7 Inspiring Book Journal Ideas​ You Can Try Right Now

Book journal ideas​ help you to engage with literature. Whether you want to dive into classic stories like Bram Stoker’s Dracula or are keen to read autobiographies of your favourite celebrities, journaling your experience is a great way to track and achieve your reading goals. 

When you keep a journal, you have a better chance of remembering the content that you read. Also, research has shown that book journal ideas​ can boost emotional and mental well-being, alongside numerous other benefits. 

So, if you’re a keen reader, join us as we introduce seven book journaling ideas and different ways to engage with literature throughout the year. 

Set long-term reading book goals 

The beauty of reading is that everyone is different. We all have different tastes, interests, and passions. You probably know who your favourite authors are and which authors from history you want to read. 

But with so many electronic devices in our lives and other distractions, picking up a book isn’t always at the front of our minds. Therefore, setting long-term reading book goals is a great starting point. 

By the long-term, we encourage you to look ahead to the next year. An attainable goal would be to set yourself the target of reading twelve books, one every month. 

We recommend adding books to your journal that you know you will be interested in, as it helps with motivation. Don’t dive headfirst into a foreign-language novel in your first month, as you might quit your journal before you’ve even started. 

Reading book journal ideas​

• Start with a long-term reading goal. For instance, I want to read 12 books in 2025. Then, research and list the books you would like to read. 
• Download the books to your iPad, Kindle, or phone, or order a paper copy of the books online. 
• In your journal, dedicate one month to each book. Then, set page targets for each week. For instance, if the book is 200 pages long, set yourself a target of 50 pages per week. 

Engage with the classics 

Many people have lofty aspirations of reading classic literature before they die but never seem to get around to it. Be it Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, or Mark Twain’s literary works, the classics are difficult to engage with. 

They tend to be more difficult to read and require a little more patience than modern, fast-paced literature. Therefore, set yourself manageable targets when engaging with the classics and note your progress in your book journal. 

You might even like to focus on specific themes when reading classic literature. For example, focusing on classic travel literature, such as Twain’s The Innocents Abroad and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, can be a brilliant way to ease into it. 

Classic book journal ideas 

• As classic literature is challenging to engage with, start with themes that you’re passionate about and work from there. 
• Give yourself plenty of time to read a classic novel, and don’t rush to the end. Use your journal to list words, phrases, or references you don’t understand, and research them using your phone or computer. Our AI Grammar Checker can also help you to check and fully understand difficult passages in classic literature. 

Create a reading bucket list 

One of our favourite book journaling ideas is to create a bucket list of your reading goals. Your list can include classic literature, modern fiction, and even non-fiction works. 

For example, you might be a huge fan of the Harry Potter movies but have never actually read the books. Adding the seven JK Rowling books to your bucket list could be a way to work through them. 

A bucket list is something that you can work on over a long period of time. The accompanying journal should be a roadmap of this list. Decide where to start and chart your progress in reading books that you’ve always wanted to get to. 

Bucket list book journal ideas 

• Though many bucket lists are deliberately open-ended, it helps to set some targets. Consider how many books you can get to in a year and list them throughout your journal before taking notes as you read. 
• It’s sometimes helpful to think about what you want to learn from books before compiling a reading list. For instance, if you want to learn about running a business, you could use this as a loose theme for your bucket list. It will then be easier to populate your journal. 

Read all of your favourite author’s works 

If you simply can’t get enough of your favourite author, consider reading and journaling about their entire back collection. Whether fiction or non-fiction, this can be an awesome way to engage with literature that you love. 

By reading all of an author’s works, you can become a de facto expert on their literature. As such, your journal could be the starting point for a literary blog or website, which you could launch to help other readers. 

If you’re reading the fiction of a legendary author like Michael Connelly or John Grisham, we recommend working in chronological order. This will help with character development and analysis in your journal. 

Favourite author book journal ideas 

• Use a resource like GoodReads to help you track all of your favourite author’s work in chronological order. You can even post your reviews as and when you write them to the site. 
• It can be a good idea to pull some of your favourite quotes from an author’s work, particularly if you’re reading their entire collection. Get into the habit of jotting memorable quotes down in your diary as and when you read them. 

