Every year, I put together a bullet journal to use and fill out during the year. I track the books I read, the stats of my reading, my writing and reading goals, and my monthly TBR. I love creating it and using it every year.
The first page of my bullet journal is a notes page, where I can write down anything I need to remember for next year's bullet journal. This includes things like changes I might want to make to pages or the order of pages as well as new releases I want to put in next year's journal.
I like to have a calendar page at the start of my bullet journal to show big picture events that are happening throughout the year.
Then I have my book log. I write down the title, author, how many stars I rated it, the date I finished reading it, and the number of pages in the book. I leave plenty of empty pages, though this last year I didn't fill them all up. I'd rather have a few extras than run out of room.
Right after my book log, I have my stats page. I love keeping track of all the stats, just for fun. I use tally marks to keep track as I track books, though a few of the stats I count up at the end of the month.
After my stats page is a place for me to write the number (which is easier to see than the tally marks). I fill this out at the end of each month.
Another stats page I have is a place to color in how many books I've read that year. My minimum goal is 180, but I often read more than that, so I include more squares than I think I'll need, just in case.
Each year, I go through my Goodreads TBR (which has more than a thousand books on it) and try to find 33 books to prioritize that year. I always try to include a variety of genres and include YA, middle grade, and adult books. I choose 33 because that's 3 books a month (which is a very reasonable number for me) other than December (during which I usually read less and like to be done with my reading goals if I can be).
My Classics TBR includes classics that I want to read in general, not just during that year.
My Reread list, like with classics, includes books that I want to reread in general. Then, I pick one book a month to reread (though with read alouds to my kids and occasional mood reading, it often ends up being more than one a month).
I love keeping track of series that I am in the middle of. I've broken up the series into four different categories: series I am actively reading, series I've started but am not sure I want to continue (though am also not ready to DNF), series I've started that have unwritten books that haven't come out yet, and series I haven't started yet but want to.
On my New Releases page, I like to write down the book (sometimes with a prompt to help me remember what the book is) and when it comes out. I color code the month it comes out so I can tell at a glance when it does. I also include books that were released in the year previous (so this year, in 2024).
I like to have a list of books I think would be fun to read aloud with my kids. We do a lot of read alouds, between homeschool, reading at night, and listening to audiobooks together. At the top of the list, I pick one a month that I want to prioritize (I usually actually read 9-10 of the books I pick out with the kids that year).
This page is for authors that I want to read more books by. When I read a book by that author, I color in a square under their name. If I read enough books by an author and love them, I eventually move that author to my Read All page (down below).
This is my page to keep track of authors who I want to read all their books, as well as the books they've written. The books that are colored in already are the ones I've read before the year starts. Many of the authors are ones that I am just working on over the next few years, but I usually pick one or two that I try to finish off their books that year.
Then I have my Author Collection page--the authors that I have read all their books. If I reread a book by them, I put a dot on the outside of their star. If I read a new release by them, I put a line across their star.
I've been working on reading all of Agatha Christie's books for many years and really loving it. I like to choose one book a month to read by her and I look forward to it so much that I will probably continue rereading a book by her each month even after finishing reading all her books (using The Christie Challenge). I also like to have a page for some of my favorite readathons--including Middle Grade March.
This is my own reading challenge this year--to reread all the Little House on the Prairie books. I read all of them when I was a child, but I don't remember them very well. I've only reread a few as an adult and I'm looking forward to experiencing them all again.
Jane Austen July is another readathon I really enjoy. I've also left some blank pages in this area in case I come across another readathon or reading challenge I'd like to participate in.
There are two readathons in September that I love--30 Books in 30 Days and Series September!
I also have always tried to participate in Nonfiction November, though I usually struggle to fit in very many nonfiction books here because I'm so busy trying to finish off my other reading goals. Though it's not really following the challenge, I decided to use this page to track my nonfiction reading in general this year and choose one book a month that is nonfiction to focus on.
The next few pages are lists of nonfiction books that sound interesting to me and that I'd like to someday get to.
Then I have a cover page to divide my book lists from my section for buying and borrowing books.
This section starts with my library books catalogue. When I borrow the book, I write down the book title, the format, and when it is due. Then I can mark it off if I end up reading it.
Then I have my bookshelves of books that I want to buy. Since taking these pictures, I've since added book titles that I want to buy to many of these books. I organize them by author last name.
The final page is for books that I buy that weren't on my list of books I want to buy and then a section to keep track of my spending on books. The top section is for how much I have budgeted for books and the bottom section is how much I actually spent.
This page is for writing down the book titles of books I've bought each month.
This page for writing down book titles of children's books I've bought.
This first page is for writing down books I get rid of from my home library. The second page is where I keep track of books I gift to other people (I like to try to give someone a book each month).
Then I have a page for stats around buying and borrowing books. I like my stats XD
The second page here is my cover page for my movies section.
This page is for movies we watch as a family that aren't Disney movies.
This is my page for keeping track of Disney movies we watch as a family throughout the year. When we watch one, I color the title in with the month's corresponding color.
This page is for the holidays--Halloween movies and then Christmas movies!
This page is for movies that Ben and I watch together. We don't watch a lot of movies (we tend toward TV shows or pickleball matches on YouTube, so we can get to bed at a decent time), but every once in a while, we enjoy a movie together.
The second page is the cover page for my writing section.
My writing section starts with tracking for nonfiction writing projects, blog post (my bookish blog and my personal blog) stats, and tracking writing group meetups. The second page is a monthly tracker of YouTube and my blog.
This page is for tracking my novel writing--on the first page, I keep track of weekly words written and the second page I can keep track of where I am in the writing process, monthly word count, and percentages of how far I am in the project.
This first page is a new one this year, a place for me to keep track of novels I've finished writing. The second page is a place for me to write down inspirational quotes related to writing.
This is a place for me to write down some of my favorite quotes from books I read during the year.
And this page is my stats page for social media and writing. I will take any excuse to make a stats page.
Then I have some pages to note my favorite books of the year. The first page here is where I write down my top three favorite reads of each month. I fill this out as I finish off each reading month. The second page is one I fill out at the end, where I pick my top ten books of the year.
The first page here is just for fun and I'm not sure I'll keep it in future bullet journals, but it's a bracket to help me narrow down my favorite book of the year.
The second page is a cover page for the final section in my bullet journal that I'll show down below.
I have four pages for each month in this section. The first page is a place to write down goals, things I want to get done, and look at events that are happening that month (like birthdays, traveling, etc).
The second page is a calendar. The sides are where I can write down ideas of blog post and Instagram post ideas. As I actually create posts for either, I mark them on the calendar. The small section each day is for tracking Instagram posts and the larger square is for blog posts. I love being able to see at a glance how active I've been on Instagram and my blog.
The first page here is for tracking my TBR. I pick 10 books that I want to prioritize and then I have the five below that where I can put other books I might like to get to. I use my book lists to decide which books to read.
The second page is where I write down all the books I own (in the three different formats) that I haven't read yet. I try to keep my lists down to this number, but often I don't manage it (especially with eBooks, which I love buying on sale). I also try to read all the books I own in January by the end of the year (though last year I didn't quite manage it).
These pages repeat through each month of the year through December to finish off my bullet journal.
I love my bookish bullet journal! It is so fun for me to create the pages each year and I love using it to track things and fill it out all year long.
Do you have a bullet journal? How do you track your reading and other bookish hobbies? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below!
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