A free Book Notes Journal download to print and bind to keep next to your current book pile for recording thoughts, quotes, and ideas you have while reading. It's a great way to help us remember all the wonderful things we learn from the books we read.
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Hey sweet readers, I'm super excited to share with you this free printable Book Notes Journal that you can now find in the Subscriber Library! Why? Because it was based on the book journaling idea I shared with you here, the same idea that's really revolutionized how I relate to and remember what I'm learning through the books I read.
When I started the practice of writing down notes, ideas, quotes, or my own thoughts from things that resonated with me from the audiobooks I'm listening to, I just grabbed an old school notebook left over from my kids.
But then I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a simple, yet pretty printable that would look good on my bedside table or on a shelf? And on yours, too?
So my daughter created this beauty for us using AOC's signature color and a sweet and simple design that I love. I had it printed and spiral bound for these photos, but it can just as easily work in a 3-ring binder, too, with the cover in a clear-view pocket like these simple binders.
Let's take a look inside - just like The Flexible Planner, it's simple and easy to customize but with guidelines to help you.
Book Notes Journal Pages
In addition to the cute cover, you'll also find these pages that make up the journal:
- From-To Page. This allows you to date your journal - you'll fill in the date you start the journal ("from") and when you fill the journal up is when you fill in the end date ("to"). Then you'll be able to refer to it again and again and have an ongoing record of your book notes. Once you fill up a journal, print another and keep recording!
- Index Page. There are two index pages (1 piece of paper back-to-back) next in the journal. Here is where you can write the title and the page you start that title's notes on.
- Lined Pages. The remainder of the journal is filled with lined pages with page numbers to fill in on each outside corner. Note: the reason we didn't just number the pages for you is so that you can print as many lined pages as you want and number them as you go!
We went around and around with leaving these blank or adding places for titles up top. In the end, you'll get the most flexibility from plain lined pages.
First, because some books may need only 1 page and others 10. And also if there was a blank for a book title, you'd have to fill it in for every page and who wants to do that over and over? The index will help you find titles, so I'm leaving it up to you to write the title in on the first page of notes.
Using Your Book Notes Journal
As an example for using the journal, you can see above how I'm filling mine out. Here's how I see it being used, though you can adapt it to your needs as you use it:
- On the index page write the page number, title, author, and then I add the date I start reading. You don't have to, I just like to have that record.
- Turn to the next available blank lined page, fill in the page number and then write the title, author, and starting date at the top. Use as many of these lined pages as you need until the book is finished.
- Then note the next page number and fill in the next entry in the index with that along with the new book title you're reading.
Once you've filled in all your pages, write the finish date on the front date page and add this to your shelf so you can refer to it again and again. I find it's really inspirational to read back through my notes from the books I'm listening to - and now I've started keeping notes on the books I read traditionally, too, if there are things I want to remember.
And here's another idea:
Print out multiple journals and use them for different subjects.
You can have one for spiritual books, business books, organizing/homemaking books, historical, fiction, and so on. Talk about a treasure trove of ideas you can pull from whenever you want to remember something from a book!
How to Get Your Book Journal Files
Ready to grab yours? Head to the Subscriber Library if you're already an AOC VIP or sign up below if you're not - we'd love to have you in our community!
In the VIP Library, you'll find other freebies like the Garden Success Notebook, Seasonal Menus Ebook, and Low Sugar Recipes Ebook. Once you fill in the form below you’ll get an email with the download link and access instructions for the entire subscriber library, plus you’ll also receive the popular weekly AOC newsletter!
Journal Printing Tips
- I recommend using the best quality paper you can for this printable, and cardstock for the cover and back pages, especially if you'll have this spiral bound. I have gathered paper and printing tools – as well as other items that would make using your AOC Subscriber Library printables easy in my Amazon Shop – go directly to the category by clicking the button below:
- Open the pdf file and download to your computer. Then use your computer’s program to print pdf files (or download Adobe Acrobat).
- Please note that the pages are meant to print back-to-back. There will be extra pages and the page number lines will not print correctly if printed single page. If you take or send it to be printed, make a note of this (This is a do as I say, not as I do thing, ha! #liveandlearn)
- You can print this in color or black and white to save money. If you're printing in color, I'd just have the cover, date page, and index pages as color and do the lines in black and white because they're not colored lines in the file.
I hope you enjoy this newest free printable added to the VIP Library – for everyone who is a current subscriber, thank you SO much! I really appreciate you and offering free printables is just one way I can give back to you. Let me know if there’s something you’d love to see added to the library and we’ll see what we can do.
Disclosure: affiliate links in this article will earn commission based on sales, but it doesn’t change your price. Click here to read my full disclaimer and advertising disclosure.
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