Every book read deserves a book review.
Reading is a habit I choose to consistently engage in, as a way to quench my curiosity about life, people, and how things work, and to expand my own thought processes. Reading has given me the opportunity to walk into countless minds, visit different places, and step into different times I would otherwise never have had access to.
Occasionally you'll find me reading memoirs, biographies, philosophical books, research papers and articles, and self-help books. I barely read fiction, since I tend not to find much it adds to my life. It feels recreational in a way that doesn't fully engage my mind, and I'd rather watch a movie for that. I'm also very visual, and I struggle to keep track of characters' names without some kind of visual representation, which has made fiction genuinely harder for me to read. Still, I admire the people who find real joy and excitement in it.
These journals were built as a way to keep the mind engaged with a book after reading it. I don't think reading is meant to happen once, only to be forgotten. The reading log helps you be intentional with what you're reading. Through retrieval practice, you're able to pull from memory what you learned, along with your own thoughts and favorite quotes, rather than letting them fade the moment you close the book.
Researchers studying retrieval practice have found that the act of actively recalling something you've learned strengthens your ability to retrieve and use that same knowledge later, more than simply rereading or reviewing it passively does (ScienceDirect, 2014). Writing down what you remember from a book, rather than just moving on to the next one, is what makes that memory genuinely stick.
Our library currently features three different reading logs.
The Daily Reading Log — meant to engage your mind every day after reading, whatever book you're in the middle of.
The Classicist's Reading Journal — meant to help you reflect on a book once you've finished it, as a single, complete record of what it left you with.
The Seasonal Reading Journals — meant to engage your mind after each finished book while romanticizing the current season, giving you a chance to actually notice and appreciate the season you're in.
Citations
Karpicke, J. D., Lehman, M., & Aue, W. R. (2014). Retrieval-based learning: An episodic context account - sciencedirect. Chapter Seven - Retrieval-Based Learning: An Episodic Context Account. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/bookseries/abs/pii/B9780128002834000071