A digital reading journal with stickers: what a bullet journal style book journal looks like
The short answer: Dog-Ear's reading journal is a set of bullet journal style pages, such as Year at a Glance, Reading Challenge, Bookshelf and Series Tracker, that fill themselves in from your library. You decorate them with more than 100 stickers, washi tape, handwritten-style notes and photos, and the decorating never changes your numbers.
A lot of readers love the look of a bullet journal reading log: the washi tape, the stickers, the little spines filling in as the year goes on. A lot of them also give it up by March, because the tallies and the upkeep are a chore. A digital journal can keep the pretty part and drop the chore.
The Reading Challenge page: each finished book fills in a spine, with stickers, tape and a note on top.
The pages
The journal is a book of pages you can flip through, and most fill themselves in from the books in your library:
- Year at a Glance: books read, pages read, average rating, five-star reads and a month by month bar chart.
- Reading Challenge: set a goal for the year, and each book you finish fills in a spine on the shelf.
- Bookshelf: the books you finished, laid out like a shelf, with taped covers.
- Series Tracker: every series you own, with owned and read progress.
- Author Tracker, TBR and Books to Buy: who you read most, what is next, and what you want to buy.
- 5-Star Reads, Reading Bingo and the DNF Graveyard: your favorites, a bingo card for the year, and the books you gave up on.
- Favorite Quotes, Book Hauls and Year in Books: quotes you saved, books you bought, and your reading year in review.
Mark a book finished, or add a finish date, and the pages update on their own. There is a journal for each year, and you can flip between years with the arrows at the top.
Decorating it
Tap Decorate on a page, and you can add:
- Stickers: more than 100 image stickers in seven categories (Planners and books, Bows and butterflies, Crowns and gems, Cups and beauty, Paper and notes, Pens and tools, and Washi and clips), plus a small classic set of simple shapes.
- Washi tape: in five colors, to tape down covers and corners.
- Notes: handwritten-style notes, and a notes box on each page that saves as you type.
- Photos: your own pictures, such as a shelf, a reading nook or a book haul.
Decorations are only decoration. They never change the counts, so your stats stay accurate however much glitter you add.
Why digital can work better than paper
- No tallying. The totals and charts are worked out for you.
- It is always with you. It lives on your phone, so you can update it on the couch or in the bookstore.
- It never runs out of pages. A big series or a big year does not need a bigger notebook.
- It starts from your library. Scan or import your books once, and the journal is already full of them. Here is how to bring in a Goodreads list.
If you still love paper, there is nothing wrong with that. Here is an honest comparison, including the case for keeping both.
Dog-Ear is a web app you add to your phone's home screen. The journal is part of it, and it is private to you.
A reading journal that fills itself in
Keep the stickers and the tape, and skip the tallying. $9, one time, no subscription.
Get Dog-Ear for $9Questions
Can I decorate a digital reading journal?
Yes. In Dog-Ear, tap Decorate on a journal page to add stickers, washi tape, handwritten-style notes and your own photos. Decorations never change your counts.
How many stickers does Dog-Ear have?
More than 100 image stickers in seven categories, plus a small classic set of simple shapes.
Do the reading journal pages fill in automatically?
Yes. Pages such as Year at a Glance, Reading Challenge, Bookshelf and Series Tracker fill in from your library. When you mark a book finished or add a finish date, they update on their own.
Can I use the reading journal on my phone?
Yes. Dog-Ear runs in your phone's browser, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens like any other app.
Related: Printable vs digital reading journal, How to move from Goodreads to Dog-Ear, How to track book series you own.