I paused halfway through this to go and buy that printer 😂 fun tidbit for anyone else thinking about it, turns out they are having a 50% off summer sale right now, and you can still apply your 15% off code on top of that. Savings for all!

I hope this series ends with a 2-hour long InDesign screen capture of you putting together your perfect layout. 🤞 🤞🤞

PLEASE do the extravagant version, I feel like it could be a lot of fun, but the budget version would be great because it’s definitely more attainable for the average person. and I definitely prefer the blue over the mint. It feels a lot less “in your face” and I like that the blue is kind of faded also. Overall I kind of love that blue one!I like the lists in the back and I’m not one to write a ton so the one page reviews are nice. Edit: holy crap that camera thing is so cool!!!!!!

i would absolutely haaate a reading journal with a list of book recommendations, especially if they had a checkbox. because there's bound to be books on those lists i'm just not at all interested in, and having unchecked boxes would drive me insane. plus, wasted spaces. if i want book recommendations or to know every pulitzer prize or booker prize winner, i'll google it.

I’d love for you to pick up A Clockwork Reader’s reading journal that’s coming out soon. I trust her to have designed something awesome!

I need that printer, like, tomorrow omg. Also, I vote extravagant reading journals for the next one. Watching someone appreciate paper quality makes me feel like I'm not alone in caring about it lol.

Everyone else thinks this is culminating in Kayla making her own reading journal? Because I wish it was true because I would totally buy it.

I've used the Always Fully Booked from Little Inklings the last couple of years. And she's Canadian! There's challenges, tbr pages, blank books to colour in, review pages, wishlists, and blank pages in the back that I use for additional challenges and bookshelves for series. Te art is gorgeous as well! She does a pre-sale in October so once they're gone they're gone. I love it. She also does a smaller undated version that's available pretty much throughout the year. AFB is a full Weekly planner so it has a higher price point but it's fantastic. She has a KZfaq channel as well. I use the HP sprocket for printing little book covers. It does print in colour and it is also thermal so you only need to buy paper, and you can use other brands of paper.

A reading journal with stickers and challenges is a genius idea to personalize, bring color and have fun! I will buy it without thinking. I really like the reading journal for families, great great GREAT idea if you want to do it with your children.

I'm four months pregnant and the family reading journal immediately made me so happy! It should be at my house tomorrow. I'm SO excited about it. Thank you for sharing it, I had no idea something like that existed.

tbh I feel like anyone who is nerdy enough to track their reading consistently doesn’t need a list of book recommendations… we already know books that exist and ones that we want to read 😌

Listen, I need whatever the opposite of book list recs is in a book journal. Because I am not experiencing a dearth of ideas for what to read. It would be great, actually, if it was a list of books that I could take OFF my TBR. 😂 Other than something like BookRiot's, which is specifically tailored to their Read Harder challenge, I guess I don't know who is the audience in the middle of the Venn diagram where one circle is "wants a book tracking journal" and "needs suggestions of what to read." It's definitely not the experience I'd want for a person just getting into reading, since those suggestions are going to be SO hit or miss.

Give me ALLLLL the expensive bougie journals please :D

Yay another episode! Another one journal/planner to recommend for a potential pt.3: Melanin Eclectic's (fellow booktuber on here) reading planner! She handmade it and it includes her original art too and it's clear so much time and effort went in to it. I think they're still available until the end of the month :D

Ooooh I really want the one for families! I have a 1 year old son and he is obsessed with books, so I think that’s a really cute thing for us to start filling out together 🥰

I’ve found that Little Inkling Designs’ Always Fully Booked Planner is the absolute best, most immersive, and most customizable of all reading journals. Plus, it functions as a weekly/monthly planner also. Definitely check that one out for your next video in this series! But they always sell out so quickly, so jump on it quick when they go on sale! 😊

I love this idea, and I love reading journals too! Last year I used Owlcrate.. an unfortunate experience. This year, I used the Melanin Eclectic Reading Journal. Britney creates all the art herself and produces them in her home - very Black fantasy-oriented, and I'm a stan. Looking forward to watching all the episodes in this series, because I - like you - prefer handwriting and enjoy the craft of journalling.

Thank you so much for doing this series!!! It is so so helpful because THERE ARE NEVER PREVIEW PHOTOS for reading journals in online stores. Thanks for being lovely and for such relaxing videos 💕

I would like to see ones on a budget. Really enjoyed this video. I never thought of keeping a journal for all the books I read.

