For the first time in my life, I’ve kept a reading journal consistently! It’s helping my writing AND making my reading more thoughtful, so I’m planning to share what I’m reading and what I’ve noted down here on Substack. So far I’ve got a 100% hit rate for tracking my books… but I haven’t been taking notes or copying down quotes as consistently as I’d like. I’ve noticed that when I take the time to do both, I engage with books differently and get more from them. So hopefully this extra accountability will give me the nudge.
This month, I’ll focus on the novels I read. There’s some pretty consistent themes in here, because I’m experimenting with some ideas in my own work. Multiple POVs, marginalised stories, working class voices, and family sagas feature heavily.