that I had a feeling about the book at some point.
I bought this cute notebook at my store and started with the book that I’ve basically been assigned to read for work. I requested an ARC of The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan and since I was so fast to respond I got the one and only copy even though 11 other people requested it. This means that I HAVE to read and review it. If I don’t, I won’t be allowed to ask for any more cool books from them. 😦
I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing with this journal. I’m not someone who is going to write down all the characters or settings (even though I probably should with this book), and I’m not that artistic anymore. I just wanted somewhere to keep track of my thoughts while I’m reading so that I don’t forget anything. Of course, I have to remember to write things down when I think of them, and not just fill in pages after the fact.
The reason I decided to just do my own thing in a blank journal is because all the preformatted versions out there have a bunch of stuff in them that I don’t care about. My thought process while reading is just too random. Maybe once I find a rhythm to this journaling thing I’ll be able to categorize my thoughts, but for now it’s going to be a jumble of thoughts and questions I have.
So, do you keep a book journal? Is it a preformatted one from a store or did you make it yourself? What things do you like to record while reading?
The Literary Counsellor 
I’ve done both myself but I did a better job of sticking with the regular notebook instead of the preformatted one. I always just made sure to jot down main character names (I always forget those) and then just notes on what I thought about the book and characters and stuff like that. I’ve kind of fallen off the note-taking wagon at this point though… But I do agree that it helps with writing reviews.
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I use a regular notebook for mine as well. I started keeping a reading journal last year I think. It does help me to remember things I want to mention in my reviews. I don’t write about everything on the story unless everything stood out to me. I just write what pops in my mind. It’s like a sketch for the review.
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I don’t keep a book journal. But when on vacation specifically big vacation, I keep a journal.When reading, I mark in the book. How I read a book honestly has to do with the book. If a chapter is like 25 pages, I only can find myself reading only one chapter a day. But if the chapter is much shorter, I can just keep on reading
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