0:09 hi everyone welcome back I'm so excited
0:11 for this video because in this video
0:13 we're going to be talking about books
0:15 we're going to be talking about reading
0:19 journaling fountain pens and other fun
0:22 reading accessories if you like any of
0:24 those things then you are my person
0:26 anyways um this is my reading journal
0:29 and I have been obsessed with this thing
0:32 for the past month or so and this is the
0:34 first time that I've actually got in a
0:36 reading journal to work for me and my
0:38 brain and the way I read I'm going to
0:40 move all of this out of the way and we
0:42 will talk about this later so the
0:43 notebook that I'm using for my reading
0:47 Journal is the salad G notebook
0:52 um I think this is the A5 size and it's
0:54 just their standard notebook it's not
0:58 their 365 day planner thing it's just a
1:00 DOT grid notebook I do have mixed
1:04 feelings about stalagy notebooks I am
1:05 enjoying this
1:07 as my reading Journal I I didn't want
1:09 anything that was like super high
1:12 quality paper or anything
1:13 um I feel like this is like a mid-tier
1:17 notebook and it's great for a specific
1:20 journaling prompts like this but if
1:21 you're looking for something that is
1:23 like top tier quality this might not be
1:25 the best notebook for you it is a rather
1:29 thin paper so there is a little bit of a
1:31 ghosting or shadowing like this so you
1:33 can see the writing on the other side of
1:35 the page I honestly really don't mind
1:36 that and I think it adds a lot of
1:39 character to the pages there is
1:42 unfortunately a little bit of bleeding
1:44 sometimes I don't know if you can see
1:46 like just like little Bluffs like this
1:49 will sometimes bleed through it's not a
1:51 big issue to the point where I wouldn't
1:53 recommend this notebook but just like
1:55 something to keep in mind
1:58 um my biggest gripe with this notebook
2:00 though is that the dots are extremely
2:02 light like I don't know if you can see
2:05 it's a very very light gray during the
2:08 daytime it's totally fine but honestly
2:10 like I do a lot of my reading right
2:12 before bed because that's the only time
2:15 I have to read so it gets a little bit
2:18 difficult especially because I have very
2:21 poor eyesight even with glasses
2:23 um it's very straining for me to see the
2:25 dots so that is an issue that I realize
2:28 with stalagy notebooks other than that I
2:30 again am really enjoying this notebook
2:33 and in fact I think after I finish this
2:35 one hopefully
2:37 um I will continue using Stella G
2:39 notebooks as my reading journal for some
2:41 reason like it just works really well
2:43 for me so yeah that is all about the
2:45 notebook as you can see see I've also
2:47 decorated the cover with a bunch of
2:51 emoji vinyls there are two spots left
2:52 not too sure what I want to put there
2:55 but I'm sure I will come up with
2:58 something so there's that
3:00 um I haven't done anything on the inner
3:03 cover pages but maybe I should you will see
3:05 see
3:08 um here I put down this like line of
3:11 flaw stickers from uh to a little piece
3:14 I thought it was just a nice way to
3:17 start off the notebook I guess and then
3:19 this is the first page I just put down a
3:21 reading emoji and I am using this like
3:24 wacky bubble lettering font and this is
3:28 like a constant throughout the journal
3:30 um and this is where I am just keeping
3:32 track of books that I've
3:34 finished and
3:36 um giving a rating for them so I have a
3:38 column for the title as well as the star
3:41 rating and I'm just very simply drawing
3:43 in little stars and the ones that I
3:45 haven't filled in I'm still currently
3:48 reading so I don't have a rating for
3:50 them yet so that is basically it for the
3:53 first page nothing too exciting and then
3:56 we're diving into the actual reading
3:58 Journal portion so I'm really sorry if
4:02 this is going to be a letdown but my
4:05 system of journaling really is extremely
4:08 simple and this video could be explained
4:10 in honestly like a minute but basically
4:13 whenever I start a new book I just take
4:18 my ruler as well as a pencil and I draw
4:22 a margin on the first page the only fun
4:24 thing that I really have is this rating
4:27 sticker from my shop it's a rectangular
