Looking for the best reading trackers to keep track of the books you’ve read and the books you want to read? Keeping a reading log is one of the best decisions any reader can make, and it will quickly and easily improve your reading life. So if you’re ready to investigate the best reading trackers, read on!
what is a read log?
First of all, you might be wondering what a read crawler is. the concept itself is pretty self-explanatory, but essentially it’s just a way to keep track of the books you read (or books you want to read in the future).
You are reading: Books i’ve read tracker
but read trackers come in many different forms. there are apps you can use, lots of printables and bullet journals, spreadsheets, and just about any other method you can think of. however, some methods are better than others, so today we’re going to talk about some of the best options for tracking your reading!
Looking for ways to catalog all the books you own? check out these awesome home library apps!
why use a read log?
then why should you use a read log? having a system to track the books you read is useful on many levels, and can be a lot of fun too!
first, tracking your reading can help you focus on reading more instead of worrying about feeling disorganized. Less time worrying about organization means more time reading.
It can also save you from the horrible feeling of forgetting a book you really want to remember and not being able to find it later! I can’t tell you how many times I used to forget the title of a book I loved and then have to try to find books again from a vague description. Now, because I keep a reading log, this happens much less often since I know exactly where I can find the books I’ve read before.
and, if you use a reading log that allows you to take notes, you can also easily find your thoughts on specific books…even years after you’ve read them. no more thinking “oh yeah… I read that book, but I don’t remember if it was any good”.
Of course, tracking your reading can also help you when you’re setting reading goals or trying to stay on track to reach your reading goals. Plus, it’s also so much fun to see how the books you’ve read add up over time… and to be able to look back on your year (or more) of reading and see everything you loved!
7 amazing reading trackers for readers
There are many different methods of reading tracking, but if you’re ready to try tracking your reading, here are some of the best methods to try.
1. book tracking spreadsheet
One of my favorite book tracking methods is to use a spreadsheet to keep track of the books I’ve read. I love this method because I can easily access my reading log from any device and from anywhere, and since it is stored in the cloud I know I won’t accidentally lose it!
Spreadsheets are also a great method to use because you have full control over your data (as opposed to using an app, where your data can be gone if something happens to the app or if it’s turned off…like did shelfari in 2016).
With a reading tracking spreadsheet, you can also choose what data you want to include and remove any superfluous items you don’t want to track. it’s your own private database, so you can do whatever you want with it!
That brings me to the next reason you might choose to use a book reading spreadsheet: Your data is private. Many online reading trackers are “social,” meaning that your books, reviews, ratings, etc. they are available for anyone to view. Social reading trackers can be fun, but some people prefer to keep their book logs private or share them with just a few people. If this is you, then a Google Sheets book crawler might be the way to go.
but are there any downsides to using a reading log spreadsheet? one of the biggest drawbacks is that it can take a bit of time to set up at first, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing with excel/google sheets.
but luckily for you, you can avoid this problem by getting the exact read tracking spreadsheet I use. I’ve done the setup work for you so you can simply enter the data on the books you read to start creating your own reading list spreadsheet. Plus, I’ve set it up to automatically get some great stats about the books you read… including how many books you’ve read, how many pages you’ve read, how many books you’ve read in various genres, and more!
Get the Reading Tracking Worksheet now to start tracking your reading!
2. good reads
When you’re looking to keep track of the books you read, one of the more popular options is to use the reading tracking features on Goodreads. You likely already use Goodreads when you’re looking up new books or searching for summaries, but if you haven’t yet tried out their book tracking capabilities then now is the time to do so!
Essentially, this tracking method allows you to enter the books you read into “shelves”, which you can then view or sort to easily find the books you’ve read (or want to read). When you first create an account, you’ll automatically be given three shelves: “read”, “currently reading” and “want to read”. however, you can also add additional shelves to keep your reading more organized or set up your own shelving system for tracking.
so how does goodreads book tracking work? To use this reading tracking method, simply search for a book on the Goodreads site, and then click the triangle next to the green “I want to read” button. this allows you to add the book to any of your shelves, and then you can rate the book with stars, enter a public review, set the dates you started and finished reading it, and add other information as well.
goodreads works well for readers who want a more social review process, as reviews and shelves are public and there is a whole community of readers here who will interact with you and your reading choices. can be a lot of fun! goodreads also makes suggestions of what you’d like to read next based on the books you’ve added to your shelves, so this can be a great way to find your next favorite read, too.
Another thing I like about goodreads is that they have an app you can use (although there are some glitches sometimes!). but this means you can add to your reading list from your desktop, but you can also use the app to add new books or keep track of books read. this is very useful for when you’re at the library or bookstore, as you can have an easily accessible list of the books you want to read (and also avoid buying books you’ve already read or own).
Also, I love that goodreads has some stats options that let you see stats about your reading. I don’t think its stats are as beautiful or user-friendly as the stats on some of the other reading trackers on this list, but its “year in books” feature is definitely great and does a good job of summarizing your reading for the year. previous!
tip: if you want to switch to goodreads or switch from goodreads to another reading tracking method (like a tracking spreadsheet), you can easily import/export book data so you don’t have to enter all of it. manually again!
3. library
Another good place to track your reading is LibraryThing. Like Goodreads, LibraryThing is a social and public place for keeping a reading log…so you can add all your books for anyone to see and can also interact with others on the platform. This is my second favorite way to catalog my “Books I’ve Read” List (after using my Google Sheets spreadsheet) as this interface is really feature rich and has lots of cool stats to see!
