Review of reading journal A Life Well Read

A Life Well Read: My Personal Journey Through Books is a set that combines the passion of a book journal and the organization of a mini filing cabinet or Rolodex. Readers can note what they loved and didn’t like about each book on the cards provided, as well as keep track of the books they’ve read, books they want to recommend to others or give to others as gifts, and who they’ve lent their books out to.

The box that the set comes in is made to look like a book. The “spine” and the top third are a deep brown with gold lettering, and the “spine” and all the edges have dotted lines that look like stitching, so that you can put the box on your bookshelf with the “spine” out, and have it look like a book. I think that’s a neat, aesthetically pleasing touch.

Inside the box are 50 book cards, 5 dividers, 56 color bookplates, 24 color gift labels, 3 cards to track your book gift giving, and a pen, all neatly and compactly organized. The pen sits in its own slot at the side, ready to take out when needed, and the cards and tabs fill the rest of the interior of the box.

The book cards remind me of old library cards, only they’re much bigger and more useful. You can write important information about a book on its card, such as the title, author, genre, your rating for the book, where you got the book from, and your notes and impressions. On the back of the card, there is space to note the book’s lending history–who you have the book loaned out to, the date you loaned it, and when it was returned. It also has a space for book clubs, where you can write the meeting date, who the book was recommended by, ad comments. You can also note the book’s availability–when it was released in hardcover and paperback, if it’s available in those versions, or if it’s out of print.

I like the prompts that are included on each card, prompting the book lover to note important information. The cards can also be used as bookmarks, though for some of us that would mean possibly losing the card, or not keeping the cards organized and together, which seems to me the point of the collection.

I love the tabs with the different sections, especially the “Books I Want”, which seems a fantastic way to help book lovers organize the many books that tempt them, and the “My Favorites.” The blank tabs allow readers to organize their book collection the way they want, which is appealing. I also think the “Books to Give” shows a real understanding of book lovers; we often like to give our favorite books as gifts. This the included gift book labels seems like an especially nice touch, as do the book plates. I find the book plates a little small, but they have more than enough room to write your name and anything else you’d like to include. The book plates, book labels, and the outside of the box have a painting of flowers on them, which may turn off some book lovers, especially men. I personally don’t find the flowers very appealing, but I think they’d appeal to more conservative people.

ALifeUnplugged is trying to cover all the areas that book lovers might go to with their books, and I think they’ve done a good job. I can see this set appealing to many book lovers, particularly those who want to keep track of their collections, and librarians for their own book collections.

There’s something satisfying about keeping track of your books on paper and being able to see them all in front of you, away from computers. I think this hold special appeal to most book lovers, who love the feel and weight of books and paper, and may also like to get away from the busy-ness of computers. However, for book lovers who have a lot of books–and that’s most of us–they’ll quickly run out of cards. Luckily, you can purchase 25 refills at a time for $4.95.

This set should have appeal to many book lovers, especially those who like to organize and keep track of their books. And what book lover doesn’t?

The set is $29.95, and is available from alifeunplugged.com. They’re offering free shipping until Nov 15.

Canadians, please note: They’re not yet shipping to Canada, so if you want to purchase a set, just send an e-mail (in the contact section on the site) to the owners rather then put it in the shopping cart. That way they can place a special order for you.

November 10th, 2008