4:30 sticker with a blank book as well as an
4:32 emoji and five empty Stars I just very
4:35 simply doodle the cover and then in the
4:39 Shaded area I typically write the title
4:41 of the book as well as a number of pages
4:43 and then when I'm done with the book I
4:46 will fill in these stars and typically I
4:48 just like shade in the number of stars
4:50 that I would give the book but the
4:52 reason why the last one's black is
4:54 because I initially gave it five stars
4:57 and then I changed my mind to four stars
4:59 so I just removed one of the Stars by
5:04 blacking it out in the margins I
5:06 um write down just like any I guess
5:09 preliminary information so dead wake by
5:12 Eric Larson was the February book club
5:14 at my local library so I just wrote that
5:16 it was for the February book club and
5:19 for all of the books I write down when I
5:20 started the book and when I finished the
5:23 book and following that I make a section
5:27 for preliminary information and I found
5:30 this to be a absolute game changer for
5:33 me and my brain so I find that um
5:35 especially with
5:37 like just personally
5:42 it takes me a long time to actually get
5:44 involved in the book like for example I
5:47 have a hard time associating a
5:49 character's name with their role in the
5:51 book and it just gets very hard to
5:54 follow also like setting wise like I
5:56 have a hard time remembering the time
5:59 period a book is in like especially if
6:01 it's a historical book so things like
6:04 this I find that especially when I read
6:07 the first few chapters I write down all
6:10 of the key facts from the story it could
6:12 be like real facts especially if it's a
6:14 non-fiction book or if it's a fiction
6:16 book the facts are like who their
6:19 characters are where the setting is ETC
6:21 and I find that by writing down the
6:22 preliminary information
6:27 a I retain these facts
6:30 um a lot better and it lets me get into
6:32 the book a lot quicker and actually
6:36 remember these information and to
6:38 um if I just happen to
6:40 forget who a certain character is I can
6:43 quickly refer to the preliminary
6:45 information and I'm less likely to just
6:48 like move on without fully understanding
6:50 the context I really hope this made
6:52 sense but yeah um this like preliminary
6:55 information section has been I think the
6:57 biggest Game Changer in terms of reading
6:59 in the past few months if you also have
7:01 trouble getting to stories and following
7:03 a story especially in the beginning I
7:06 really recommend trying this out okay so
7:07 that is the sidebar that I start off
7:10 every single book with and then moving on
7:12 on
7:15 um the rest is honestly just like a
7:17 continuous stream I don't have dedicated
7:19 sections for vocab I don't have
7:21 dedicated sections for you know
7:25 character development or research or
7:28 anything like that I just write it all
7:30 down one after the other in terms of for
7:34 example new vocabulary I write them down
7:37 just because I think it's cool and maybe
7:40 if it's like a good enough word then I
7:42 will remember it in the future and
7:45 integrate it into my own vocabulary but
7:48 it's very unlikely for me from past
7:51 experience to have you know this entire
7:54 list of new vocab that I encounter in my
7:56 readings and then do like flash cards
7:58 and try to memorize them and I found
8:00 that just like having an entire
8:02 dedicated section to vocab was
8:05 completely unnecessary and it was just a
8:07 little bit too much structure for me if
8:10 that makes any sense so these days when
8:13 I encounter a new vocab word I will
8:16 search it up and if it's a word that I
8:18 find really cool and I want to maybe
8:20 refer back to in the future I will just
8:24 like write it down but I'm not like
8:26 pressuring myself to memorize these
8:28 words if I feel like I need a little bit
8:30 more context I will also do a little bit
8:33 of searching on the internet for example
8:36 um I am very familiar with World War II
8:39 but not so much with World War One so I
8:42 was just like making a little mind map I
8:44 guess of like who the Allies were and
8:45 who the Central Powers were just so that
8:47 I got a little bit more historical
8:49 context while reading this book I will
