Hello and here is a bit of a Journal of sorts for the 24 hour readathon I decided to do this week! I am actually thrilled with how this went, I read a ton more than I thought I would. In the past few months I have not really been reading, not quite sure why, but that is how my reading has been going. But, this week I feel like something is actually changing and I am hoping my reading mood has actually returned.
Holding knitting project and an open book.
10:00 PM: Started reading The Employees by Olga Ravn
11:12 PM: Competed The Employees by Olga Ravn, 136 pages ,4 stars!
11:14 PM: Started reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
11:57 PM: Read a total of 68 pages of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Time for some sleep!
9:16 AM: Continued reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
12:32PM: Stopped on page 262 of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, 194 pages read.
Lunch Break and Responsibilities
4:38 PM: Continued reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
5:21 PM: Stopped on page 326, of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, 64 pages read.
Dinner Break
6:13 PM: Continued reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
9:46 PM: Finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, 281 pages, 4 stars!
Hello and welcome to another post where I share a peak into my bullet journal. I have not posted about it last month, but that is because I wanted to try to share a completed month as well as a clean slate for the month ahead. If you wanted to see how I set up my bullet journal for the year, you can find that in my post called, Bullet Journal | 2021 Reading Bujo Set Up I hope that makes sense, I just think it would be great for you to see how my spreads function when they are all filled out as well. Anyway, onto the bullet journal!
Tombow Brush Tip Markers in the colors 879, 942, 312
Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller – Permanent
Last Month– February 2021
I decided to make a dahsboard for the month on the left-hand side, I used my stamps to write out the month and year. On the right hand side I decided to put a reading tracker so I can track how much I read each day and as you may be able to tell. I am using 3 different colors because I am also tracking the books I read with the same color so I can see how long I have been reading a single book. I will be honest, I messed up on the tracking of this in February and I am debating adding a few new colors to make it a bit easier. I will update this if I decide to do so.
On the left-hand side I have my TBR for the month listed and on the right I have a list of all the books I hauled this past month. I wanted to really track the books leaving my shelves and coming onto my shelves, but also as you might be able to see in the picture. I crossed off a hauled book. I also wanted to try to read some of the books I added to my shelves this past month. So, I hauled 5, but I read 1. So it was only as net gain of 4 books onto my TBR.
I made a graphic for a buddy read I did this past month. I think for my next buddy read I am going to continue doing this, but I want to also use this blank page, so I might add quotes or thoughts to it.
This is my bujo spread for the #24in48 readathon. I did end up reading 24 hours, but I did not update the spread before taking this picture. i color coded each book so I can see which hours I read which book, tracked my total hours at the bottom. Tracked my TBR and my page stats and percentage as I read.
Here is a little peak into my completed reading journal section of my bullet journal. I glue down a picture of the book cover, I add the dates read, this happened to be my #24in28 books so I read them in a single day, then I add the star rating and then a mini review. This really helps me write reviews for my blog.
This Month – March 2021
In March, I really decided that I liked how clean the dashboard and tracking my reading. I used my alphabet stamps to add the month and year. There is quite a different look when this tracker is empty from when it is full. I am going to be adding 2 more colors, but I am not sure what those colors are going to be at this time.
Once again I have my TBR on the left and my book haul on the right. I had preordered a few books so I was able to add a few books already. I am just hoping I can read enough of these books this month to even out the haul.
This month I am buddy reading The Color of Law with Jenna. I added the reading schedule for us as a graphic and glued it into my bullet journal. I am planning on adding some notes to the page opposite, but I feel like I am going to also be annotating the book.
So, the first half of may has been a reading mess. I only read 22 pages on May first and it is now May 10th and another page has not been read. Then I came across an old video of Ariel Bissett’s called “i tried reading before every day for a week’ and I was inspired to give it a go and maybe jumpstart my reading again.
The Video
Reading Journal May 10th-May 16th, 2020
5/10: 25 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5/11: 344 pages of Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
5/12: 41 pages of Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
5/13: 30 pages of Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
5/14: 20 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5/15: 15 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5/16: 22 pages of mystery book
Reflection
So, there are a few things I noticed throughout this process. First, I got back into the habit of reading and enjoying it. The main point of this was to help with me get back into reading. Like I said in the intro, this challenge came into being because I went a long time without reading that was not the cause of a slump. Well, I am happy to report I am reading constantly again. Plus, I wasn’t even feeling forced or pushed into reading, which I was a bit worried about if I am honest.
The second thing I noticed is I found I wanted to read at other points of the day as the challenge continued. At the start I didn’t have the urge to read throughout the day. But, since I was getting back into the habit and as I got closer to the end of this challenge, I would want to read in the afternoon and had to hold off. I feel like scheduling time to read or restricting when I can read, doesn’t fully work for me. Apparently my mood reading isn’t just restricted to what I want to read.
I think I am going to continue to make reading part of my nighttime routine. I enjoyed how relaxing and calming it was. Overall, I really had fun giving this a go. I love reading challenges and I would like to do more in the future. But, I think this one will have a bit of a lasting impression on me. I just need to make sure my nighttime reading is away from a screen and not read too late into the night.