Keeping a Reading Journal

[Lith]

Does anyone else do this? I started about 3 years ago; writing down my thoughts on what I was reading, just to see what my comprehension of it all was, and to set my thoughts down so that years later, I could compare initial reactions with time-mellowed considerations. Not so much just so I could keep track of what I had and hadn't read, but to understand what I did read.

For anyone who's interested, my standard layout (yes, by now it's standardized) looks like this:

Title, by Author

Grade- Letter grade.
Synopsis- Quick review of plot, not impressions.
Overall- Quick review of impressions.
Plot and Pacing- Plot is how well later events develop from earlier events. Pacing is how well it flows from one thing to the next, building excitement and energy where it needs it.
Word Choice and Sentence Structure- General grammar issues and writing style. Variety, clarity, appropriateness, freshness.
Imagery- Overall impression and specific instances.
Favorite Moments- Any number of lines or scenes that struck a chord. Explain why when possible.
Morality/Philosophy- reaction to the ideas presented by the author.
Questions, etc.- Confused points, questions brought up by the text, etc.


--
I told one of my cousins about this, and he said it sounded too much like homework. I guess it's a bit like what we did in school, but it's different when you set your own parameters. And I think it's fun; in fact it worked out so well that I also do it for movies and video games (albeit not all of them, and in modified fashion)... so right about now I'm really wondering if others do this, or if I'm just neurotic and anal. (I'm not, I swear!)

 

[D_Davis]

This is good. It helps you to remember the great stuff you've read. It also helps you to make connections, and with literature, this is of the utmost importance. Books do not exist in a vacuum, but part of the enjoyment comes from connecting the dots from book to book.

I don't keep a journal, but I do write an extensive review for almost everything I read. At least, I started to a few months ago.

I used to write film reviews, but since last November I've pretty much stopped watching movies. They just weren't giving me what I need, and what I need now I am finding in great science fiction.

I've found that writing extensive reviews (usually around 1,000 words) and then rereading those a week or so later really helps me to draw coralations between all of the things I am reading.

 

[Rane Longfox]

I was thinking of starting something like that. I always forget what I read most of the time
Wouldn't go into so much detail though probably. A short review would be all

 

[j d worthington]

Well, I don't so much keep a journal as jot down passages or thoughts/impressions of things that hit a special chord with me. These I often use later, either because they spark something in my own creativity, or because they seem to sum up a particular thought better than anything else I've seen.

Is it neurotic? I don't think so. I'd say it's just indicative of the level to which you immerse yourself in enjoying such things, as well as a way to help you yourself understand why you enjoy certain things better than others....

 

[littlemissattitude]

Neurotic? Nah. Obsessive/compulsive? A little, maybe. But then again, it takes one to know one, I guess. Because goodness knows I'm that way about some things.

More seriously...I've thought about doing something like this, but last year it was all I could do to manage to keep a list of the books I read. This year, I'm going to try to add to the list books that I started but didn't finish and how far into them I got, plus why I didn't finish it.

I do something like what j. d. described in his post...I keep notebooks where I jot things down that seem important to me or that I like for some reason. Sometimes I'll actually copy out a passage, or I'll paraphrase it. This is helpful for me because I am a writer and I need a way to find my way back to things that I find need of later in my writing...which is mostly non-fiction, by the way.

 

[Taltos]

No, nothing that sophisticated. But I do keep a list of read books (actually right now it's 2 separate lists, which should be combined) but I only note the start and finishing dates, book name and author and language it was read.

But I really should start something like your list as some things tend to be forgotten over the time.

 

[that old guy]

Yes, that's in large part what I use my Librarything account for. I tag anything from a library as "borrowed," meaning, well, duh, that its borrowed. And since I'm too poor to be buying very many books these days, almost everything I'm reading is something unowned. (Fortunately I live in an area where I can inter-library loan from fifty or so town and two or three university libraries.)

I'll also write a "review" of varying length, depending upon my mood. May be as short as a sentence, may be several paragraphs. Doesn't seem to take that much time, honestly. Probably wouldn't do it otherwise, as I'm extremely lazy.

I'm a bit embarassed to say it has been very helpful to keep on the lookout for sequels to mediocre fantasy series where I've read the first book was interested enough to keep going with them, but doubtless would've forgotten about them had I not recorded the books in LT. (Lawrence Watt-Evan's "Chosen" and Tad Williams' "Shadowmarch" books.)

 

[Rane Longfox]

Just started a blog one

Don't really know how well this will work out, so we'll see...

 

[D_Davis]

There is a really good one on-line.

Goodreads | get book recommendations from people you know

It's like My Space for the literary crowd.

