For as long as I can remember I have been a reader but I never really tracked my reading in any form. Last year I discovered GoodReads and I recommend it, however, I found that it just doesn't work for me at all. This is because I am a big rereader, so I will reread my books numerous times, and with GoodReads, you can't count those books as a new read. So in response to that, I started looking for a reading journal that I could purchase but I couldn't find one that fit what I wanted. Because of this, I decided to create one myself. The one that I created is a full 8.5x11 book, coil bound, and is in cardstock so a heavier paper. Mine is also a color yourself book, I like this because it gives some creativity of your own in a book that I use. To elaborate more on that, I added "coloring pages" within the book itself as well as the cover being something that you can color yourself.
I have mentioned my reading journal on my Instagram before but I want to make and sell them on my Facebook page. I am just trying to figure out how to do that. I also have other things I want to sell as well.
Why Track Your Reading?
I found that there are many benefits to tracking your reading or even tracking what books you want to read.
The first benefit that I found is that it encourages you to read more. I like having a yearly goal for the number of books that I read. This year my goal was 200 but I haven't even cracked 60 yet. The reason for that is that I go through slumps like crazy. Last year my reading goal was 75 and I ended up reading 125, so I thought for this year to make it more but I'm not sure how many I will end up reading this year.
The second benefit is that you can rediscover some old favorites. (This is where rereading comes into play). With my reading tracker, I added a bunch of spots which you can see in the photos for Favorite characters, quotes, and then any other notes on that book, this is a nice thing to have if you reread and you like another quote or after rereading you write some other notes and look back on the old ones and see what has changed or what has stayed the same.
The last benefit that I have never really thought about in my reading is that you can track your own biases in your reading habits that you might never have expected. For me, this is not something I look at because of the genres I read. But if you read many genres you may start to notice your biases, whether that's female writers, writers of color, etc. It helps you figure out exactly how to broaden your horizons, and discover amazing books that you might otherwise have missed.
What Can You Use To Track Your Reading?
As I mentioned before there are many apps out there for tracking your reading as well as many physical books that you can buy. Even just a notebook with a list of books you have read works as well. I like having the physical book as it is easy to use and I have coloring pages to use when I need to relax, that's why I like having the coloring pages.
My Reading Tracker
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