This journal looks great -- black cover with authors names and titles on it in a range of language, a fabric covered rubber band to hold it closed, tabs with letters to organize the entries please an index you can create, and tri colored ribbons to mark your place in the journal. It even includes a bookmarker in case you need one.I have several journals that I use to review products and services including two movie journals and a wine tasting journal. I find them useful when I'm trying to decide what to see again or for the first time or when picking out a new bottle versus an old favorite for a meal. I'm a book reviewer, been one for years before Amazon Vine program, so I review easily 150 books a year.This journal could not handle even one year of what I review in it's pages. That is the biggest problem I have with it.Each letter of the alphabet has entry that includes areas for you to fill in date read, title, author, awards, your impressions and a rating among other information. However there are only 6 pages per letter. You have to do decide how to organize the books, by title or by author but really I doubt I'll be reading as many X books as ones that begin with H or C or S for example. There are many empty pages in the back so the journal could easily have added more pages to either all of lettered sections or to the most commonly used letters.With half the book unstructured I really feel disappointed by the layout. The unstructured sections aren't make it less organized and throw the idea of the index out the window. Do I include more notes on the books in those "personally tabbed" or "blank" sections? The structured section is great, I just need more of it and less of these empty pages.The publisher needs to rethink this design and rework it. When then do that, it might be a book worth having. For now, it's only a book you'll need to seriously stop and think "Is this book worthy of inclusion in this pages?" or you'll soon run out of room.
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TammyJo Eckhart "TammyJo Eckhart"I definitely like the idea behind the Passions line of Moleskine's, but not entirely how this has been executed. The notes section is limited to a very narrow column on the side of the page, with one third of the main writing area being dedicated to quotes, and the other third one's review. A book of this sort would be better served by having at least two pages of data for each book. This would add to the number of pages in the book, but I think it would make the book much more useful.I'm not entirely sure of the benefit of the book list in the back of the entries as well. What does that serve? That space could be better used for more book entries rather than serving as some sort of index I'll never use.
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missed "mist."I'm a big fan of Moleskin products, in general, and so my first impression was "Where was this when I was working on my PhD a few years ago?" However, on further examination, I realized the product was lackluster. Here's why:1. Assumptions. Moleskin's designers assume the user wants to organize what she reads in alphabetical order and predetermines a set amount of pages for each letter. This is useless. Both scholars and general book lovers have favorite authors that will likely fill more than the allotted pages, while other sections go unused. In addition, this "feature" eliminates many other ways or organizing your reviews (e.g., year read, year written, genre, etc.).2. Gimmickry. Rather than provide us with a bunch of silly stickers with symbols and exclamations, how about making the books more flexible by including blank, color-coded stickers that we can self label to organize our books? The provided stickets just ratchet up the cost of production with little value added.3. Page Layout. Here again Moleskin was heavy-handed in dictating how we should use the product and organize our information. In my opinion it privileges bibliographic information over note taking. If I'm going to haul a book around that's the size of a paperback, I want it to be for notes, not a list I can easily keep on my computer or smart phone. I carry paper for its flexibility. Let it be flexible.The product isn't all bad, of course. This is Moleskin, so the journal is of very high production quality (e.g., great paper, nice binding, ribbon dividers, etc.). I just wish Moleskin would have scaled back the features by about 80% to make the book more flexible. I'd love the top 1/4 of the page given over to bibliographic data, the remaining 3/4s for notes, and flexible divider tabs that can be attached anywhere in the book with blank stickers for labeling them.
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Amy S.I'm a big fan of Moleskine journals, and I've never found a book journal yet that's satisfied me. So as soon as I saw this I knew I wanted one. Unfortunately this book doesn't look up to the premise.The book information pages don't have enough open space for me to structure my own notes, I'd prefer far fewer fill-in-the-blank categories. I only need title, author, date read, and maybe publication year, the other things are unnecessary at best. If I ever cared to note the nationality of the author, original language of the book, or awards it won (in the cases where any of those apply), I could easily do so in a more reasonably sized notes section. Including fields for so many specific (and often rarely-used) categories is a waste of valuable page space.The alphabetical tabs in the book pages are a terrible feature. I read over 150 books last year, and none of them started with X. I didn't read any X authors, either. I read only one book that began with V, but 25 S books - which is more than the journal could hold. Those small tabs are also not a very sturdy option, several of mine are bent already after less than a week of fairly gentle use. The pages are numbered, so it would have been easy to just let those who need quick access to specific book pages create their own index or table of contents using some of the blank pages. Then everyone would have been free to list their reading by their own preferred method, such as reading date, genre, or subject, rather than making us all deal with alphabetical organization.I liked the section at the back that lets us create our own tabs, because many book journals are too structured. While the Moleskine falls into that trap on the book detail pages, I'm happy that it lets us create some of our own sections at the end. For example, many journals include pages for book club notes or shop addresses even though I don't need those. With the tabbed sections, people who want those sections can have them, but I'm free to use my nice, blank pages for shopping lists, loan tracking, and drafting reviews longer than the book detail pages allow for.The three bookmark ribbons are a great feature, but I could do without having book titles that don't really reflect my taste stamped into the cover. The cutesy colored stickers are also unnecessary. If Moleskine creates an updated version with no alphabetical tabs and a freer book page layout, I'd buy at least one copy a year for myself and probably give several as gifts. But the current organization is to limited for me to consider it for long-term use.
