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My reading journal

I have been keeping a reading journal for about three years now, and it has become a routine for me. I have started writing a regular journal or diary several times, but the only time I have been able to keep it up for longer than a couple of weeks is when I have been travelling, but somehow I have been able to stick to the reading journal, perhaps because it doesn’t call for daily entries. My only regret is that I didn’t start it a long time ago. I have estimated that I have read at least 5000 books in my lifetime – probably more – and it would have been fun to be able to compile a list of them all and to analyse how my reading habits and tastes have changed through the years.

As I mentioned in the January reading report, I decided at the beginning of the year to start keeping the journal in a real book instead of loose-leaf binders, and so far it is working out well. The book has blank pages, so the writing is not always in a completely straight line, but it somehow feels better to be writing in a book than on loose sheets of paper, even if the paper was lined. Of course it feels even better because I actually made the journal.

Into the journal goes some basic information about each book I read: date read, genre, title, author/editor, reader (if an audio book), illustrator/photographer (is there is one), translator (if it’s translated), publisher, year published, country, no of pages, format, a short plot summary and a one line review with star rating. The rating and everything but the summary and short review goes into an Excel file as well, to help me analyse the information statistically.

Well, enough about the contents - here is the journal:

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I put some information about how it was made and what materials I used, in my bookbinding blog
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