Book tracker
Title, author, and whether you are reading it, finished it, or might.
Book tracker
Sample layout
| Title | Author | Status | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample novel | Sample author | Reading | 4 |
| Sample essays | Sample author | Finished | 5 |
| Sample guide | Sample author | Want |
Sample shelf. Ratings are personal, not a score for the book.
The shelf
A books database, which is what book notion and books notion searches are circling, is a reading list with a status. Use Title, Author, Status (want, reading, finished, stopped), and Rating if you want one. A start date and a finish date are worth adding only when you care about pace. A page count is optional.
The note on a row should be a line you want to find again, or a reason you stopped. A full plot summary duplicates the book. If the book is for a class, the reading can also be a task on the assignment tracker. The tracker here is the shelf you keep after the course ends.
Views
Three views are enough: reading now, finished this year, and the want list. A goal such as 'finish twelve books' can count the finished view. Do not build a dashboard of charts until the list has a year of rows.
Questions
- What status values should a book tracker use?
- Want, reading, finished, and stopped. 'Stopped' keeps a book you quit out of the want list without pretending you finished it.