I'm fine with fewer colours but the colours picked would need to be more to my taste. Also book lists in a journal are not what I'd want space to be taken up with.

I have the little red Penguin one shown at the end and absolutely LOVE IT. It’s so tiny and has simple pages for reviews and then lists/check lists/quotes etc dotted throughout🥰

Fun fact! The Bibliophile Journal has a page in it for bookstore cats, and on that page there is a cat named Nietzsche. That ginger floof ball was the bookstore cat for the store I work at. (I say was because he sadly passed away in March). It’s nice to see him immortalized in other editions of their books though. I still think you should try one of the planners/journals from Little Inklings Design.

I need an extravagant version!!! My biggest issue with all the reading journals is I read around 200 books a year and one journal is never enough!! I don’t need recommendations in my reading journal and I like white pages with not a lot of colors, I like pretty covers and pretty simple insides - but I do like places to make my own lists

The sticker sheet idea is definitely brilliant The planner that I owned have sticker sheets with cute illustrated people, texts and small objects so I could definitely see how useful it will be for a book journal too.

That printer is so cool! I know receipt printers for cash registers don't need ink because they use thermal something something, so it must be something like that.

I’ve been using my bullet journal to track my reading. At the end of every month I just give myself a page per book to dump all my feelings onto. Seeing the spreads in these journals gives me inspiration for organizing my own pages. I’ve wanted to make each book page more unique to its respective book and I think the printer would be PERFECT for that!

The sticker one makes sooooooooo much sense especially for really popular reading challenges like Popsugar. I'd totally buy a book journal like that but that would also let you have more room for reviews.

Definitely do the extravagant journals next!! I think the budget journals would make a great video, but maybe for a last hurrah after you find one that fits you more?? Since quality is so important to you I just wouldn’t expect that one of the budget journals would be a favorite of yours.

Printing out the book covers makes it look so cool!

the only reading journal i used was the one that came with FairyLoot for 2018, 2019 and 2020. sadly, they didn't make one for 2021, so i bought an empty notebook and made one myself and i really enjoyed that since i could individualize it to exactly what i needed (e.g. the fairyloot one always had two pages after each month to put in quotes and i never used that), but unfortunately i stopped reading in february and only picked it up very slowly again - i read 10 books in january, and only 19 since then - so i've pretty much abandoned it bc i don't use it consistently enough. one thing that i really want with reading journals is a place where i can write down how much i read every day in each book that i read that day; but i feel like most reading journals don't have a space for that, so i think if i ever use one again, I'll be continuing to use my homemade one

Re: the photo printers. You can buy ones that print in colour if thats something you're looking for. I have an old HP one (that I don't think you can buy paper for unfortunately), but I think the HP sprocket is possibly the newer version. Fujifilm might also have one?

I like the ones that I can move the pages around, like binders, so pages are not wasted. I also like it small enough to fit in my bag.

I was just rewatching part 1 the other day! tbh none of the journals you've reviewed suit my reading and reviewing style so I ended up making an electronic template, but I have high hopes for A Clockwork Reader Reading Journal when it comes out!

I just ordered the My Reading Journal one. Thanks for the in-depth review and showing the pages, that made a huge difference for me. You should create a journal with the stickers, that’s a great idea. I love stickers and being able to put them wherever you want.

37:50 i like the idea of an adult coloring book mixed with journal. That way if you want it colorful u can color it in, if not you can leave it black n white. Not full on color pages but like the book spines you mentioned or maybe a small blank squares where you can print the book cover like you did or draw the cover and color it in yourself. Just small dashes of potential coloring spots. I like your sticker idea so maybe some colorful stickers but simple black n white pages? But i absolutely love blacks, greys and white monochromatic things so im probably not the best person to ask lol i also suck at explaining what im trying to say so hopefully some of this made some kind of sense 😅

Hi Lala You do realize you have the beginning layout for your design of a book journal. Make it a Reality!! I'd buy it immediately. I love your idea about the stickers on the reviews. 2022 needs your book journal.

I would love to see the extravagant one and these really do help. I like that hardcover blue one, but I like the other one for book clubs. To be honest the one for book clubs I might want to use for your Buzzwordathon because it is a book club in a way. Love the options, thank you for continuing to find a book journal for you and helping us find one, too. 😊

I hope you try Little Inklings planners on the next go round…she has both a large full planner and a smaller reading journal. The planner has several reading challenges, coloring pages, stickers, etc.

