Reading Group Journal: Notes in the Margin

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Summary: Make the Most of Your Reading Group Experience
Review: I heard about this journal when a member of my reading groupbrought her copy to our meeting. She told us how she had used theReading Group Journal as a resource to get publisher reading group guides and then how she found new WEB sites for author research and book reviews -which she printed off her computer. Then throughout the meeting she referred to notes she had made in the journal and since she loves quotes she read aloud some that she had extracted from the book.

As we passed the journal around we found the extensive book lists at the back and we used one of the lists to select our next book. It is also very practical and has a section to write down names, addresses, phone and e-mail addresses, meeting dates and the books you have selected to read. It even has some cool little tear out bookmarks. Our group decided that we would each purchase a copy of this journal and will begin using it with our next book...

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Summary: A good idea for Reading Groups
Review: I just found this book but already I have used it to record some of my notes from books my reading group read this year. It also has lot of suggested reading lists which my group might be interest in. I had no idea this book was even around even though it was published a few years ago. I wish I had had it two years ago when my reading group started out.

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Summary: Organized & Easy to Use
Review: I very much recommend this journal. The journal is uniquely organized using tabs, so it is easy to find and flip to the various sections. It has sections for: your book group members, books you're reading, books you want to read, books you have lent out, really good resources, and more. It is exceptional quality, the cover is very hard, the paper thick, has a small pocket on the inside back cover, and it is spiral bound. FYI, the shape of this book is sort of square, if you like that. I am buying one for each member of my book club for their birthdays. It's a very cute journal you will treasure.

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Summary: FINALLY -- AN ACTUAL READING JOURNAL
Review: It's amazing to me that no one has yet to publish a reading journal that actually has enough room to write a review of a book. This journal has finally done it. It has plenty of pages to put your favorite quotes from the book, a page for group discussion questions and two pages for notes or reviews. My only complaint is that it can only be used for 18 books. That's OK if you're really only using it for a reading group journal because most groups pick one book a month but if you want to use it as your regular reading journal and you read in excess of 18 books a year, you're out of luck. I'd like to see this book have space to record 75 books and forget about all the other stuff that's included.

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Summary: Notes on a Wonderful Journal
Review: THE READING GROUP JOURNAL Notes in the Margin, by Martha Burns and Alice Dillon, is an exquisite journal that covers every aspect a reader or member of a reading group could possibly want in a journal. The journal has 18 devisions for 18 books and each division offers ample space to take notes on the book and author, to compare the book under discussion with other books read, to take favorite quotes from the book, and to jot down possible questions for discussion if you are in a book group. If you are not in a book group, this journal is a place for you put down your reflections and create a private literary journal. The question section can become a place where you pose questions to yourself about the meanings and themes of the book, and the note section that follows can be used to answer those questions. That's why this journal makes the perfect gift for not only book group members, but for readers in general.

This journal also offers very practical and useful resource materials, including websites for on-line book sellers, library resources, book lists and on-line reading groups. There are also excellent readings lists included in the journal such as The New York Times Book Review list, a National Book Award list, a list selection by the authors, and several more. The journal even offers you suggestions on how to go about setting up and running a book group. The resource section also includes some very lovely quotes about reading by famous literary figures. You then add to these facts that this is a physically beautiful item, well made and meant to last, and you can see why as a reader I am so pleased with this purchase. I've bought several for friends and family and everyone has been delighted.

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Summary: Charming Journal
Review: This little book is charming! The authors - creators- have selected wonderful quotes about why reading and especially shared reading matters and these quotes are sprinkled throughout the journal. I am giving this book to all my friends who love to read and to the English teacher at my daughter's school.

I just wish the journal were bigger and the print could have been a bit darker so I can read it at night but otherwise- thanks for a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Charming Journal
Review: We are sisters who are third generation New Mexicans. We now, however, find ourselves on opposite sides of the United States. Martha lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters and Alice lives in Oregon with her husband, daughter and son. We are both reading group members and have shared books with each other for years.

When we were at a writer's conference two years ago the idea for our book came to us and we knew the title immediately: Notes in the Margin. Our maternal grandmother was a writer and how we'd be delighted to find her journals, her collected notes in the margin, from a reading life. We would gain insights on what informed her writing and what she admired. But this was not to be. As we discussed our idea for our book we envisioned a permanent reading history that would become a keepsake. So, using the internet and e-mail to communicate with each other we set out to create the book we could not find for sale.

If you have always wanted to get a reading group started or join one then our book is the perfect place to begin. If you are already in a group you will find that our journal is three things in one: A fill-in journal to keep track of your reading group, what you are reading, when you will meet, and a place to keep a list of books you have read and wish to read; A resource to find hints about forming and running your own reading group, lists of books to read such as literary prize winners, regional books or even our own list of twelve eminently "discussable" books; And finally it is a place to record your thoughts on a book read and a book shared. We like to say that in keeping the journal the reader becomes the writer and the journal becomes a keepsake. Reading group members could each keep their own personal journal or the group as a whole could keep one journal that would then become a history of your group.

Our favorite word can be found in the literary glossary at the back of the journal. "Marginalia"- Notes written by a reader in the margin of a manuscript or book.

We sprinkled quotes from our favorite books throughout our journal. We love them all but our favorite would have to be a quote from Gabriel Harvey's Marginalia, 1913, "Marginalia threw a flood of light on the books he read, and on the thoughts he cherished in secret."

We wish you and your reading group the joy of a book read and a book shared and we wish each of you the fulfillment that comes from articulation.