Writer’s Toolbox—The Reader’s Journal

What’s in a Writer’s Toolbox?

This past December, my colleagues and I celebrated the season with a festive Secret Santa exchange. My Secret Santa knew me well, stocking my gift bag with fancy pens, the latest best seller, and a can of my favorite soda to enjoy while reading. But something else was tucked away inside the bag that I hadn’t expected: A Reading Journal.

I’ll be honest—I’d never seen a Reading Journal before. A writer’s journal, of course. A regular old notebook that people journal in, sure. But a journal just for reading? That was new to me. (Confession: I wasn’t sure I would actually use it . . .)

I went home and unpacked my goodies, placed them on my desk to be sorted later on. Grabbed a book from my To-Be-Read (TBR) stack. Settled in for a few days of reading. It was a good book. Two days later, I had completed it.

So there I was, returning my book to its home (currently the top of my desk because I’ve run out of bookshelf space yet again . . .) when I spotted the purple Reading Journal peeking up at me from the top of the stack. It looked pretty and a tad lonely, so I decided to try it out.

I grabbed one of my new pens and opened the pages.

What is a Reading Journal?

A reading journal, as it turns out, is more of a logbook, a way to track and rate what you’ve read, leaving notes for yourself about what you liked and disliked about the book. And to encourage more reading, there’s even a cute little bookshelf graphic that you can fill in each time you read a book, coloring the books on your shelf as you go.

Is it necessary? Probably not. But . . . if you’re like me, you have a lot of books (like so many books you routinely run out of shelf space). So, perhaps keeping track of all my reading is a good idea. I decided to give it a shot.

And because reading, like writing, is a journey best shared, I’ll post my reviews as part of a “Writer’s Reads” series on my blog so you can preview some great reads before you commit to adding them to your own TBR list. Here’s the first one.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

My first read for the season was The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse. Set in the Swiss Alps during a dangerous blizzard, this psychological thriller was the perfect choice to kick off winter.

The protagonist, Elin Warner, finds herself trapped in an imposing sanatorium-turned-hotel when she arrives with her boyfriend to celebrate her brother’s upcoming nuptials. Murder and mayhem ensue, leaving Elin struggling to find a killer before the killer finds her.

The story is not for the light of heart. As you can imagine, there’s a fair amount of death and violence. But the story is fast-paced and engaging and the characters complex. There’s the usual sprinkling of red-herrings to throw readers off the killer’s track, and the author builds a rich world with a strong sense of place as the story progresses to its ultimate end.

My only real “nit” with the story is the author’s choice to include a section at the very end that seems to unravel the resolution, makes the reader suspect that all is not actually complete in the narrative. If Pearse decides to extend Elin Warner’s world into a range of new texts, that choice may make sense. As-is, however, it left me feeling ever-so-slightly unsatisfied, questioning whether the resolution she worked so hard to build previously was actually a resolution at all. For that reason, while I very much enjoyed the book (remember earlier when I said I finished it in only two days), I rate it a 4 out of 5 stars because it lost me a little bit in those final pages.

Takeaways for Writers

One of the best things writers can do is read the works of published authors, especially successful published authors. As we read, we are not just enjoying the story (although that certainly is reason enough to read). Instead, we are reading with an eye toward learning, observing masters of the craft to consider techniques that work and don’t work, that we like and don’t like. The more we read, the more we learn, the more we grow as writers in our own right. So here are my takeaways from reading The Sanatorium.

• Keep it Short: Pearse keeps her chapters short—very short. The longest chapter was, I believe, around four pages. Personally, I really enjoyed it. In terms of its alignment with the genre, because psychological thrillers are often fast-paced, this format forced her to keep her scenes tight and quick, heightening the tension for readers. In addition, I suspect one reason I was able to complete the book so quickly is because of those short chapters. Every time I went to put the book down, I would notice the next chapter was only a few pages, and I’d keep reading until, before I knew it, it was the middle of the night and the book was still in my hands!
• Develop Complex Characters: There were very few flat characters in the novel. While Pearse kept the writing in Warner’s POV, she created a sense of depth to each of the major players, giving them not only realistic motives, but also good and bad qualities. While all of the characters (including Warner) are flawed, they also remain relatable, and therefore, likeable.
• Resolve Your Narrative: Unless you are building a world of sequels (and to be fair, Pearse may be doing just that), make sure your endings provide your reader a sense of true completion. It may be a frustrating sense of completion that leaves us on a question (think Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale) but readers must nonetheless feel the story is done when they reach the end. In the case of The Sanatorium, I felt that way right up until the final three pages. Personally, I wish two of those three pages had been removed in the final editing pass OR that there had been a better explanation to the readers of why they were included.

Final Thoughts

Despite my initial reluctance to use The Reading Journal, it’s turned out to be a great tool in my Writer’s Toolbox, allowing me to not only keep track of all the books I read, but also to consider them as mentors as I continue along my own writing journey.

Join the Conversation – Leave a Comment!

Have you read The Sanatorium? Post your own thoughts about the book in the Comments below or share your own reflections of a book you’ve recently read.