What is the best way to keep track of the books you have read?

Why keep track at all?

Readers keep a record for different reasons: to remember what they read and what they thought, to avoid buying the same book twice, to see their reading change over a year, or to answer "what should I read next" from their own history. Which reason matters most to you decides which method fits.

Method 1: a reading tracker app

A tracker such as Goodreads, The StoryGraph, Hardcover or Literal finds the book for you, often by barcode, records your progress and builds a yearly count. Most add goals, stats and friends.

Good at: speed, counting, finding books, sharing. Misses: your own words, unless you write reviews; and your data lives in someone else's service, so check the privacy label and whether you can export.

The tracker finder narrows the apps by how you read, and the first-time trackers guide covers setup.

Method 2: a spreadsheet

A spreadsheet with one row per book and columns you choose: title, author, format, date finished, rating, one line of notes. It takes longer to fill in than an app but it is entirely yours, works offline and never changes its features on you.

Good at: control, custom columns, privacy. Misses: barcode scanning, covers, friends.

If you already use Goodreads, its CSV export is a ready-made starting spreadsheet.

Method 3: a paper reading journal

A notebook with a page or half-page per book: title, dates, and a few lines on what stayed with you. It is slower than any app, and that is the point: writing by hand makes you pause on the book.

Good at: memory, reflection, no screens. Misses: search, counting, backups.

Method 4: your library app's history

If you borrow most of your books, your library may already be keeping a record. Libby has a Timeline on its Shelf screen that records your borrowing activity, and its help pages describe exporting it as a table on a web page or as a spreadsheet. It records what you borrowed, not whether you finished, so it works best as a source for one of the other methods. Our library borrowers note covers reading apps from the library side.

Method 5: a catalogue of books you own

A catalogue records copies rather than reading: what you own, where it is, who borrowed it. BookBuddy is the catalogue on our list, with exports to CSV, PDF, HTML, Excel and Numbers. The home library guide explains when you need one.

How do you choose?

• You want it quick and social: a tracker app.
• You want it private and permanent: a spreadsheet or BookBuddy.
• You want to remember books, not count them: a paper journal, perhaps alongside an app.
• You borrow almost everything: start from Libby's Timeline and copy finished books into your log.

A common pair is an app for the count and a notebook for the thoughts.

Which method suits which reader?

Many readers combine two: a catalogue for the shelves and an app for reading, or a library history plus a paper journal for thoughts.

How do you start if you have never tracked anything?

Start today, not with your whole past. Write down the book you are reading now and the last five you remember finishing, with rough dates if you know them. That is enough for a first record. Add older books only when one comes to mind, or in one sitting at the end of the year from your library history and your shelves.

The first month is about the habit of logging, not the completeness of the record. The first-time trackers guide has a fifteen-minute setup.

How do you keep the record if you change methods?

Export before you switch, every time. Apps change and shut features down; a paper journal can be photographed; a spreadsheet can be saved as CSV. Once a year, save a copy of your full record in a folder you control. In our study summary on recap features, 10 of 30 reading apps documented a way to export or sync your data out; choose one of those if keeping your history matters to you.

How do you track books you borrow, lend or abandon?

Each needs one extra field. For borrowed books, note where the book came from (library, friend) so your year shows how much you bought versus borrowed; Libby's Timeline can fill this in for library loans. For lent books, note who has your copy; BookBuddy records loans for books you own. For abandoned books, mark them did not finish with the page you reached, so the record shows what did not work for you. Goodreads added a Did Not Finish shelf in March 2026.

How do spreadsheet columns map to tracker fields?

If you start in a spreadsheet and later move to an app, use column names the app will recognise:

Keeping an ISBN column makes any later import far more accurate, because titles alone often match the wrong edition.

Save the spreadsheet as CSV before any import, and keep the original file. If an import goes wrong, you can delete the imported books in the app and try again with corrected columns, without retyping anything.

How often should you update the record?

Once per book is enough for a log: add the book when you start it and the finish date when you finish. Updating progress every session is optional, and it suits readers who like stats or who often stop mid-book. If you do stop for a while, write the page and one line about where the story stands before you put the book down; that line is worth more after a month away than a percentage.

What should every record include?

At minimum: title, author, the date you finished (or stopped), and format. One line in your own words is the field you will be most glad of in five years. If you stop a book partway, record that too; Goodreads and The StoryGraph both have did-not-finish markers, and a spreadsheet can have a status column.

Keeping track of the story itself, rather than the book, is a different job. If you want to remember where a long book stands when you come back to it, a one-line note at each stop works for any book, and Magic Bookmark recaps supported titles up to your page.