I keep one. Usually I use a small piece of paper to mark a page where the passage is located and then record the passage when I get home to my reading journal. I love to go back through it and read the interesting quotes.

looseleaf would be good, as you could have the sheet folded up as a bookmark, write when or wherever, and then add it when finished.
Or, conversely, a card file-use the 3x5 or 4x6 card as a bookmark, record when applicable, then pop it in the box when done.

I've made a summary and brief review of most of the books I read for many years now. Mainly because I've got such a bad memory that I can't remember them at all after a few months! And I list them by year - most of them. I do this not just to be tidy or organised, however - it helps me in my work - saves me time.

I also keep a separate book for quotes from everywhere - poetry, prose and what people say - 'bits for keeping' I call it. This is a large, hard-back book which is already sectioned, alphabetically. This book is much tidier than the other. I love looking back over it very occasionally (every entry is dated) because, of course, I forget what I kept over the years. Every so often, though, I wonder 'What in the world made me want to keep that!'

Dido

Like Dido, I keep a reading journal where I record the title, author, brief review and month of completion for each book I read. I started in 1991, so it's not a life-long record and it's also not as long as you might imagine, since I only average 10-15 books a year. (I never stop being amazed at the number of books most of you read. I'm a pronounce-every-word-in-my-head type of reader.) The journal is electronic, so I organize it alphabetically by title.

I have not, to date, kept a journal of quotes, comments, oddities - but I like the idea. In place of that, I freely write in the books I own. I underline unfamiliar words and write their definitions in the margin. I also mark passages and write my reactions and comments. If I need more space than margins provide, I use the blank pages at the end of the book, with a corresponding "see" reference in the appropriate margin. When reading for my book club, I use those back pages to keep a running list of page numbers I might want to refer back to during discussion. (Oh my, this sounds so anal when I see it written down!)

I know that some of you would call this defacing a book. I don't look at it that way. I've had borrowers tell me they found the marginalia quite interesting and the word definitions helpful. -- Kathy T

I have done this for many years tho I read many more books than I can really keep adequate notes on. I too have a faulty memory--I'm amazed at exactly *how* faulty. It was a habit I developed in college in the 60s and just transferred to my personal reading after graduation.

For years, I used index cards as in college, organized by subject--actually a helpful method. Then I moved on to spiral-bound notebooks, of which there are many. Then the glorious move to the computer where I can write so much faster.

I read with a stack of post-its and stick them in at things I want to note. When I'm done with a book, I sit at the computer and make my notes by page number. Yes, I back up and print a hard copy. Those copies get filed by subject matter.

Why am I doing this? I don't know! The sheer love of knowing, I guess, as most of my reading is non-fiction.

I keep a nightly journal. If I've seen a remarkable film or read a moving book, these always get entered and described.

Apart from this, ever since college days, I've been keeping a "Commonplace" book, in which I have entered favorite quotes from books and films. In recent years, these quotes have morphed on to 3 x 5 cards.

I've been know to underline passages in favorite books and to write in the margins, as well....

I admire you who keep reading journals. I have about a dozen or so, none with more than a few books. I begin with a book that stirs me and usually end it when I get into something a lot of fun that doesn't require much thought. Of course, if I slowed down enough to think more about them, a lot of books would be richer, I'm sure. Imagine my delight that one of my reading groups, at my suggestion (I showed up at the first meeting with it,) keeps a complete reading journal. We pass it around each meeting for everyone to make comments and a couple of people consistently include quotes they liked. I'm just lousy at keeping one for myself.

I, too, indulge in marginalia and am sometimes amazed when rediscovering notes made long ago in another lifetime.

I have kept a book of quotations and poetry for many years. It is a chronological listing, mostly short quotes, and very mixed. Nowadays, I keep it on the computer and print off when a page is filled. It is interesting to see what seemed important at the time of reading.

I need to keep some type of reading journal as I, too, am always finding words, passages or quotes I mean to write down. I know a daily journal would never work. I've started several and never kept them up.

