How to track the books you read

1. Give every book a status

On SelfShelf each book is Want to read, Reading, Finished or Did not finish. That alone answers the questions readers ask most: what am I reading now, what’s next, and how many books did I finish this year? The By status view lays your books out on those shelves for you.

2. Note your page as you go

For the book you’re reading, add the page you’re on. Your home page shows how far through you are, so picking it up again is easy.

3. Set a yearly reading goal

Choose how many books you’d like to finish this year in Edit profile. A progress bar fills as you finish books, and your profile shows how many months in a row you’ve finished at least one.

4. Write a few lines when you finish

Your future self will thank you. For each book you can give a rating (half stars too), write what stayed with you, add it to your own collections, note when you started and finished, and keep quotes with their page number alongside your own reflections, characters, scenes and lessons. Your journal and memory archive collect them all in one place.

5. Look back on your year

Your year, wrapped turns your reading into shareable cards: books finished, your book of the year, month by month, your favourite genres and authors.

Tips for keeping a reading log

• Log a book the day you start it, not when you finish, so nothing slips through.
• Mark books you didn’t finish too. Knowing what didn’t work for you is useful.
• Keep your goal realistic; it’s there to encourage you, not to make reading a chore.
• Save the line you underlined while you still remember the page.

Want to see your books on a shelf as well as in a log? Read how to make a virtual bookshelf.