The Book Lover's Journal Review

The Book Lover's Journal by Peter Pauper Press is a reading journal with pre-set pages to record books read and write mini reviews on them.

I've kept a book log on and off from the age of 10 onwards, so for more than half of my life I've been drawing charts into plain notebooks to have them recorded in a set format.

Here's an example page from 2006, when I was around 16. April to June was exam season so I didn't read as many books as I usually did:

On one side I'd write the title, author's name and character list, on the other the mini review and rating.

I'm glad I now use the Peter Pauper Press version as everything is already done for me, which saves a lot of time and effort.

 The inside cover:

It is currently being sold for £9.92 on Amazon but I'm sure I paid less for it when I ordered it a few months ago, so the price could possibly go down again.

Here's Amazon's description list:

• Introduction
• My Book Log: Pages Turned
• Books I'd Like to Read: My Reading Wish List
• My Books: Books Bought, Borrowed, Lent, and Given
• Book Group Info: Friends and Fellow Readers
• Acclaimed Authors and Books: Inspiration for Future Reading
• My Reading Life
• 216 pages

To be honest I haven't really got much use for things like the Book group info pages, or books bought, lent or given (since most of my reading nowadays is done on the Kindle). I really love the set up to record books read though. The paper quality is really nice too, I use inky/gel type pens and the ink never bleeds through and there is little to show through on the next page.

Here are a few example pages of things I've written about books I've read in the last year. Some of it is quite embarrassing on re-read with the slang and whatnot but you know, I just wrote what I felt like at the time.

Looking back at my 2006 reading list, it seems I was reading more grown up material as a teenager than I do now. Anthony Hope and J. B. Priestley compared to Jacqueline Wilson and Suzanne Collins. Hmm. I guess it goes to show I still read everything. Nineteenth century classics are my ultimate favourite type of novel but I will still always love Jacqueline Wilson, her novels always remind me of my childhood (and how the girls in my class would all fight over her books in Year 5).

This Book Lover's Journal would make the ultimate record book for the avid reader.