I meet with some guys a couple of times a month to hang out and talk about life. Last week, we discussed our different practices for journaling. One of the guys has journaled for most of his life. Another uses social media as his journaling medium. I tend to journal by hand about once a month. I used to journal much more frequently.
On the way home, I was thinking about my journaling practice and realized that I’ve shifted a lot of my journaling to books. I use physical books as my journals. I write in the front, in the margins, at the end of chapters, and in the back. On a second reading, I’ll use a different color pen so I know what stuck during each of the readings. When I flip through books on my shelves, I can see the questions I asked the author, the ideas I encountered for the first time, things that made me angry, and pages that have changed my life.
But it’s not just what I write in my books that turns them into journals. It’s also what I put into those books. I try to add keepsakes and bookmarks between the pages. I like the idea of being surprised by these things when my future self takes books off my shelf.
I wanted to share some of the things I place in books in the hope that you also pick up this peculiar habit of treating your books as journals:
Plane Tickets
I love adding plane and train tickets to my books that correspond to travel I took while reading the book. I can usually visualize reading that book on that particular trip.
Stuff Your Kids Make
My books are filled with bookmarks, notes, and stickers that my daughters have given me while reading the books. Those are an absolute delight to discover later on.
Notes from the Author
This particular book is my hinge book, the book my entire library hinges upon. I read it when I was 18 and emailed the author a few years later. I printed his reply and keep it in the back of the book. It also includes the email I wrote to him describing what the book had meant in my life.
Photos
Printed photos are rare these days. This is a photo of my grandparents that I keep in one of my Bibles. I know it’s there when I look at that Bible and I love opening it up and seeing them.
Inscriptions
If someone gifts you a book, have them write a note in the front. I cherish these inscriptions.
Concert Tickets
My books are littered with concert tickets. Sometimes they are relevant to the content of the book and other times they are concerts I attended while reading the book.
Stickers
I had a little fun with this one adding a Parental Advisory sticker to The Song of Solomon.
Writing in your Books
In the front cover of each book, I write where and when I purchased it and when I read it. A few years ago, I recorded a podcast episode with more details about my note taking practices in books:
On Taking Notes in Books
In this episode, Erik Rostad shares how he takes notes in books and how it has helped him to remember what he reads.
One of my favorite things is to discover other people’s keepsakes in second-hand bookstores. It’s such a wonderful surprise when you open a book and a newspaper clipping, note, or bookmark pops out from decades ago. What do you add to your books that turn them into journals?