I love that sticker idea!

A reading journal that is tailored to my taste is something I really want but am unlikely to find as what I'd like is less or no space for reviews and all the fun things like coloring in book stacks, tbrs,blank reading challenge pages, etc. I've tried a bullet journal style and can't keep up with it.

I love part2, it’s very entertaining to watch you discuss these journals.

Please keep doing this series! I’d love to see both the budget and the extravagant versions, along with more more more! I love this. And the way you’re doing it is 5 stars-you’ve gone above and beyond.

headsup on the printer! with time, the print does fade!! it's like when you have a receipt for a long time in your wallet, the way it's printed is the exact same ^^

OMG I've been following Jane Mount's art for years! She has an Etsy shop where she does custom art of favorite book spines! So if you love the journal art, you'll love her art too. Also, my vote is on the extravagant reviews. Also Also, I have one of those printers and I love it! So many stickers in my journals

I personally wouldn't want a book recommendations section in a book journal. It seems redundant when I already have ideas about what I wanna read. But I would love a blank checklist so I can include books off my TBR that's a priority for the year. Also I need that printer!

I’ve been using the My Reading Journal you reviewed at the end and I love it. I love just sitting down and writing out all my categories myself and just having fun with stamps to rate things and such

I love the challenge sticker idea! I would even use that on its own, with a regular journal or on the book itself as a quick reference (like "Here's a book with a slowburn romance that is also LGBTQ+"). Really cool idea!

omg you left me with so many questions at the end im so excited to answer them okay here we go 1. personally i would want to see the extravagant version of the book journals. especially because we might go off the assumption that a higher price means better page quality, more thought into the layout of the book, more colors, but is that really the case? 2. I would LOVE sticker sheets with reading journals, and completely agree with everything you said about how the stickers could make the reading challenge journals make more sense and have more impact. 3. i also agree, i don't really want reading suggestions. I know what I like and what intrigues me, but I did love the book stacks in the Bibliophile journal. It looks stunning, but if I were to make my own journal, I'd maybe do something similar to add flavor and color but instead make it similar to your "Overly Specific Book Recs" videos you've done? Like, 'Books set in the wilderness' or 'Magical realism written by BIPOC authors' or 'LGBTQ2 Books from the last 20 years' or even just a stack of books that all have the same color spine, and a different page would feature a different color/color story of spines. I really liked how you printed the covers of each of the books, and I would love for reading journals to have more color. 4. I absolutely would pay more for it. I want to be happy and excited to use it!! 5. White pages PLEASE!!

A book journal with stickers is suddenly my dream now. I totally agree about the yellow pages being... not great. Welcome to the hard-cover loving club!

kayla would do amazing in the user experience field

Your idea for a book journal with stickers for challenges, favorites, book club reads etc sounds amazing! I hope you decide to create your own reading journal to sell with all the things:) and definitely the more colorful the better, but I’m sure that makes it more expensive. And white pages for sure! Thanks so much for the book journal reviews, I bought one once and was so disappointed I haven’t bought another since, butthese videos are a great way to see what’s included in each!

Hey Kayla, have you checked out Little Inkling Designs. The owner is based out of New Brunswick and there is a Novel Companion that I use as my reading journal. It's smaller and not hardback.

I use the Moleskin reading journal, and it perfectly fits all of the things you’re wanting in a journal (in my opinion.) you should try it!

I love these videos and the work you put into them! It's seriously impressive. Here are my thoughts on some of your questions: -Page color: I prefer white, but like an off white, just because that stark printer paper white kind of hurts my eyes lol. -Colors in general: I love the amount of color in the Bibliophile one, but prefer the cover design of Read Harder, (though I agree that the colors inside are unpleasant.) -Book recommendations: Not a fan, I feel like those lists are everywhere. Though I would love a few pages of simple lines to make your own tbr/recommendations list. -Stickers: OMG this idea is brilliant! It's so efficient. Labeling things is one of life's little joys. Also, who doesn't love stickers? -Cover: I don't have a preference between hard and soft, as long as you can open it and it doesn't fall apart. Honestly, paper quality is more my concern. -Size: I like bigger ones personally, but I carry around a lot of stuff anyway. (On a side note, that giant monthly planner I've seen you use in another video is to die for.) I clearly have a lot of thoughts about journals lol. I'm going to parrot what everyone else is saying and beg you to design a reading journal because we would all buy it.

I like reading suggestions. It exposes me to books that I have heard about and are out of my normal reading range.

