Why I Started Book Journaling (And Why Every Fast Reader Should)

Do you remember being a kid and practically vibrating with excitement at Christmas?

Planning out your letter to Santa, badgering your parents for the newest must-have toy, then barely being able to sleep on Christmas Eve because of the anticipation?

Then finally Christmas morning comes, all the presents get opened… and it’s over.

And worse, it happened so fast that within a few days it almost feels like it never happened at all. You can barely remember half of what you got.

That’s what reading books feels like when you’re a binge reader like me.

I read at a really fast pace.

(Well… when I’m not postpartum anyway. This baby has definitely slowed me down.)

But generally speaking, I devour books. I absorb them through my eyeballs like literary pasta.

And honestly? It’s great.

Right up until you’ve read 40+ books in a year and can’t remember 90% of them.

People ask me for recommendations and suddenly my brain empties like someone pulled the emergency drain plug.

How is that possible when I’ve read literally thousands of books in my life?

Because when you read quickly, books don’t always stick with you unless they’re truly top-tier, life-altering, six-star reads.

And not every book needs to be that.

Sometimes a book is just fun. Sometimes it’s comforting. Sometimes it’s entertaining enough for a few days and then quietly exits your brain forever.

That’s okay too.

Eventually, I discovered book journaling as a way to track my reading and preserve the memories of the stories I’ve experienced.

Honestly, that’s also part of why I started creating guided reading journals in the first place. I wanted something cozy, simple, and satisfying to help me actually remember the books I spend so much time loving.

So here are a few reasons I book journal, and maybe why you might want to start too.

1. The dopamine is immaculate

I’m a bit of an overachiever by nature.

Straight-A student. Teacher’s pet. Gold-star collector extraordinaire.

So book journaling scratches a massive itch in my brain.

There is something deeply satisfying about checking off the “completed” section in my journal and adding another title to my yearly total.

It feels productive, cozy, and rewarding all at once.

Tiny little serotonin sprinkles.

2. My memory is genuinely terrible

I will forget a book almost immediately after starting a new one.

“What was the last one about?” you ask.

Excellent question. No idea.

Sometimes I barely remember whether I even liked it.

In fact, I recently started reading a book I kept seeing on BookTok and got six chapters in before realizing… I had already read it.

Humbling.

Book journaling gives me a way to keep track of what I’ve already read, what I loved, and what absolutely did not work for me.

Because there are simply too many books in the world to accidentally reread books I didn’t enjoy.

3. It helps me remember the books worth revisiting

One of my favorite things about book journaling is being able to rate books on things like:

• overall enjoyment
• spice level
• pacing
• emotional damage inflicted upon me
• whether I’d reread it
• whether I’d recommend it to a friend

It helps me remember which books became favorites and which ones were just fine.

Some books become permanent residents in your soul.

For me, that includes:

• The Wheel of Time
• Warbreaker
• Elantris
• The Black Prism

These are my ride-or-die books. The ones I reread every few years because they left fingerprints on my personality.

They deserve to be remembered.

4. It’s just plain fun

At the end of the day, book journaling is fun.

Depending on the kind of journal you use, you can customize it with stickers, colors, tabs, ratings, doodles, or elaborate page spreads that honestly belong in an art gallery.

Some people use completely blank notebooks and create gorgeous custom layouts from scratch.

I personally am not that creative, so I prefer guided journals with prompts I can fill out as I go.

You can also use apps or digital book journals on an iPad if that’s more your thing.

There are so many different styles out there that you can really find a system that fits your reading life.

So if reading is your hobby, maybe consider journaling your way through it too.

Think of it like taking photos during a vacation.

You’re creating an album of all the places you visited, the characters you met, and the stories that made you feel something.

Plus stickers.

And honestly, stickers make everything better.

(Some links may be affiliate links, which helps support my endless coffee-and-books habit at no extra cost to you.)

Reading journals feel a little like photo albums for your reading life.

You’re creating a collection of the stories, characters, quotes, and emotions that mattered to you during a certain season of your life.

Honestly, I think that’s why I love memory keeping in general so much lately. Whether it’s documenting books, motherhood, or family memories, I love having something tangible to look back on later.

If you’re also sentimental like me, I’ve been loving Once Upon photo books for turning everyday memories into beautiful photo books too.

Because apparently I want to archive every emotional experience I’ve ever had now. 📚🍼📸

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Books Mentioned In This Post 📚

Some books stick around in my brain long after I finish them. These are a few of my personal reread-worthy favorites:

• The Wheel of Time
• Warbreaker
• Elantris
• The Black Prism

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Want To Start Your Own Book Journal? ✨

If you’ve ever forgotten every single book you read three days after finishing it… same.

That’s actually why I started creating guided reading journals in the first place.

I wanted something cozy, customizable, and satisfying that would help me remember the stories I loved, track my reading goals, and make reading feel even more fun.

My customizable digital reading journal includes:

• hyperlinked tabs
• customizable covers
• reading trackers
• review pages
• space for favorite quotes
• cozy BookTok-inspired pages
• and lots of room to make it your own

Check it out here!

Keep Reading 📚

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like some of my other cozy bookish and mom-life content:

What Reading Has Looked Like Lately: 1 Month Postpartum

Why Is It So Hard to Maintain Your Hobbies Postpartum?

Let’s Chat 💭

Do you book journal already, or are you more of a “feral reader with no memory of what happened after chapter three” type like me?

Tell me your favorite way to track your reading in the comments!

And if you love cozy reading life content, book recommendations, journaling ideas, and chaotic mom-reader energy, make sure to join my email list below so you don’t miss future posts, shop updates, and freebies 📚🌿