Reading diaries

For many years, I have kept a reading diary. I write down titles of books that I want to read in one part of the notebook, and list the books that I have read I another part. I star the titles that I think are the best. These titles make up my "Top Ten" list each year. I've filled two journals already, and the other day, I closed off another one, in service since 2005. By doing this, I've admitted that there are books that I will never get around to reading, because, when I shifted my TBR list over to the new notebook (given to me by my nephew), I left off a bunch of titles that I had listed as "want to read" about 11 years ago. I'm acknowledging that times have changed, my reading tastes have changed, and I have changed, so that these books no longer interest me. I'm kind of thinking that, if I haven't read them by now, I'm not going to. I could put everything on Goodreads, and I do list my finished books there as well as in the notebook, but I like the idea of a notebook that I can pull out and scan through. I also use it to choose the next book to read. I number every book in my TBR list, and use a random number generator to help me select. Otherwise, I'd just read the next title I see, and never get to the older ones. I save all of the older, closed journals. They make a better diary, I think, than a regular diary.

Farewell, old friend!