If books have 100 fans, I am one of them. If books have 10 fans, I am one of them. If books have one fan, it’s me.
The problem with reading books for me is I forget the plots of a lot of them and then feel the urge to reread them.
I have a bit of an obsession with buying books, (especially at the thrift store because they’re so cheap), so my shelves fill up really quickly. They’re full of finished books, books that have been on my TBR for an embarrassingly long time, and unfortunately, forgotten books.
A few months ago, I decided to keep a book review journal.
My book review journal has slowly become my pride and joy. It’s a simple little black leather journal that is filled with notes on the books that I have finished. I get so excited to finish a book solely so I can write in my journal. The pages are bursting with colors from my drawings and doodles of things that are significant to the book, printed out photos (especially if it has a movie or show adaptation), and funny quotes from the novel.
Reading for me is an accomplishment thing. Like I have a tangible item that I have finished cover to cover when I’m done. This is the reason I have the horrible habit of also buying the physical copy after I’ve finished reading the digital copy, so I end up paying for both either way…I don’t recommend doing that. I organize my shelves so I have all of my finished books in one section and it feels awesome to have to make room in the area because I’ve finished another book. Though it’s extremely rewarding to watch the section grow, sometimes I look back at the first books and realize, I don’t really even remember the characters’ names.
When that happens, I now have the luxury to be able to sit down, open up to that books page, read the plot summary, look at the rating out of 5 stars that I gave it (yes, I bought actual gold star stickers that I use for the rating), and then I get to read exactly how I felt about that particular novel.
If you’re a frequent reader, I highly recommend just trying it out. Even designing the pages and really exuding my impression of the vibe of the books onto the page with colors and drawings in addition to my thoughts is something that I get so much joy out of.
Happy reading!