Friday, May 21, 2010

Keeping a Book Journal

I'm a huge book fan. I majored in English and worked in a book store and then a book distributor for over 15 years. I love to read, to see what others are reading, to visit bookstores and to talk about books. Imagine my delight when I heard about a woman who wrote an essay on every book she reads.

Meet Mary-Clare Bates of St. Paul, MN who has kept a book journal since 1995. In the 15 years she has been doing this, Mary-Clare has completed four notebooks and is now on her fifth. You can read more about her (and her favorite books and authors) at the Letters & Journals website.

I track what I ready by year, usually with just a title and maybe a comment if I really liked the book or really disliked the book. With books I dislike, I most likely will not finish them. For me, life is too short and there are just too many books to read to waste time on ones that I am not getting into.

How about you? What are your book reading habits? Likes?Dislikes?

(Photo is of Mary-Clare's reading room)

1 comment:

Carol said...

I keep a bare-bones journal--more like a list separated by month and year--of authors, titles, pub. year and from which library I borrowed the book. I get my books almost exclusively from two local public libraries because I know circulation contributes in the long run to library funding.I keep a separate journal of quotations that move me or speak to my experience.