My 2026 digital reading journal 📓✏️
On my Bookstagram account I recently posted a reel of me setting up my 2026 Digital Reading Journal, but I wanted to share my spreads on the blog here too in case it helps others by providing some inspiration. This is only my second year doing a Reading Journal. Both times I have used my iPad via apps like Procreate and Paper to create a journal that I love to use to track some of my reading. I find that a Reading Journal is a great creative outlet even though I still like to use dedicated apps like Goodreads and Fable for actual statistics and long term tracking of what I’m reading and what I plan to read. Having a Reading Journal just allows me to scratch that creative list and view my reads in a different way (even if it’s a little redundant with what I’m tracking on apps).
I am using the Paper app for my actual digital journal; however, all of the spreads I initially create in Procreate. Technically you could just pick one of these apps to use for your digital journal (or use another option entirely… there’s loads to choose from). I like using the two of these because Procreate is much more robust and allows me to create the beautiful spreads I want, while Paper gives me that notebook/scrapbook feel when flipping through the pages.
📲 Using an app for my Reading Journal rather than a physical journal is actually really nice because a huge part of Reading Journals is display books and book covers. With an app I am able to copy and paste images from the internet without having to print off tons of tiny book images.
My first page is my library view 📚 It’s essentially a bookshelf of all of the books I will read this year. As I read I plan to write the titles of the books on the spine and color code the books to match a key relevant to which genre each book is. Last year I had two separate spreads for this—one spread that was just a bookshelf and I colored the books whatever color I wanted, and then another spread that I used to track the genres I was reading. But I felt like this year I could combine the two meaning I wouldn’t have to list books over and over again multiple times just for different spreads.
My next page is another view of every book I read this year. This spread is super simple and not nearly as creative as my first spread, but I like the view of seeing all of the book covers I read this year all at once. It really brings into light just how much I’m reading.
The third spread I am doing in my 2026 Reading Journal this year is my absolute favorite spread from last year. It’s my 2026 Best Book of the Year!! 🎉💕 I use a bracket system to help me select my top book of each month and then those books pair off against one another to determine my best book by the end of the year. I didn’t create a new spread of this (just used my spread from last year) but added a moodier color look.
Next I have a super simple spread that acts as a list for me to keep track of all of the series I am in the middle of. 📖 I’ll write down all of the series that I am currently reading like: what books of the have read, what I have left to finish, what’s released, etc. One of the things on my mind for 2026 is to finish a lot of the series that I am currently in the middle of, and also not start any new series unless the entire series is out already (which probably won’t happen entirely, but I’ll try, haha.)
My next spread is a fun look at my 26 books to read in 2026 list. This showcases simply twenty-six books that I really want to read this coming year. I’ve created the spread as a glowing clothes line and then will add the covers of the books that I want to read. Then when I read them I will color over them or check them off. As as I was making this spread and trying to think of my list, I’ve determined that this will most likely be my list time doing this… 27 books in 2027 just seems like too many!!
The next two spreads kind of go together. 🎯 Technically last year I had these two spreads combined in my 2025 Reading Journal. The reason I split them up this year is because I ran out of room for my rating tracker. It previously ran vertically and kept track of all of the different ratings I’d been giving books (not showing the specific book—that can be found on Goodreads or Fable). This was mostly used just to see what I typically rated books and visualize the stars I was giving out. However, since I ran out of space for my vertical graph last year, I knew that I needed to do a double page spread with a horizontal graph this year. So, I split up my 5 Star Reads spread and added in a screenshot from my notes app that shows me rating system. The 5 Star Reads spread will have book covers of all of the books I give five stars to.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Then I have another repeat spread which looks essentially the same as last year—a list of all of the books I bought 🤑 Last year I did buy a lot of books, but I read most of them… so I call that a win!!
My last spread that I have currently made in my initial set up from my 2026 Reading Journal is my goals page. On the right you’ll see I’ve listed all of my reading related goals for the year. On the the left side of the spread I just have a blank space to use for pictures. 🧸🩶 I did this last year and it was really fun to see all of the images I took that showcase my favorite books or book related events or things I did.
Last year I did monthly spreads for about half of the year before I decided to stop doing that because it took more time and felt really redundant. If I can figure out a way to implement this again that feels super simple and not copy and paste then I will give it a go. What are your suggestions? Are there any other spreads I missed in my initial set up for my 2026 Reading Journal that you think I need?