This made me realise I am very fussy about book journals and that I prefer filling in my own notebook and using spreadsheets

Did I buy that tiny printer immediately? Yes, yes I did 🙈

None of these journals appeal to me, I’m extremely particular about that kind of stuff. Bu I immediately added the Reading is Magic/Family tracker to my cart, my daughter is turning 3 and I really want something like this!

Oh the sticker idea!! What a fun an unique thing!!!

The stickers for challenges is such a cool idea!!! If you ever design a bookjournal please include that! Is such a fun thing! I really love seeing how careful and thoughtful you are on your quest for the perfect journal.

I love this series, I've been making my own reading journals for the last couple years but as I get more busy it has started feeling more of a chore than something fulfilling. This series has been great at helping me narrow down which pre-made journal may be a good alternative. Hope to see some more as some don't have great product photos and it's great to see them in real life and in use.

I love this series it’s literally so helpful! I think for now I might just pick and choose elements that I like from the ones you show and make my own bullet journal type until you show one or I find one that I really resonate with! Also that printer is so cool loved your book cover idea!

Your previous reading journal video was the first video of yours I ever saw! I bought 3 of the black and gold journals from that video, they were perfect for what I was looking for! I love these kinds of videos! 😊

I own a Polaroid zip (another portable printer) and use it to print book covers but I’m getting this one too. I love the black & white. I’m using Melanin Eclectic”s reading journal for this year and preordered for next year. She makes book related stickers too. Additionally I use a traveler’s notebook. Search on you tube and you’ll end up down a rabbit hole 😉. But I use it to take notes on what I’m reading and I do spreads for readathons and challenges.

I definitely feel like you would make the most amazing reader log... i would 1000% run to buy that. I love color, but i love the white to make it your own. I also dont love the book suggestions lists.

Give us those extravagant book journals! ⭐️👄⭐️

I really appreciate you doing this series and showing some of the reading journals that are out there. I haven't been able to find a journal that I really like so far so have been making my own spreads on my bullet journal which varies from month to month. Overall, my ideal book journal would be one that allows for up to 200 entries for books read and anything else would be a bonus. I'm not one that tends to follow a monthly TBR because it's rare that I actually get to everything on my list though I do enjoy seeing journals that have a variety of colors and usually a bookcase with the option to write in books. I also prefer book journals that can fit in a purse fairly easily and love the strap option along with a ribbon or two bookmark.

To answer your questions: 1. Extravagant video next please 2. Blue over mint 3. Not keen on recommendations / lists but would like space to create my own lists. And maybe a contents space that is for me to fill in as I fill the journal 4. I am happy with one colour theme with space to add colour like books we colour in 5. White pages over tinted

I loved this video. I immediately ordered the Reading Has Magic journal for me and for a first birthday I am attending this weekend. I also ordered a Poooli via your link. I put the BookClub Journal on my wishlist so I can start it in January. Thank you for all the fun. I love all of your critiques because they are thoughtful. The Bibliophile one is really pretty but I agree about needing room for more reviews and some other things.

Is it bad that I’m glad you haven’t found your perfect reading journal because I want more of these videos??? 🤣 I would LOVE to have the one you were talking about with stickers for challenges so you can keep the books in order read and not duplicate. Plus then there could be more challenges, etc. or if I don’t complete a challenge it’s not just a blank page but just a sticker unused. I wish that existed! I love the ones with a single page for review over the double spread since I don’t need to write that much but want to fit more books in. I think I like everything similar to your preferences except I really do enjoy having start date and finish date. But I LOVE how perfectly that box works for the cover sticker and would definitely want to put the cover sticker in. Now I need to get one of those printers.

Not Kayla reviewing the exact one I saw in the store the other day and was questioning. Thank you so much!!

Totally just purchased the Book Club Journal to use for the book club I'm a part of. Thanks! This was really helpful. 😊

loving this video series. To answer your questions: Budget journals or extravagant journals? Would love to see more expensive journals- to see the prompts etc. But honestly any would be cool to see. Concept: Recommendation list? Checklist, just a list, want list at all? I like how the challenges were expanded upon in the reading harder. I like recommendation lists. I love more suggestions they can spark tbr ideas. Would you pay more for more colors, or one tone? I think a black and white, but designed like a coloring book. Then no one can hate the colors. Tinted pages? White? Yellow? Bold with white space? I don’t like yellow pages. I like white so I could decorate it. Which journal would you pick? Read Harder Journal

I LOVE the idea of a sticker sheet full of challenges! I don’t really need many challenges and I definitely don’t need recommendations from someone I don’t know and doesn’t know me. I also like when they have spots for “notes” rather than a large space for a “review”. Like who am I reviewing it for in my own journal? But I do like writing quotes, character maps, general ideas, and the plot twist.

