My 2016 Reading Journal

Today I want to tell you about my reading journal. This is something I tried last year after adapting it from another blog. (I’m sorry, I can’t remember where I saw it, but if you recognize yourself, please let me know so I can credit you!)

I used my iWorks apps on my Mac to design a set of pages. These were meant to be printables, but I know myself and I know that I would never ever EVER have the physical book journal nearby when I needed it. So I decided to store my documents in my iCloud so that I have access from my Macbook, my iPad, and my iPhone. I ALWAYS have at least one of them within arm’s reach!

Here is what I came up with!

Pretty, no???

But here is the problem — by mid-March of last year I was done with it. It took way too much time to type up note on every single book and add a quote or a vocab word. And there was way-way too much duplication of efforts!

I still like the idea, and I’m trying again in 2016, but this time I am simplifying. Instead of five separate pages, I’ve reduced it to two. I started by eliminating the ‘Books To Read’ page.  I mean, I already track books I’d like to read on Goodreads, Pinterest, and Library Thing, so why do I need a whole separate log for them? For similar reasons, I got rid of the ‘Log’ page. I don’t need to track pages read on a nightly basis. I joined the Goodreads challenge to track the books (and pages) I read in 2016, and I also have a spreadsheet set up to track not only pages, but genre, ratings, and other information important to me.

That left the ‘Quotes’ page, the ‘Book Notes’ page, and the ‘Vocabulary’ page. I decided I really don’t need to keep quotes on a separate page; for me, they work just as well as part of my book notes. So I created a modified ‘Book Notes’ page on which I can add not only quotes, but also main characters, setting, genre, and anything else that strikes me as important at the time. I set it up as a template in my Pages app, and will create a new page of book notes for each book I start this year. Here is what it looks like!

Right now I plan to keep it in the cloud, but if at the end of the year I want hard copy, it will be easy enough to print out and put together into a small report cover.

I decided that I DO want to keep my vocabulary separate. But rather than keep it as a printable, I started a spreadsheet using the same headings. That way I can sort by Title or sort the words alphabetically whenever it suits me. Here is what the spreadsheet looks like now.

If ever I decide I want to print it out, it shouldn’t be too hard to add some pretty graphics and do so. By the way, all graphics are from a digital scrapbook kit, You GnoMe, created by Kristmess Designs at Gotta Pixel. You can purchase it or any other kit that strikes your fancy and create your own pretty book journal. If you do, come back and leave me a link. I’d like to see it!

Happy Reading!