Reading is an essential activity in my Heartspoken Life for all the reasons we all love to be entertained, educated, or transported. It’s no wonder I gravitate towards any book, product, or service that promises to help me get more out of the time I spend reading — either to read more books (without sacrificing the quality of my reading) or to get more out of the books I do read so I can squeeze all the bookish juices out of every one. On this page, I’ll share some of the resources I love.
Keep a reading journal
Not only is my reading journal a log I can peruse and review to compare my current reading life from year to year, but the act of writing down (yes, by hand with a pen) my thoughts and impressions after each book helps me get clear on what I liked and didn’t like and to note the ways the book might have impacted me, expanded my thinking, or taught me something new. Here’s more on why I love to do this: “10 Great Reasons To Keep A Reading Journal.”
My favorite journal notebook: The LEUCHTTURM1917 – Medium A5 Plain Hardcover Notebooks. They come in many wonderful colors, and you can choose unlined, ruled, or dotted pages. The pens I prefer are EnerGel Liquid Gel Pens, available in many colors too. These write like a fountain pen but the ink doesn’t bleed through the pages. If you like an eraseable pen that writes beautifully too, I love the Pilot Frixion erasable pens. I wrote more about these here “Note Writer’s Secret Weapon: The Erasable Pen.”
Keep a reading spreadsheet
This may seem like overkill, especially since I already keep a reading journal, but my spreadsheet is more of a tracking document, and it’s easily searchable so I can quickly look up when I read a particular book and what rank I gave it. For each book, I record the title, author, genre, rating, date published, date finished, format (hardbound, paperback, Kindle, or Audible), number of print pages, narrator (if Audible), and who recommended the book to me or where I learned about it. If I have written a review of the book on my blog, I include that link too. Click below to see my spreadsheet (using Google Sheets which is easy to share):
Readwise
This is a nifty service for anyone who reads on a Kindle e-reader, especially if you use the highlighting and note-taking functions. Once you sync your Readwise account with your Amazon Kindle account, Readwise keeps track of all these and sends a few of them back to you at your preferred interval either by email or the Readwise app. It’s kind of like a flashcard review of the books you’ve read and it helps ensure you get the most out the investment of time and money you’ve already put into your reading.
Readwise has a free trial period, then there are two layers of subscription from which to choose, depending on whether you want to organize your highlights with tags and notes and other additional functions. As a writer, I’m often trying to remember where I read a particular quote or I might just want to pull up everything I’ve tagged in a certain way. Readwise is invaluable for that. Here’s my invitation to give it a try — if you decide to subscribe, you’ll get an additional free month if you use this link: https://readwise.io/i/elizabeth50.
We Were Made For This!