BY DANNY HEITMAN | Contributing writer
2 hrs ago
We’ve reached the midpoint of the year, which can be a good time to ask how all those New Year’s resolutions we made last January are panning out
As this year opened, I resolved to record the name of every book I read. The idea came after I wrote about my friend Linda Lightfoot, who’s kept such a reading journal since 2005. I was also inspired after visiting with Tricia Day, a Baton Rouge woman whose late mother, Kitty Day, kept a reading journal from 1937 until her death in 2007
The stories I shared about Lightfoot and Day sparked a nice conversation about how reading journals have shaped the lives of other book lovers
Jamie Freeman, owner of TBR Books & Tea in Baton Rouge, mentioned that she stocks a few reading journals in her shop, though she prefers another method to track her own reading
“I personally keep my reading ‘journal’ digitally, with the Goodreads and Fable apps,” she told me. “I have tried keeping a physical journal in the past, but I’ve found that I’m much more likely to keep up with it if I can update it from anywhere.”
Freeman also enjoys the social aspect of her reading apps
“With Goodreads, I can keep up with what my friends are reading and enjoying,” she noted. “And I like Fable because it provides me with some graphs and insights about my reading. That’s what I enjoy most about keeping a journal — tracking the number of books I read each year, but also being able to look at the different types of books, authors, genres, etc. There were a few years a while back when I created and utilized my own Google form that linked to a spreadsheet with lots of charts about the types of books I was reading. That was too cumbersome to keep up with, though!”
But for those who prefer paper reading journals, Freeman gives customers some options
“We have a few different versions,” she said, “including a pocket-sized version, which I think is adorable.”
Reader Steve Gagnon told me that he’s been keeping a reading journal since the 1990s
“It’s nearly 600 books, mostly fiction,” he said. “Every once in a while, I enter the list into a spreadsheet.”
Reader John Berry told me about his own twist on reading journals
“I love to read, like many others,” Berry said. “But instead of journaling my finished reads, I do the opposite: keeping a list of books, poems, films, plays, music and other such interesting items that I have not yet enjoyed. This is my memory assistant, which I depend on to safely keep up with all the items I want to enjoy in the future.”
More than six months in, how am I doing with my own reading journal? It’s been a bit of an adventure. In another column soon, I’ll let you know how it’s been going
Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com
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