Everything I’ve learned in 3 Months of Book Journaling
Believe it or not, book journaling doesn’t have to be complicated! There are literally 2 steps….
Read
Journal
WHOA, RIGHT?? What happens for me is that I get so caught up in the aesthetic of it all that I get paralyzed. What if it doesn’t look perfect? What if I make a mistake? So what?
This is YOUR journal, a place where you can be authentically yourself, read whatever books YOU want, and serve your literary self. I’m going to tell you what works for me, but there’s a reason that not every reading journal looks the same!
Here are my 4 must-have book journal spreads:
Reading Challenges
Game-ifying reading can be SUCH a great motivator to crack open a good book. As such, I have several reading challenges (of varying difficulties) in my journal. Here’s just a few!
Bookopoly: Themed around a monopoly board, you collect properties, railroads, and more by following the bookish prompts. (I’m biased because Jess and I put this one on together, but it’s SO FUN!!)
Popsugar: Released yearly in December, Popsugar includes 50 prompts
The 52 Book Club: Released yearly and put on by a book club, there are 52 prompts and monthly mini challenges. This challenge is perfect for people who want to read 1 book each week!
Buzzword Readathon: This readathon was created by Kayla of Books and Lala and is focused on book TITLES. There are 12 prompts each year - you can play by just trying to hit all 12 prompts throughout the year, or do each prompt during its designated month.
Representation Readathon: The goal of this readathon is to diversify the genres and authors that you read. There are 12 prompts, one for each chosen genre, and the book you choose MUST be by a BIPOC author.
Monthly TBR Pages
I love a good TBR (or to be read) list! This ranges from reads for book club, advance reader copies from NetGalley, or titles I’ve been lusting over forever. Putting it on paper doesn’t mean that I’ll read them (like definitely doesn’t mean that at ALL), but it brings them to the front of my mind! And as a mood reader, this is key. Plus during the month, I get to check them off which makes my little planner heart so happy.
Reading Log
I’m a huge nerd. I loooooove seeing a list of every book I’ve read and being able to compile it across every single month at the end of the year. It gives me this huge sense of achievement every time I write a title in. And it’s awesome to look back on when I’m trying to think of book recommendations. Here you can also note your thoughts on the book or your star rating.
Book Trackers
This is just a general category for all book tracking related things (though I’m separating it from a reading log). Here are some distinct book trackers that you could use in your journal.
Unreads: Here you can track alllll of your unread books, be it physical, digital, or audio copies.
Purchased/Wishlist: I like to keep an eye on how many books I’m buying, especially during my no-spend months. But when I feel like treating myself, I can look at my wishlist and see what I want to pick up at a local indie bookstore.
NetGalley: If you get Advanced Reader Copies, this is KEY! Keeping a balance of reading upcoming titles, tracking how many titles you’re requesting, and what books you need to review is essential to be an A+ reviewer.
Yearly Hopefuls: Is this a TBR? Yeah probably. BUUUUUT it’s for an entire year, so it deserves its own devoted section. There are several fun challenges for this like 12 Friends 12 Recs or 23 in ‘23, but it all boils down to making a list of the books that you’re dying to read and then reading them! Sounds perfect to me.
Genre Bookshelves: Such a fun way to track your genres read is with a bookshelf tracker. Here you assign each genre a color and then shade in the book doodles accordingly when you read them.
Some other ideas you might want to include:
Book reviews
Art or spreads inspired by the books you’re reading
Quote pages where you write or letter lines from the book
A month in pages: Here you keep track of what book you’re reading each day and how many pages you finished.
What do you think? What spreads are must-haves for your reading journal? Let me know!