AN INTRODUCTION TO MY NOTEBOOKS

Because notebooks are so essential to many a writer and social analyst, especially those who write,I have summarized my experience below:
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In his work from day to day Leonard da Vinci concentrated on one thing at a time and, while he concentrated on that one thing, that thing was the most important in the world. Not much got done in the short term because da Vinci seemed interested in everything but, over a lifetime, da Vinci accomplished many great things, albeit unfinished. After his death Leonard da VinciÂs Notebooks were hidden away, scattered or lost. His wonderful ideas were forgotten; his inventions were not tested and built for hundreds of years. It was largely due to his wide interests that the things he started were never finished. These casual, passing, fleeting, but intense, interests can be found described, outlined, in those Notebooks. These Notebooks record his observations, his sketches, his notes. They are all scattered through 28 Notebooks in over 5000 pages from 1490 to 1519. The Notebooks are a fascinating mixture of philosophy, scientific enquiry and art with, arguably, four major topics: painting, architecture, mechanics and anatomy made when he was 37 to 67.-Ron Price with thanks to ABC TV, "Leonardo da Vinci," 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., October 31st, 2004.
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Some may see it a little presumptuous to compare my Notebooks to those of one of the greatest geniuses of history. But, as Bahiyyih Nakhjavani writes in her article Artist, Seeker and Seer, our greatness "rests not in ourselves as much as in our ability and desire to circle around the great."1 ÂContrast is a better word than Âcompare because my Notebooks are so very different than da VinciÂs. I wonÂt ennumerate all the differences; perhaps the main difference is a visual bias in his work and a print bias in mine. Mine were collected some 500 years after da VinciÂs. Perhaps the first Notebook I created was in 1949 in kindergarten and from that year until 1962 I created many a school Notebook. None of these notes now exist except two essays from English class in 1961-2 and now located in my Journal Volume 1.1. I have some other notes going back to the early to mid sixties, to the start of my early adult life in 1961-2, newspaper columns by Richard Needham of the Toronto Globe and Mail, and the 1970s, mostly:

(a) photocopies of material given to me by students at Box Hill Tafe, (b) from BahaÂi books which I keep in my Notebook:"Notes/Quotes file B," (c) from a sociology of art course I taught in 1974 and (d) from media studies courses I taught in Ballarat in 1976-7. But the vast bulk of my notes comes from the period 1982 to 2004. Many notes and Notebooks from 1982 to 2002 were given to the BahaÂi Council of the Northern Territory as part of the History of the BahaÂi Faith in that territory.

What exists now in my...

I've been maintaining a blog that is basically a reading journal for some time now. It's not a real blog because there's not exchange of comments on it. It consists only of my comments on various books I've read. The link for it is in my Profile.

It originated from an earlier list that I kept on my computer--mainly so I wouldn't find I'd requested a library book (on tape) that I'd already read. Before that, I kept a list of all of my library books in a little notebook but without comments.

I don't keep an actual journal, but I do keep a list of what I've read and whether it's a new book or a reread. I also note if I think it's not worth reading again. I find htis comes in handy when I can remember the title but not the author or vice versa and am trying to find other titles by that same author.

When I left my department at the library, the staff gave me the BEST journal. I think my boss found it at a great old book store called Vroman's in Pasadena, CA. I found a newer version online (by the same creator) and think I will buy it since I am about halfway through my current one. Try the link below and type in 'reader's' in the search bar. It's great, it has room for 'Best Part,' 'Worst Part,' 'Review,' plus title, author, publisher, etc. Just enough to jog your memory when looking back on what you've read. I LOVE mine!

Here is a link that might be useful: Reader's Journal

I constantly tell myself I am going to start keeping a journal and I constantly fail to maintain it for very long. I love to read the bits that I do have.

Barly

Barley, are you the same "barly" who used to post here a few years ago? (before all the changes).

Probably, I've been appearing and dissappearing (sp?) here for years. I'd like to say I'm back for good but I'm a bit flighty. Heheh.

Barly