 

[Lith]

I don't use my journal for keeping track of books I've read or not read (though I do keep a To Read list handy), simply because I remember whether or not I've read something, and whether or not I own it. (Whether that's because I have a good memory or just don't read as much as others, I couldn't say. I don't even write down when I finished the book anymore (though probably should). But it's been useful in other ways.

Mostly it started as an experiment in regards to my writing. Partly to practice summarizing things in different ways, and partly because my previous habit of writing down only what struck a chord was a little confusing (summaries and rants got lost in the general notes pile and lacked context). This way I could keep track of not only what pissed me off but the "rest" of the novel as well, because only the rants stay in my memory banks. And it's not as work intensive as it looks; most of the time it takes 10-15 minutes, and I don't always write in all the fields. Most of the time it's a sentence or two, with a paragraph or two in the philosophy section.

And the funny part was it wasn't until my cousin mentioned it that I even made the connection between what we did in school (reading comprehension- yuck!) and what I was doing on my own.

Anyway, if anyone's thinking of it, there's no time like the present. I keep a whole year's in a single file, that way it's easy to look back through and search.

 

[j d worthington]

Anyway, if anyone's thinking of it, there's no time like the present. I keep a whole year's in a single file, that way it's easy to look back through and search.

Sounds like a handy thing to have. However, in my case, it wouldn't really be so simple, I'm afraid. Just counting what I've written concerning my thoughts and ideas on one particular writer, with what I've read by him in just the last couple of years, the manuscript is quickly approaching 1000 pages....

 

[DeepThought]

Nothing so fancy...I just keep a list of books I read for the year, and record the time interval with which it took me to finish (start/end dates) but on rare occasions I do indulge in jotting down little notes: quotes, ideas etc.

Cheer's, DeepThought

 

[Connavar]

I don't use my journal for keeping track of books I've read or not read (though I do keep a To Read list handy), simply because I remember whether or not I've read something, and whether or not I own it. (Whether that's because I have a good memory or just don't read as much as others, I couldn't say. I don't even write down when I finished the book anymore (though probably should). But it's been useful in other ways.

Mostly it started as an experiment in regards to my writing. Partly to practice summarizing things in different ways, and partly because my previous habit of writing down only what struck a chord was a little confusing (summaries and rants got lost in the general notes pile and lacked context). This way I could keep track of not only what pissed me off but the "rest" of the novel as well, because only the rants stay in my memory banks. And it's not as work intensive as it looks; most of the time it takes 10-15 minutes, and I don't always write in all the fields. Most of the time it's a sentence or two, with a paragraph or two in the philosophy section.

And the funny part was it wasn't until my cousin mentioned it that I even made the connection between what we did in school (reading comprehension- yuck!) and what I was doing on my own.

Anyway, if anyone's thinking of it, there's no time like the present. I keep a whole year's in a single file, that way it's easy to look back through and search.

I like the way your journal layout looks, i will copy it for my Gemmell forum book club we have in Legend Readers site.

I have seen that some books are so memorable that i like to put down what i thought when i was reading it. So i can look back on what i wrote when i start to forget alittle.

 

[Nesacat]

I write reviews sometimes of books that have particularly caught me; usually in here and always because I would like to share the book.

I don't keep a journal per se, though like JD i tend to jot down sentences or paragraphs that I particularly like. These I tend to use again in letters, cards, reviews ...

I've the odd ability of being able to remember almost everything that I read. It's very odd. I may not remember what I hear but I always remember what i read. I can see the words when I need them. The flip side is I often cannot remember the titles.

I've keeping journals several times but I get all muddled and forget everything I need to remember so I've stopped. It's as if my brain has decided that since it's been written down it can be wiped from memory.

 

[Rosemary]

I usually write down which books I have read during the year but no time limits or other notes, unless it was extremely good.

I've just started transfering my list of books to Shelfari, hopefully I will be able to remember enough about them to write up a short review.

I also keep a copy of my list of Books To Get in my handbag, so it's always there when I go to the shops.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I've keeping journals several times but I get all muddled and forget everything I need to remember so I've stopped. It's as if my brain has decided that since it's been written down it can be wiped from memory.

I'm just the opposite, Nesa. If I don't write things down, I forget them. But, once I write something down, I usually remember it. Something long takes writing it a few times...I literally memorized things for exams in school by writing them, or least key words, over and over until they stuck. It took some time, but it nearly always worked.

 

[Pyan]

Well, when we get Brian's promised journal section here, we can use that as well...

 

[Jen526]

I tried to get into doing a fairly detailed log of my reading, but I found that I wasn't able to keep up. Or else I'd get in a situation where, in the middle of the book I had all sorts of interesting thoughts about it... but by the end, I'd forgotten what they all were.

Until I can get myself more organized, I've settled for a much briefer, 2 or 3 sentence mini-log for each book instead. 2007 was my first full year doing this, and it was definitely interesting to look over my year-in-books after the fact.