Mid-Year Reading Journal Update 2023

I still believe my decision to start a reading journal a couple of years ago was one of the best I’ve ever made. Having a reading journal to record my thoughts, track my reading, and provide a little bit of a creative outlet does wonders for my motivation to read. However, I noticed that I only talk about my reading journals when I set them up, rarely providing any further information on how it’s going or how it looks throughout or at the end of the year. So, this year I thought I would change that with a little mid-year update.

As a disclaimer, my reading journal is solely for fun, and I aim for simplicity as much as possible. I know that if I try too hard, put too much effort in, or focus too much on the look of it, I won’t be able to find the desire to keep it going. So, I make sure that my monthly spreads can be set up in less than an hour and the only thing that takes longer than that is the initial setup. In this post, I want to talk about what I think has gone well with my reading journal so far, and the things I might need to rethink or do something about during the rest of the year.

What I Like About My Reading Journal So Far

Pretty much everything, but I’ve narrowed it down to a select few that make having a reading journal worthwhile for me.

Monthly Spreads

These monthly spreads are going well. It’s a simple, effective way to keep track of both the books I read each month and how I feel about them, and it does not take long to fill out. I can keep track of when I started and finished a book too, which is admittedly a little hard to do when I don’t always start books linearly, but interesting to see how long it takes me to read different books.

Another thing I love about the monthly spreads is just that they allow me to track my thoughts on what I read. This was the reason for me adopting a reading journal in the first place, and I’m happy to discover that it’s working as intended, which is why I’m finding it so hard to figure out what could be changed. I will say that each month I wonder if I should use a monthly title page with the same concept as what I currently have or try something new entirely rather than just using a small banner at the top of a page. What I’m currently doing works so well that even being inspired is almost not enough to convince me to do something different but it’s something I want to think about in the future.

The Bookshelf

I don’t think I’ll ever stop using this spread. Maybe I’ll consider adding the book titles, but probably not. I like the simplistic setup and how quick it is to just highlight a book and have it done. I can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end of the year.

Statistics Trackers

I like how easy my trackers are to fill out, so most of them are a win for me this year. However, I’m starting to wonder if I might want to search for a more inspired setup for my stats for next year. The appearance does not excite me like most of the other pages in my reading journal do, but I’m not sure what I can do differently to maintain the freedom I need for the spreads I have no idea how much input will go into it. Maybe I can try something like a bar chart? I’ll most likely try something new next year. Until then, I’m happy that it’s quick to fill out and gives me a good overview of what my reading has looked like.

What I’m Not Sure About

Occasionally, I think about things I might like to change or consider how I could do things differently to make it easier on myself, though I don’t always arrive at a solution right away. For now, below are the aspect of my reading journal that I’m not quite sure about.

Series Tracker

I haven’t filled this in more than once, and even then, I’m not done. I don’t know what it is about them, but I tend to ignore series trackers all the time, even though I quite enjoy reading series and have a good idea of which ones I’m in the middle of. It’s a very straightforward tracker to fill in, yet I’ve ignored it for six months. Hopefully, this will be the month I finally bother to get it started.

Staying On Top of Things

There have been a couple of times where I’ve just completely forgotten about filling in my reading journal, which means it could be a few days into the month and I’ve not yet written in the final book from the previous month nor set up for the current one. It’s not a big deal, but I probably need to write it into my calendar or something which is something I’ll try to do for the rest of the year. Hopefully, that will fix my issue.

More Tracking and Decorations

Even though I love my reading journal the way it is, I often wonder if it might benefit from being more substantial, because I think I would enjoy more decorating. However, considering I sometimes forget to fill even the most basic things in, it might not be the best idea to add more things to track. I haven’t yet thought seriously about what I would like to add, but if I did, it would probably be something like book recommendations or new releases I might want to read.

Since starting my journal I’ve worked on using stickers, and that’s something I’m interested in doing more, but it also makes me feel like I need to try a bit harder with my doodles, which would again pose a problem when it comes to the amount of time I would have to put into it, so I’m glad I have the rest of the year to decide if that’s what I want to do.

That’s how I’m doing with my 2023 reading journal. Writing this post has shocked me into realising that half of the year is gone already and has served as a useful reflection on how it has been so far. Though reading has been a little slow for me this year, I’m hoping I can go a little faster and get as close as possible to my goal of 50 books by the end of the year!

If you have a reading journal, what do you like to track in it?