I freely admit that this post is more propaganda to try to get people to consider using a book journal than me actually believing that People In General keep book journals, but consider: keeping a book journal.
For reference, since I’m seeing people are unfamiliar with the concept entirely: a book journal is Exactly What It Says On The Tin. It’s a journal about the books you’ve read. Beyond that, anything goes.
Mine has the name of the book, the name of the author, the dates between which I was reading it, and then literally any unhinged rambling thoughts that are, however tangentially, related to the book and the experience of reading it. Some of the entries are multiple pages long. Some of the entries are one sentence (“Practical Magic but worse”; that book didn’t impress me much).
I’m probably in some weird artsy minority here, but I would really love to see less emphasis on realism in movies. I think trying to make everything look ultra-realistic puts too much focus on special effects. They suck up budget and audience attention, if they’re even slightly off-kilter they become a laughingstock, and they’re increasingly mandatory even for stories that don’t involve robots or aliens.
Meanwhile, in theater a flashlight with some orange paper on it can be a “fire” and everyone’s cool with that. You get the idea and that’s what counts. And by asking the audience to actively participate in suspension of disbelief, it can draw them even more into the story.
I wouldn’t want every movie to go this route, but I wish it were considered more of a legitimate artistic choice.
Here’s my latest book recommendation: Camp Ghoul Mountain VI. It claims to be a novelization of a cult slasher movie, but in fact it’s a nested story about an incongruously artistic horror sequel that became the center of conspiracy theories about aliens and 9/11, and the bizarre stories of those who worked on it and reinvented it as a midnight movie. A great book for the waning days of summer, especially if you live anywhere with trees!