With librarything, you can catalog your books online using your computer or you can use your reading log app on your phone to access or check in books from anywhere. I especially like that you can use the phone app to scan physical books into your catalog, instead of having to manually enter them. saves a lot of time!
librarything’s goal is to create a professional quality library catalog for all its users, so you can use this reading tracker app to keep track of books read, to keep track of all the books you own, or both. works by searching over 2,200 libraries, amazon catalogs, and the library of congress so you can easily enter books with all their information already included (this includes dewey’s decimal number, publication information, and even the height and weight of the book) . /p>
Other cool features of librarything’s reading tracker include that you can use your automatically created library catalogues, you can create your own catalogues, and you can tag books with your own tags to help you classify all the books later on. And when a new book comes in, there are also places to add reviews, public comments, private comments, and more.
These are just a few of the amazing features that librarything has to offer, but one more aspect that we must not fail to mention is its statistics tab. When you click on this tab, it will take you to a whole world of details and tidbits about the books you have read and your reading habits. Some of these include chart data on when the books you’ve read were published, how many awards the books you’ve read have received, how many total characters are in your cataloged books, and what distribution of star ratings you’ve awarded. to the books you’ve read.
but the library doesn’t stop there! they’ll also tell you what percentage of their authors are alive and dead, and give you other fun tidbits like the height of their total books stacked on top of each other compared to other objects…like a hobbit, a double-decker bus, waterfalls niagara and more! As your book list grows, you’ll get new items to compare it to. if you like fun statistics and love to obsessively track your reading, this is definitely the site for you!
You can get a free librarything account and start cataloging your books today. Plus, it’s easy to import your books from another source or export them if you decide to change the way you keep track of your reading, so it’s a no-brainer to use this amazing service.
4. libib
Libib is another good method for keeping a reading log, and it has a really clean interface and a free app you can use as well. With a free standard account at Libib, you can track up to 5,000 items in up to 100 different “libraries” (aka personal catalogs)!
Like librarything, this service strives to provide a place for individual readers to create a professional and organized personal library catalog. you can catalog books, movies, music or even video games through this system, although I personally have only used it to catalog my books.
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When you want to add a book to your catalog, simply create a new library or use an existing one. be sure to choose whether or not you want your library to be published (if you publish it, it’s available for anyone to see). you can then enter the book by searching for the isbn or keywords or you can enter it manually if it is a rare or old item. alternatively, you can use the app to easily scan a physical book and automatically enter it into your catalog.
When you enter a book, be sure to add tags, notes, set a star rating, or add it to a group (useful for book series so you can display all the books together in your catalog). Adding this data makes your library easily searchable, so you can find books alphabetically by title/author, by publication date, by tag, or any number of other useful methods.
Your listings will contain all of this information, as well as book thumbnails, summaries, and other auto-extracted data about the book so you have everything you need right at your fingertips. For books you own, you can also set how many copies you have, what condition the book is in, and how much you paid for it. plus, there’s a nice basic stats page you can visit to get more information about the books you’ve cataloged.
I use libib mostly for my own collection of books I actually have rather than books I’ve read from the library or borrowed from friends, but if you want to use it as a way to keep track of reading it definitely has the functionality for this. also. You can even create a library of “read but not owned” books if you like, or add a tag to all the ones you own so you can keep them separate from the ones you’ve only read but not bought.
Overall, this is a really awesome interface for tracking a personal library or tracking your reading. It also has a way to import or export books from libib, so if you’re using another reading tracker and want to switch to this one, you can easily do so. so go ahead and check out this cool tracking option today!
5. printable reading journal
Another popular method for keeping a reading log is to use a printable reading journal. This allows you to print out the exact pages you want to use, and to print as many of them as you want, so your journal is always exactly what you need.
If you’d like to try a printable reading journal, you can get a copy of my printable reading journal I created for you for free. provides several of the most common reading journal pages to help you get started in the world of printable reading journals.
Check it out and start tracking your reading today!
6. physical/bound reading journal
Wondering how to keep track of books read and feeling old school? Then using a physical journal to keep your reading log could be the solution for you! This is a fun method to use for those who love the physical aspect of keeping their reading log on a shelf…or for those who are artistic and want to create their own reading journal in a bullet journal format!
There are many reading journals to choose from and the one you choose will depend on your own needs and desires for what you want to track. If you want a pre-formatted journal, you may want to consider some like the Book Lovers Journal, the Ex Libris Private Reading Journal, or this Book Lovers Reading Journal.
however, if you prefer to customize what you want to track about each book and have the freedom to create your own lists and sections, I recommend getting a blank bulleted notebook (such as the leuchtturm 1917 journal) to create your own journal. reading. this is especially fun for those who are artistic, but you don’t have to be artistic to use this method. If you’re looking for cute designs, you can purchase inserts from etsy stores or similar sites and then paste them directly into your notebook or use them as a template to trace the design onto your journal.
When wondering how to keep track of your reading, the physical format of a reading journal can be a really satisfying way to keep track of your books. Of course, you won’t have access to automatically created stats with a physical journal… but the customization and artistic aspects of this method make it worth it for those who love to keep their reading logs on the shelf!
7. bookshelf reading track markers
And last but not least, another reading tracker method you might want to try are these printable bookshelf reading tracker bookmarks!
These bookmarks are offered as a digital download so you can print as many as you’d like for your personal use. they allow you to write titles of books you have read on the book spines, and you can also color the books if you wish.
Since this book tracking method is in the form of a bookmark, you’ll always have your reading list handy by including it in your last read. this is a simple and easy way to keep track of your reading, so they are sure to quickly become your new favorite bookmarks.
Buy Bookshelf Reading Tracker Bookmarks Now!
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