Can you remember every book you've ever read?

When I was about 17 and studying English Literature at A-Level I remember thinking that it would be amazing if I had some sort of record of every book I'd ever read.

As a teenager, I remember being bitterly disappointed when I'd take a book out of the library and eagerly start reading it when I got home, only to realise by about page 5 that I'd read it before.

Over the summer, my biggest boy, E, who recently turned seven, suddenly 'discovered' reading. We had been reading Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and when we went to the library I pointed out 'James and the Giant Peach' and explained it was by the same author. After we got home, he disappeared for hours and I found him, deeply engrossed, actually reading on his own.

So, with thoughts of how wonderful it would be to have a record of all the books we'd read, we bought a special reading record notebook. It's just a regular, hardback notebook and I have drawn in columns in which E can write the date, the title of the book, the author and what he thought of it.

In years to come, it will be amazing to see, not only what he's read, but also how his handwriting and tastes change and develop over the years. I'm hoping to keep all the notebooks we fill and present them to him on his 18th birthday.