For those who have a book journal to keep notes/thoughts on what you read in order to remember better, how do you know what to write? I write my thoughts and questions but I don't really have that much of them. When summarizing chapters I find myself bulleting nearly everything that happens. I feel like it slows me down and I get less sucked into the book. How can I do this in a better way?
by TheDollarstoreDoctor
7 Comments
You’re overthinking it. No rules. Just write what makes you happy
I don’t have guidelines. I’ve read the book so I know the plot, I don’t recount the whole thing. Mostly I mention what I liked or didn’t, why, and throw in some random quotes if any stuck out to me. Don’t force yourself to hit a word count like it’s school. If a book doesn’t provoke many thoughts or comments, then it probably wasn’t a very good book
>When summarizing chapters I find myself bulleting nearly everything that happens. I feel like it slows me down and I get less sucked into the book.
Have you considered just not doing it then? Why do you need to journal?
I journal on an app, but I write down any passing thoughts/judgements I have whilst reading and quotes I found funny/insightful/well-written.
I don’t bother doing chapter summaries or the like- both because I reread books and don’t wish to be spoiled by my own review, and because jotting down passing thoughts tends to summarise events anyway.
I don’t take notes or annotate. I also don’t summarize the plots unless there’s a specific plotpoint I want to talk about. When I finish a book, or decide not to finish it, I just write the title, date I finished, and whatever stood out to me.
It doesn’t matter. Write what you want.
It’s your journal, write what’s important to you.