Ooohh that idea of the stickers would be super cool! Also loved the printed covers in the corner of the pages 😍

I'm always curious about these as a way to try to force myself to work on reviewing books a little more critically. I do like the system I've developed as far as book tracking, haven't figured out what to do to help with reviewing. I love the recommendation lists! Especially for awards or like a long list of hopefully some diverse books. It is a fun challenge to either see what you've read, or have a ot of ideas in the wings.

as someone who's currently dabbling in digital note taking, i absolutely love that the book club journal has a kindle version! i know there are a ton of PDFs on etsy, but it'd be super cool to see this more normalized!

Omg that little printer is super cute! I can’t think of what I would use it for but I want it lol

Omg I love the cute tiny book covers, I might need to buy that printer!! 😍

I love this series! I also find myself as particular about journals as you so this makes me feel like I'm not alone haha. I don't like the book recommendations in reading journals, especially when they make it a checklist because my brain tells me I need to read them all just to complete the list even though I don't care about half of the books

The extravagant episode would be so fun, but I would watch any episode you come up with, it's so interesting to hear your perspective -as always-!

I want this saga to end with Kayla designing and publishing her own book journal

I would love to see budget journals next 😊 I would also love to see a future video with you ranking all of the journals you’ve tried.

I've been using the reading journal from Kunitsa Co. I'm really loving it! It's pretty simple and straightforward.

Yes! Was looking for a new video to watch and this popped up :).

Britney from Melanin Eclectic is coming out with a 2022 reading planner and preorders are still going on until Sept. 20th. She put a lot of love and effort in and all of the art in it is done by her! It's well worth it.

honestly I think I would JUST want all those stickers you said to go with a classic bullet journal type journal because then it's 100% FULLY customizable without having to write a lot still

I’d love to see budget journals reviewed! I think I’m going to ask for a journal for Christmas this year.

I'm not one to use a reading journal, but I enjoy watching all of your videos and it is cool seeing all the differences in each of these.

I like that bibliophile's book spine spreads are cute but also like a less aggressive way to recommend books without it being a checklist, which I notice a bunch of people in the comments are against.

Yes to the extravagant version. 😍 I would love to see that.

I absolutely need the perfect journal from your POV, Kayla. Please and thank you 😊

The Bibliophile Journal is based off the book called Bibliophile, which was also written and illustrated by Jane Mount. Published in 2018 and available at Indigos for around $35. It is actually more of a coffee table book, but i found it enjoyable to browse through and there is quite a lot of trivia about authors, and bookshops from around the world - not just in the USA. I managed to get my copy on sale so it was less than $10 at time I purchased it. I just thought you might like to grab a physical copy of the coffee table book, Bibliophile. It has tons of those cute little book illustrations that you enjoy. Each one is hand drawn by the author herself. ETA - Ooops sorry you already discovered that. If I were using a Bullet Journal, then I would definitely pick up the Bibliophile one, just to see more illustrations by Jane Mount. But I dont use BuJos. I just make text files reviews on my PC.

I have the last journal you reviewed and I hate it because it's physically so difficult to write in, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this experience!

EXTRAVAGANT journals please! It's easy to pick up a basic book journal, but we want to see the beautiful, the extra, the luxe! I want to live vicariously basically lol. Great video as usual, I appreciate how thorough and honest you are :)

Great video, I’ve now bought the book club Journal 🤗 It’s great to be able to see what’s in there before you order, so thank you 😊 I have the bibliophile journal, but have been looking at getting the ‘The Clockwork Reader’ reading journal, when it becomes available.

Honestly, that tiny printer looks incredibly useful and as their sale is still going on, I had to follow your example! 😊

I have light sensitivity issues, so I prefer yellow/cream pages over white, but I can totally understand why people like plain white better. But I have to agree on the colour thing, you have to vibe with it and enjoy looking at it every time you journal

One fun video idea could be "book journals choose my tbr"! Picking a couple reading challenges from the journals that have them. Getting a little extra out of the journals you won't be using. 😊 amazing content as always!

Of everything you showed me, all I want is the cute bird printer. lol