8:51 also write down my immediate thoughts
8:53 while reading the book like for example
8:56 I read something jarring over here and
8:59 then also uh quotations definitely I
9:01 write it down as well so yeah
9:04 essentially there is no organization my
9:07 vocab my research my
9:10 um thoughts my quotations that I want to
9:13 keep it's all on this one page and for
9:16 someone who loves organization this is
9:18 honestly a little bit
9:21 um shocking to my system but
9:24 realistic I realize that realistically
9:27 I'm likely never going to come back and
9:29 fully read these Pages
9:31 um it's more so something that I'm doing
9:33 for myself now maybe in the future I
9:35 will leave through my reading journals
9:37 but I'm not really going to be like
9:40 studying what I wrote so I feel like
9:43 it's just very unnecessary for me
9:45 personally to have a very systematic and
9:48 organized entry
9:50 um so yeah this just like continued on
9:53 and sometimes I will make little Doodles
9:55 I would add Washi tapes but it's not
9:57 something that I always do it's just
9:58 whenever I feel like it
10:01 um the story behind this is I was um
10:04 reading right after showering and just a
10:07 giant droplet of water fell for my hair
10:10 onto here so there's that
10:12 so I finished
10:14 um dead wake and then I read
10:16 Frankenstein afterwards this wasn't part
10:18 of a book club it was just a personal
10:21 read so I just started off with writing
10:23 down the start and finish date and again
10:25 the preliminary information here I was
10:28 making a little map of the character
10:30 relationships because I was having a
10:33 hard time following and so that's just
10:35 for me to reference I really enjoyed
10:37 reading Frankenstein and as you can see
10:41 I had a lot of thoughts about it also
10:43 like if I make an error or something I
10:51 currently I'm reading Lust For Life so
10:55 this is pretty empty and I left two
10:56 pages here
10:58 um because I have a lot of thoughts
11:00 about this book even though I'm only
11:03 like two chapters in so I feel like I
11:05 need a lot more space and if I end up
11:08 needing more space then
11:10 these two blank pages then I can just like
11:11 like
11:14 um tip in an extra page not a problem a
11:16 book that I'm currently reading also is
11:19 people we meet on vacation this is the
11:20 book that I have here
11:23 um I have I think about 60 pages left
11:27 and this is a book for our March book
11:30 club and honestly I am not enjoying this
11:32 book very much but I'm sticking with it
11:34 because I definitely want to contribute
11:37 to the book club conversation but yeah
11:39 um I think this little space is enough
11:42 for me to finish off my thoughts
11:44 um I also read chess story which is a
11:47 very short Novella this was an excellent
11:49 read and I finished it within a day so
11:51 yeah there wasn't much preliminary
11:54 information that I needed because it was
11:56 just such a short book and it was really
11:58 easy to get into
12:01 and that is basically it again I started
12:03 this reading Journal Maybe
12:05 three weeks ago or four weeks ago so
12:08 it's not a lot
12:09 um but I definitely see myself
12:12 continuing because it has honestly been
12:15 really great for my mental health to be
12:17 honest like it's something that I look
12:20 forward to filling out but something
12:23 else we're not done
12:26 um I also
12:29 do some journaling from the back so this
12:31 is a little like tip that I have for you
12:33 I guess
12:35 um if you have like two distinct
12:38 sections and you're not sure like how
12:40 much space you need
12:43 my tip is to start from the front and
12:46 the back so the back has all of my like
12:49 fun trackers and stuff
12:52 um also I started off with the
12:56 January subscription Washi and the bonus
12:58 vinyl which I thought was so cute but anyways
12:59 anyways
13:01 um to start from the back of a section
13:04 for books that I want to read and very
13:06 simply I just write down the title as
13:08 well as the author and then the general
13:11 genre so fiction mystery Classics
13:13 non-fiction history
13:15 Etc I haven't copied down my entire
13:17 books to read list because this is a
13:18 rather recent addition to my book
