A Good Book Is the Best of Friends: A Reader's Journal

by Robin S. Doak

This lovely, fill-in reader's journal offers a private place to record thoughts and feelings about books that spark curiosity, challenge emotions, and provoke spirited discussion. Consumable.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786867191
• ISBN13: 9780786867196
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A Detailed Journal for Books Read

This is a small journal that provides a lot of information and pleasure. Written by Robin Doak, it has an introduction by Natalie Goldberg, author of several books on journaling. My favorite is Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. 'A Good Book is the Best of Friends: A Reader's Journal' has room for detailed memories/reviews of 23 books. There is a fine introduction on how to use this journal. It includes ways to rate books read, questions to ask yourself about each book, and ways to write good reviews for both fiction and non-fiction books. For anyone who enjoys keeping detailed book journals, this one might be the best one out there.

A reviewer's refresher and pleasure

The success of a book like this to the individual reader depends on what the reader was looking for. I wanted something to help me break out of what I felt was my reviewer's rut. I've been reviewing books for almost 20 years and find that I tend to look at each much the same way. This little volume has helped me out of that rut and into some useful and original thinking about the books I'm reading.Although admonitions like, "jot down the book's strengths and weaknesses" and "write down questions that arise" were nothing new to me, thinking of putting myself into the life of a character in fiction or considering what I'd ask the author of a nonfiction book if he or she came by for a visit caught my attention along with several other extremely useful suggestions.By the time I've read 25 books and noted my reactions to them according to these guidelines I'm sure I'll have broadened my perspectives considerably as far as book reviewing is concerned. As for deepening my pleasure in reading, it's hard to imagine but it is possible!Natalie Goldberg, who is familiar to most writers as a superb teacher and mentor (WRITING DOWN THE BONES, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, and LIVING COLOR), says in her introduction, "This journal gives the reader the opportunity to have double pleasure like a double latte: Not only do you get to read the book, but then you get to savor the taste, roll it around in your mouth, and feel its complete flavor." That has always been the pleasure that reviewers discover as they ply their craft. Now, thanks to Robin Doak, the pleasure is available to everyone.