Journals

Some cool book journal ideas. I don't know if I would do anything like these, but some look adaptable.

Book Stuff

Wink is a cool site devoted to showing off books.

I've been scrapbooking the blank pages in my book journal and discovered that, after 40plus years, the spine is in bad shape despite my having tried to glue it a few weeks ago, and pages are coming out. So I got a new one, leather-bound this time, and I'll probably transfer all the entries into it.

New Book Journal and Old Glasses

Hardcopy Book Journal

Ever since 1970, when a friend gave me this blank book, I've used this for my reading journal. I finally had to tape the very frayed spine, but I still have plenty of pages to fill.

My Online Book Journal

I finally got Shelly's Book Journal caught up. I realize this might not be of interest to anyone except me, but I thought I should announce it. My lists of books read are all posted through 2005. It's really a relief to get it done. I really like the layout of that blog; it looks like a print journal in a way. And with my keeping an annual list here, it will be simple to update that blog in the future. I'll simply do what I did for 2005's list: Copy and paste from here.

Meanwhile, this blog lost a Bloglines subscriber. I hope that just means someone found a different way to read what I have to say here, but I fret that I've bored or offended someone. I hope that isn't the case.

New Blog

Yes, a new one. Sorta. Actually, I decided to put my Book Journal online. I've just started typing in my reading, so bear with me; this will take a while. I started my hardcopy journal back in 1965!

Book Journals

In an effort to expand the scope of this blog, I'll be discussing more general reading topics from time to time. I'm also in the midst of making some changes to the look. So far, I've rearranged the sidebar items.

When I was in high school, a friend gave me a blank notebook with a picture of a gnome on it. It was called a Gnome Gnotebook and was one of the first blank books, I guess. I'd been keeping track of my reading since 6th grade (1965) because our teacher had us maintain one for school, and I realized I could write the books in the new Gnome Gnotebook, instead of on the looseleaf paper I'd been using, and thus my reading journal was born.

Each year, I start a new page and I alternate colors from year to year, using either green or purple. Notes in the margin re: genre are in blue or red. I've been using Flair pens for this for as long as I've been using the Gnotebook. This is a purple year.

I make note of title and author and note science fiction, mysteries, and non-fiction. I total each year's reading in red on the top right of each year's first page. Rarely have I used more than one page. I don't feel as if I've finished a book until I've noted it in the journal (or should that be gnoted?). I've been doing this for approximately 30 years now and it's become a real ritual. That Gnotebook is one gift I really have used and I can't remember the name of the friend who gave it to me or the occasion. But the Gnotebook lives on.

Do you keep a reading journal? In print? Online? Both? As a reader and a librarian, I'm curious about such things. Please share your journal experiences in the Comments. Thanks.