Journal Prompts for Book Lovers - January 2024

To kick off 2024, I’ll be posting a monthly list of journal prompts for book lovers.

With the rise of BookTok, I find that we quickly breeze from one book to another, terrified of missing out on the next great read. We focus on a GoodReads yearly book goal with too much precision. Readers aren’t retaining the material anymore, and plenty of amazing stories are getting left behind. To kick off 2024, I issued a challenge to my followers: find new, unique ways to connect with your books.

As part of this challenge, I’ve posted journal prompts each day asking various questions of my followers and the larger book-loving community. The questions are meant to create comradery between readers, provide recommendations, and reflect on a deeper level about what we’ve read. I’ve captured all the journal prompts I proposed in January and listed them below. Feel free to use them as your own personal reflection, as a journal prompt, or as a conversation starter at your next book club meeting.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.The man who never reads lives only one.”
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

What is a book you wish your best friend would read with you?
How many books did you read last year? How many do you plan to read this year?
What character’s death do you have yet to recover from?
If you were making a time capsule, what book are you including for people of the future to read?
Who is your favorite literary couple, and what do you love most about their relationship?
Which wise book character could you learn the most from? What knowledge or skill would you want to learn from them?
Name your ultimate book boyfriend!
What book would you recommend to someone looking for a new beginning in 2024?
What book are you hoping is adapted into a tv show or movie?
Describe the most ideal environment to read in. What time of day is it? What is the weather like? What are you drinking or snacking on?
What’s the most overrated book on BookTok?
What character did you desperately want a happy ending for, but they never got it?
Name the last 5 star book you read.
What is your favorite trope to read? What is your least favorite?
In honor of MLK Jr, what civil rights-related book should more people read?
Do you have any book-inspired tattoos? Or do you have one you’re planning on getting?
Do you get emotional when you read? What is the last book that made you cry?
If fictional places were real, where would you live?
What book would you recommend to people with your zodiac sign?
What book reminds you of your childhood?
Have you ever thought about writing a book? What genre would you write under?
What’s the most under-appreciated genre, and why should more people read it?
You’re writing your memoir. What is the title?
What’s the best piece of self-love advice you received from a book?
Settle the debate: hardcovers or paperbacks?
What classic is wildly overrated?
What is the most recent book you added to your TBR?
How do you organize the books in your home library? Alphabetically? Genre? Spine color?
What character made the best book mom? Book dad?
What book from the true crime genre still haunts you? Has the case been solved? Do you think it ever will be?
It’s the end of January. What are your best and worst reads from this month?