The Picky Bookworm

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." –Stephen King

2021 reading journal

First things first, how I set up MY 2021 reading journal, is different from how you would set yours up. Every person is different, and reading journals should reflect our personalities. So, while I took inspiration from many different reading journals, what I ultimately set up is mine, using my supplies, and using what I think is pretty.

I do hope that you take inspiration from this post, and use the ideas to go set up your own journal! Without further ado:

My 2021 Reading Journal

2021 reading journal

The first thing I did was find supplies I could use. Luckily, I have TONS of Happy Planner brand dot paper. I also use a bullet journal, so I have TONS of different pens and highlighters. Might I recommend using what you have on hand, rather than spending a ton of money on a fancy journal, at least until you know how you want to set it up. Using what I already have means I can experiment all I want, and I’m not wasting money.

Reading Goals Page

2021 reading journal

One of the first things I set up in my reading journal is my reading goals page. Each box has a number in it, that I can highlight each time I finish a book. You’ll see mine has 99 boxes, but my reading goal is only 75 books. But just in case I end up reading more than 75 books, I can keep going. I’m always jealous on Twitter when people talk about how many books they finished last year, while I have no clue. So for 2021, I’ll have a clue! See how that works?

You’ll also notice that my journal is disc-bound, so I can move pages around as I see fit. This means if I read over 99 books, I can just add another page and keep going.

Blog Tour Tracking

2021 reading journal

Because I’m going to try to do a book tour a month this year, depending on when I can, keeping track of them was very important to me. So here I’ve written 12 boxes, with the date on the left hand side. If I have a book tour in that month, I’ll write it down and keep referring to it when that month comes up in my planner. That way I know when I need to start reading a book, and when my post is due.

If you’re interested in participating in a book tour, please reach out to Emma at damppebbles.com. She coordinates blog tours for new releases all the time, and is almost always looking for bloggers to help her out. You’ll get a free copy of a new release book when you sign up for a tour.

ARCs Received Tracker

2021 reading journal

Are you a fan of Netgalley? I am. I request books from them all the time, so need a place to keep track of them. This page is where I list the title of the ARC, the source (Netgally, Booksirens, etc…) when I received it, and when the publishing date is. Hopefully, I won’t forget to review any of the ARCs I have.

Author Submissions

One of my favorite pages in my 2021 reading journal is my author submission page. I’m actually going to print off book covers for this section, which is why you see post-its. Those are place holders for the book covers I’m going to add eventually. I’m really excited about how this section is going to look, so be sure to check back, because I’m going to add more photos as I update throughout the year.

Book Reviews

2021 reading journal

I’m not sure how I feel about the divider for this section. I have a feeling I’m going to be updating this at some point, but for now it’s perfect. In my opinion, everything needs a small flaw in order to make it truly perfect. In this section, I have a page for each book, and write down my opinions on the book, and my feelings about it, in case I want to write a review about it. These pages also come in handy for my monthly wrap-up posts, because I rarely remember every book I’ve read off the top of my head.

Books Read

This page is going to be another one of my favorites. Note the post-its, right? That’s right! I’m going to add images of book covers to this section! I’m really excited to get some printed, so I can actually start adding images to this page. I’ve finished 3 books so far this year, so I need something other than post-its. The post-its are handy, but they’re not very pretty. I want a pretty journal, so check back often as I plan to update images!


For all of the pages in this journal, I used green paper glued to the planner pages, and a happy planner brand punch to make sure they fit the discs. I have tons of washi tape, so I grabbed some of the green and added it for a little sparkle. My handwriting isn’t the best, but again, flaws. Nothing is perfect, nor should I expect it to be.

I hope you enjoyed reading about how I set up my 2021 reading journal. If you set one up, please find me on Twitter and show me! I’d love to see them!

Until next time, bookworms!

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