When it comes to remembering what I’ve read, I have a brain like a sieve. Book titles and authors slip out of my head like I’ve sprung a leak, and you can forget my remembering plot details, no matter how much I enjoyed the book. To combat this problem, I like to keep a log of the books I’ve read. I’ve tried quite a few different methods in my quest to find the perfect way to track my reading, each with it’s own benefits. Today I’m going to share some easy was to track your reading. Feel free to add any suggestions of your own in the comments.
The easiest way to keep a book log is in a notebook. I usually try to write down at least the title, author, genre, and a star rating so I can remember at a glance how much I enjoyed it, or not. If you’re looking for an easy way to track reading without going to too much trouble, then this is an easy way to do that. It is a bit limiting however, as you do have to hand write everything, so the more detail you go into, the harder keeping this sort of log can be.
Another easy way to keep a reading log is in a Word document. I like to create a simple template to fill in for each book containing title, author, genre, synopsis, and my general impressions of the book so that I can remember exactly what I liked about the book. It’s also easy to keep a list of books you want to read in the same file, and to come back and add more details to an entry at a later date. It’s very simple, and a little basic, but really easy to maintain.
If you’re looking for more functionality than a simple Word document can give you, Evernote is a great option. It’s a dedicated note taking app, which syncs between your devices. You can create a folder for your book log, and make a new note for each book you read, add images, and tag each note with custom tags so you can easily search for book entries. I tagged my books with categories like genre, star rating, series, and so on.
Goodreads is one of the biggest places bookworms like to use to track their reading. Most books are on there, so it’s easy to find them and mark them as books you’ve read. You can star rate them, review them, mark rereads easily, and join in a huge book loving community. If you’re not into leaving public reviews, there are even options for making private notes that no one but you can see. Plus if you want that extra motivational reading boost, you can set up a Goodreads Reading Challenge for the year and set yourself a target number of books to read throughout the year.
Currently I’m keeping my reading log on 4thewords, which is an awesome writing website that gamifies writing. It stores your writing on your account for you, and allows you to access it, even if your membership lapses. I have a folder for my reading log with separate subsections for each month. You can tag files with custom categories if you like to organise your things even more. There’s no ability to add images, but apart from that, it’s easy to keep a simple reading log with all the notes you need, update your entries later, and keep all your books organised. Plus, this is currently where I do all my writing, so it’s very convenient to have everything in one place.
How do you keep track of your reading? Have you got any suggestions to add to this list?
I am using Goodreads 🙂