Write book reviews 

While the purpose of reviews is for other people to learn about something, book reviews can be personal. Or at least they can start as personal reviews.

If you read a meaningful book like The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo, there’s a lot to unpack. You can engage with the content in your journal by listing some of the lessons, including the importance of destiny, rising above failure, and the unity of the universe. 

Consider these themes and how they relate to you as you write your review. You can then formally write a book review that you may wish to publish online to share with the world. 

Reviewing book journal ideas​

• Create a structure for your book reviews to cover the key points. Unsure about what to include? Ask Arvin AI to create a succinct book review structure that you can follow for every book that you read and review in your journal. 
• Don’t worry about getting too technical with your book reviews – you’re not in English class! You can even list the main lessons, themes, or learnings you want to take away, rather than writing paragraphs. 

Collect inspiring quotes 

Yes, it’s easy to search for inspiring quotes on the Internet, but there’s something magical about discovering motivational quotes when you read books for yourself. 

You might even stumble upon a gem that few other people have come across, which you can then use to motivate yourself in daily life. 

As you keep up with your journal, highlight the inspiring quotes you encounter in a special colour. This will make them easier to track. You can then pull them together in a journal exclusively for inspirational quotes that you’ve come across in your reading. Pretty cool! 

Inspiring quotes book journal ideas​

• If you’re not sure about which books to read for inspirational quotes, use our AI Chat Search Function to help you. It can direct you to some of the best authors to read for inspirational content, which is a great starting point for your book journaling ideas. 
• Once you’ve compiled motivational quotes in your diary, take things one step further and create artwork based on the quote. Our AI Image Generator is a brilliant tool to begin with. You can then hang your artwork on the wall of your study to motivate yourself throughout the workday.

Set daily, weekly, or monthly reading goals 

We’ve touched on this already, but goal setting is key when thinking about book journaling ideas. Along with the long-term goals we mentioned at the start of this article, it’s effective to break your goals down into micro objectives. 

So, set yourself daily or weekly targets that you know you can achieve. This could refer to the pages that you read each day or the content you add to your journal. 

When journaling, consistency is crucial. You don’t have to fill your reading journal in every day, but you do need to visit it at regular intervals to stay on track. 

Goal setting & book journal ideas 

• Structure your journal in advance with sections that clearly identify your daily, weekly, and monthly goals. 
• Add check marks to every goal that you achieve. Ticking off your goals helps with motivation and is an excellent way to meet your reading targets while journaling.

Book journal ideas for beginners: How to create the perfect book journal

As we bring our book journal ideas​ blog post to a close, we want to leave you with some tips for creating the perfect journal, no matter which idea you try: 

⭐️Buy a beautiful, high-quality journal. Look for a book with premium paper and a stylish design. Though it costs more than a cheap book, the investment will be worth it when you reflect on your journal. 

⭐️Buy a high-quality pen to make your notes. Invest in a fountain pen and ink to connect with the content you’re writing. Take your time when writing and express your words fully on the page. 

⭐️Add color to your journal. Life isn’t black and white, particularly when you’re reading literature. As you journal, you may even come up with a color scheme that makes it easy to track specific things within your notes. 

⭐️Invest in tabs and markers to easily find where you are. Colored Post-it notes are handy and can help you find your place. They can also bring ideas to life and remind you about important quotes or lessons from a book.

Recap – book journal ideas to try this year 

Getting started with one of these book journal ideas is a brilliant way to engage with literature. You can set daily, weekly, and monthly reading targets and track your progress as you go. 

Each of the seven book journal ideas​ we’ve shared is available to anyone. We recommend trying one first before diving into several at the same time. This will help you with consistency and will stop you from getting confused. 

If you need help with journaling and plan on a digital journal, our Writing Improver Tool can help you. This can take a lot of the stress out of journaling and will help you if you decide to publish your content on your blog or on a personal website for others to read.

Book journaling FAQ