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Donna "book nerd"I purchased the Book Journal one of the first days it was out. I already have three books cataloged in it that I'm reading. I love to jot down quotes or other interesting facts from the books I read, and Moleskine delivers spaces for those notes. You can write down all the information on the book, as well as where you place it in your library.They also give you extra blank pages with tabs that you can add whatever information you would like--such as lists for books you want to read, more notes on the books you have. They give you stickers with various titles such as "Hard to Find", "Holiday Reading", "Reading, Signings", plus stickers of various symbols, hearts and happy faces! (What are notes without happy faces???"The book is the size of their standard large journals and is embossed with literary terms. Very elegant! It comes with the standard Moleskine pocket (where the stickers fit nicely), elastic band, a Moleskine book mark for your current reads, and 3! ribbon book marks.I am a Moleskine enthusiast and use them for art journal and writing journals. This is an awesome use for we book lovers!Thanks Moleskine!
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N. M. Patterson "Nancy Mae"I've always loved reading. I can't remember not reading. Like many, when I was young, I read certain authors, then certain genres. But then I ran into a problem. I was reading too fast for the good authors to keep up, and sometimes did not know what I wanted to read. So I got myself a subscription to Entertainment Weekly, and used that plus emails from my local library to read book reviews to decide what to read. I've gone through several spiral bound notebooks over the years, keeping a list of books to read. Once I finished reading, I crossed the book off. This served me well, or so I thought.Why didn't I think of a book journal? Why didn't I think of recording what I have read as well as what I want to read? It simply never occurred to me. Now I can keep a record of what I've read and if I can't remember an author's name, I can look in my journal. D'Oh! This is really useful!It has different sections, and some I like and some I don't. I'd like to have some ruled pages, for example. The alphabetical index tabs are set up like an address book. Every letter has the same amount of space. I can overcome that, though. In my address book, the "W" section always overflowed; I just put in "see 'L'" for more of that letter. There are some stickers tucked in the back you can use if you want. The most useful are for labeling tabs to personalize the functionality of the journal. The outside cover is pretty decent, and the 3 ribbons are handy for flipping back and forth - you'll get what I mean when you buy yours. Too big for a pocket, but still a handy size.Moleskine offers more product - additional pages and dust jackets, etc. on their website. They have a community, for heaven's sake, if you want to take it that far.I am really glad I chose this item. It isn't just useful to me. I can let another book lover borrow it (in my presence, so I get it back!) so they can get some new reading ideas.
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~~Hummingbirder~~ "Call me hb"I love reading and read several books a month so as I soon as I saw this journal was coming out I got one on pre-order. It's great if you are a bit geeky like me and like to keep track of the books that you've read and what you thought of them.The first section of the journal is "planning" (with columns for event, date, notes) designed for you to keep track of things like book club meets, author signings etc.The next section is 155 pages of a-z tabbed pages for recording information about the books that you read. On each page there are slots to write the title, author, nationality, date read, first edition, year, original language, awards, quotes, notes, opinion and star rating. There are spaces for 6 books per alphabetical section.Then there are 6 tabbed sections to personalise for your own needs (there are sticky labels included for ideas on what you could use these tabbed sections for. Each page in the tabbed section has some lines to split it into 5 areas.At the back of the book there are 14 blank pages.Other features:The cover is embossed with titles of various books in various different style fonts.There are 3 ribbon place markers (in black, grey, and silver ribbon)A double slot expandable inner pocket at the back of the journal which contains several adhesive labels. There are a sheet of labels designed to be used on the blank tabs, coloured icon labels to decorate the inner pages and a few labels to customize the cover.A free bookmark which matches the cover style is also included.
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Alison "girlrunning"I've read the reviews posted by others and I find I can agree with most of them, both the good and the bad.It's true that it makes no sense to have as many pages for X or Q as for S or H...unless you're into Quantum Mechanics or the X-Men. It's also true the quality is great and if we're book lovers and journal freaks that we can always use "more" whether it's size, pages or options.I give this 4 stars and not 5 based on some of those things, but I give it 4 and not 3 because it fits what I wanted it for. I don't need a book about books for me. I have my favorite authors and books in my head. I take them with me everywhere I go. What I need is a book about my books for my kids.When my daughters grow up I want them to be able to see which books mean something to me enough that I have taken the time to write them down in this journal with a favorite quote and a note of why *this* book touched my heart. They can't see in my head and when I'm gone I will take my memories with me...except those that I leave behind in this book for them.
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L. A. Guethlein "Tea Drinking Mama"I love this little book. The organization is fantastic. I have one disappointment that I would otherwise have given 5 stars. The problem is bleed through to the backside of the page. I tried using several pens but even though a ballpoint does minimize the bleed through, it doesn't eliminate it. I did not try a pencil. The bleed through made the entries on the other side of the page look very messy and less tidy than I would have liked.
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A. BenningfieldFor me this product really misses the mark. The book looks like an old fashioned address book with lettered tabs. For each letter of the alphabet, there is room to review 6 books. So you may review only six books that start with the letter T and just as many (six) books that start with the letter X -- does that make much sense? Each page contains an area to list the following information: title, date read, author, nationality, first edition, publisher, year, quotes, original language, awards, notes, opinion and rating. The sections for quotes and opinion are the largest but still too small for me to really fill in as much as I would like. There is no way to add pages in any section as this is a bound book. The book is the size of a standard paperback novel -- so just not large enough to write anything of substance. If this product were an application for my Blackberry or an iphone, I think I would love it. I'd have a list with me that would remind me of authors I liked anytime I walked into a book store. I'd have more space and the option to review as many items under each letter of the alphabet as I liked and I could include books that I would like to read or received as recommendations from others. The quality of the product for the price is fine, but I couldn't recommend it.
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Carter's Mom
fun organizing your book reviews with 202 adhesive labels to personalize your journal inside and out. It's easy and gratifying to ..
