"Wreck This Journal" - Keri Smith

"Wreck This Journal" - Keri Smith

 

This blog was ideally set up to give my review on books and open up a book discussion. This book, however, is actually an interactive journal. I thought that it should be noted on here because it is the most unique, awesome, and amusing journal I have ever seen.

 

I have spent most of my life journaling. This last year was hard, so my sister bought me this journal for Christmas to help get my creative juices flowing again. As I have read through it I have become completely obsessed with it. Instead of treating books with respect and care, as most of us are taught growing up, this book encourages you to destroy it. It is complete anarchy in the book world.

 

When I first started using this journal it started out simple. The first page tells you to write your name in different ways, such as: lightly, in white, big, and sloppy. This I could handle. It was like writing in the cover of the book saying it was yours. The next page is where I started to cringe. The second thing this book tells you to do is crack the spine. Destroying the spine on purpose seemed like I was throwing a glass vase against the wall. The unique torture continued the more I read.

 

One of the pages tells you to step on the book, jump on it, and wipe your dirty shoes on the page. I did this at work, but my shoes didn't leave a print. So, I had my office mate jump on the pages instead. It took some coaxing, but he eventually did jump on it. We laughed at it and kept saying that it seemed so wrong but so fun at the same time. It was an odd sense of torture to consciously destroy a book, but it also gave a strange sense of freedom.

 

As I work through this journal I find myself happy and relaxed. This book gives me permission to break the rules, and being a bit of a trouble maker is something most people enjoy. My ultimate conclusion about this book is... it is AWESOME! I cannot wait to continue to see what the journal tells me to do, and neither can my coworkers. It will be interesting to look back into this journal next year, when it is full, and see all the crazy things this journal and I experienced together.