Monday, April 19, 2010

Read, Remember, Recommend - Rachelle Rogers Knight


Subtitled: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers.

Well that's me for sure! So I was more than happy to have a look at Read, Remember, Recommend.

The book a spiral bound softcover, divided into six sections.

The first section is one I know I will use again and again - Awards and Notable Lists. There are loads of entries, covering well known - Pulitzer, Oprah - as well as lesser known. I was thrilled to see that the compilation covered Canadian and international lists as well. Books that appear in more than one list are marked with a symbol. The symbols are identified in a footnote section at the end of the tab. I did find the symbols somewhat confusing - perhaps a numbering system would have been easier to search. For the most part, the lists have two empty spots for filling in the winners of the 2010/2011 entries. This wasn't necessarily consistent though. Some entries have blanks for three years, others only two. Some left no space - the Quill and Quire list for example. I would have liked to have seen more blanks left - perhaps up to 5 years. I quite enjoyed seeing how many of the books I had read on the lists. There is room to create your own lists as well.

The second section also features formatted pages to list those books you'd like to read. There's about 60 entries. (For me - that wouldn't do a year!) Checklists for own, recommend, to read and want are included with the above two sections.

The third section is journal pages - a place to keep track of your thoughts. As a blogger I find I keep more detailed notes than the journal would hold. The fourth section is a place to record books you'd recommend to others. The fifth is a place to record the books you've loaned out (and hopefully had returned!)

The sixth section was one I found very useful. It's a resource section, listing the web addresses of the awards and lists mentioned in the first section. It also has a great list of blogs - I saw many I already follow. There's a glossary of literary terms included, which would be useful to those writing reviews or for book club discussions.

I will be keeping this handy on my desk at work to use as a reference tool in reader's advisory. Personally as a blogger, I wouldn't use the journal pages - I keep track on my blog and catalogue my books with one of the online sites available, but this would make a great, reasonably priced gift for the booklover on your list.

There is also a teen version of the book. And it looks like electronic versions will be available in the future. Take a peek inside.

You can visit the author at her blog - Bibliobabe.

4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I love this journal and have mine all marked up, but probably won't use the journaling pages either. I bought 2 copies for Mother's Day gifts.

Anna said...

I won't use all of the section either because the information is in Goodreads or on my blog, but I think it's a fun resource. I started checking off the awards books on my shelf right away!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Kerry said...

This has been popping up all over the place, it seems. Sounds like a great resource - I'll have to take a look. Thanks for sharing.

Josette said...

Hey there, I really love this journal too! It's one of the best books to have around. I love the lists of recommendations too. :)

I've heard of the teen version too and I wonder what kind of lists are in there. I would definitely like to check it out!

Here is my review of the journal. It really is an awesome one.