This weekend I was digging through my old journals looking for one specific moment that I wanted to remember but of course flipping through these books took me a lot longer than I expected. I started reading old entries and just spending some time with my memories.

For those of you who journal, do you go back and read your old journals? I will revisit them occasionally but for the most part I’m spending time in the present with my current journals. Yes, I have several ongoing journals. I thought I’d do a little show and tell of my current journals.

For my regular journal, which is the one where I work through my personal life, I am using a book I made. It’s a hardback book with a cloth spine and marbled paper. I love the pages because they are unlined and a nice quality of paper which is perfect for fountain pen ink.

I also keep a Some Lines A Day journal. This is a five year journal which you are supposed to write in every day. I’ve had this for two years but I don’t write it in every day. I like to write silly stuff, sometimes a quote, or just a little something to fill in the space.

My fauxdori journal, which is a term for an inspired Midori notebook. I bought after watching a lot of Youtube videos on Midori Traveler’s Notebooks flip throughs. I know a lot of people keep these as planners but I just journal in mine. What’s different from this one from my personal journal is that, I’ll put in receipts, cards, pictures, etc. So it’s almost more of a scrapbook.

I also keep a poetry journal (the green one which I made) where I write down poems I’ve read that I love. I have favorites by Mary Oliver, Louise Gluck, and Rita Dove to name a few. My black moleskine journal is the one I use for art journaling. I collage, use spray inks, acrylics, etc. This one is getting messy and big. I love it.

Along with these I also keep notepads, a Filofax Finsbury planner and a separate travel journal. You can tell I love to write! Granted, I don’t write every day but it is definitely a hobby that I’ve had since I was a child which only becomes more necessary the older I get.

I hope you enjoyed this and maybe it gave you some ideas on journaling. So tell me, how do you journal? I’d love to hear about your experience.

Let’s get back to book talk and let me tell you about my current reads. I have a good mix going on but as usual, I keep thinking of new books and want to add more to my stack. So here’s the bunch:

Landline by Rainbow Rowell. Her novel Eleanor & Park is a favorite but this one is not measuring up to that book. It’s the story of a couple who have to spend Christmas apart. Georgie feels her relationship is really in crisis this time and it doesn’t help that she can’t get a hold of Neal who’s taken their daughters to visit his mother for the holiday. When she finally reaches Neal she realizes she’s somehow gone back in time and is talking to the Neal from their dating days. Cool premise but I’m finding the characters a bit unlikeable.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier. Mary Yellen’s mother dies and she has to go live with her aunt but even before she’s set foot on Jamaica Inn, the coachman tells her that she will come to no good by stopping there. Secrets, smugglers, storms, oh what an atmospheric read. Really enjoying this one.

Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel. I’m reading this for the German Literature Reading challenge. Even though I just started it, I’m finding it a compelling read. This story is of a young woman who travels to Munich in the late 1930s looking for work and a better life but soon she might find herself in danger.

They Tell Me You Are Wicked by David Hagerty. I just started this one and I probably need to focus on this because it’s my book for my mystery book group next week.

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo. This is an audiobook I’m listening to when I go to the gym. This mystery all starts when Chief Kate Burkholder is called to an apparent suicide crime scene. Of course, there’s more to it than that. Really enjoying this mystery.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Still at the beginning of this book but I’m eager to get back to this one.

Blue Horses by Mary Oliver. This collection of poetry is wonderful. I’m sure I’ll add some of these poems to my personal poetry journal. Here’s an excerpt from one poem which really speaks to me:

I don’t want to be demure or respectable.
I was that way, asleep, for years.
That way, you forget too many important things.
How the little stones, even if you can’t hear them,
are signing.

~ I Don’t Want To Be Demure Or Respectable

With all of these books I guess I better get back to them right? My goal for the weekend is to at least finish one of them. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and let me know what you are reading.