13:21 journal but um I have a feeling it'll be
13:24 very long so I'm leaving two more blank
13:28 pages just for my books to read list so
13:30 there's that another spread that I'm
13:34 doing are memorable things and these are
13:37 quotations from books that I I just
13:42 absolutely adore and even though I wrote
13:43 them down
13:48 in my actual book journaling Pages
13:50 um obviously it gets kind of lost amidst
13:52 all of my other thoughts and readings
13:54 and so if it's something that really
13:57 really speaks to me and I want to look
13:59 at it over and over again and remember
14:01 in the future then this is where I plan
14:03 to put it and I'm being very selective
14:06 about the quotations that I put down so
14:09 far I just have this one quotation from
14:12 Frankenstein which I I just absolutely
14:16 love so you can pause and read that so
14:18 that is all I have from the back but if
14:21 I do think of like other fun book
14:23 related spread ideas I can just like
14:25 continue over here and we don't run into
14:27 the issue where I have to like guess how
14:29 many pages I want to dedicate to these
14:31 fun spreads at the beginning and then I
14:34 guess the idea is that eventually the
14:36 pages from the front and the back will
14:38 meet up and that is when the reading
14:41 Journal will be complete okay so I want
14:43 to also quickly talk about some stationery
14:44 stationery
14:46 um and basically the supplies that I've
14:49 been using so for all of the thicker
14:53 folder titles I'm just using the tombow
14:55 foot in Oscar brush pen in the hard tip
14:58 and then for the actual writing most of
15:01 it is done with the twispy Eco and this
15:04 is the fine tip and inside I have
15:06 watermen black it's a very boring but
15:09 reliable combo I prefer writing with
15:11 very dark colors such as black just
15:14 because it's more practical for me but
15:17 I've also been using my sailor this is
15:19 the medium nib and currently I have it
15:23 Inked Up with black Violet from Robert
15:26 Oster I am currently using this for my
15:29 journaling pages with Lust For Life so
15:32 here I wrote using a different pen now
15:35 and you can barely tell it's like not
15:38 black but yeah it's actually called
15:41 black violet and it has the tiniest hint
15:43 of violet and I think that is right up
15:46 my Ellie I do have a lot of fun bright
15:49 fountain pen inks but for more practical
15:51 writing I definitely prefer darker
15:53 colors like this I also use a ruler and
15:55 pencil to make my margins
15:58 and another recent favorite that I have
16:01 is this thing which I don't know if I
16:04 can fit under my tripod so this is called
16:06 called
16:10 re readier
16:12 you can see it over here
16:17 um it is basically a book stand and I
16:20 love this thing so much I got it maybe a
16:21 week ago and again it's been a game
16:25 changer for my reading sometimes I will
16:27 borrow eBooks from the library and read
16:29 it on Libby which isn't a problem but
16:31 but other times I obviously have
16:33 physical books to read and an issue that
16:37 I have actually two issues one is that I
16:39 don't have a lot of space in my desk so
16:42 it's hard to have both a book open and
16:44 my reading Journal open and all of the
16:46 other stuff on my desk and the second
16:48 problem is that I
16:51 I tend to have my book open like this
16:55 and it really strings my neck
16:57 um I can like hold it out in front of me
17:00 but then my wrists start hurting after a
17:01 while and it's just very uncomfortable
17:04 especially if I'm trying to journal at
17:06 the same time and it got to a point
17:08 where I just couldn't read anymore of
17:10 physical books because my neck was
17:13 hurting so badly so this has been so
17:16 helpful because a it saves a lot of
17:18 space and B
17:20 um I can just like look up while reading
17:23 and journaling and it's amazing so if
17:25 you have a similar issue as me I would
17:29 definitely recommend looking into a book
17:32 stand like this one so anyways this
17:34 video was just an entire video of me
17:36 chatting but as you can see I'm very
17:39 passionate about books and reading and
17:41 fountain pens and journaling and all of
17:43 that I hope you enjoyed it as well and
17:45 let me know if you have any questions
