Book Reading Log: The Best Ways to Track Your Books in 2025
As book lovers, tracking our reading journey can be a rewarding part of the experience. Whether you’re aiming to read a certain number of books, explore new genres, or simply keep track of the books you’ve loved (or not loved), keeping a book reading log in 2025 has never been easier. With so many tools and apps at your disposal, you can make your reading experience more organised, enjoyable, and insightful. In this post, I’ll share some of the best methods for tracking your reading this year, including two of my personal favourites: The StoryGraph and Fable.
The StoryGraph: A Personalised Book Reading Log That Goes Deeper
If you’re looking for an intuitive, visually rich way to track your books, The StoryGraph is hard to beat. It’s built for readers who want more than a simple checklist – it’s a personalised, data-driven platform that makes your book reading log feel insightful and rewarding.
Key Features
- Personalised Reading Stats: Track your reading moods (e.g., reflective, mysterious, hopeful), pacing preferences, and book lengths. It goes beyond just numbers, showing you what kind of books you tend to reach for.
- Reading Challenges: Participate in public reading challenges or create your own. Whether you want to read a set number of books or explore new genres, it keeps you focused and inspired.
- Smart Book Recommendations: Based on your reading habits, The StoryGraph recommends books that align with your taste – perfect if you’re ever in a slump.
- Multiple Book Tracking: Great for mood readers or those with chaotic TBRs – you can log several books at once without confusion.
- Clean, Minimal Interface: The design is beautiful and distraction-free, making it easy to update your log regularly.
How to Use:
Sign up for a free account on the StoryGraph website or app, set your reading goals for the year, and start logging your books. As you finish books, you can rate them, review them, and add tags to track your experience. The stats page will give you a snapshot of your reading progress.
Fable: A Social Book Reading Log for Community Lovers
If reading for you is a social activity as much as a solitary one, Fable might be your perfect reading log. It combines book tracking with online book clubs, discussions, and community-driven recommendations.
Top Features
- Book Clubs: Join public clubs by theme or genre, or create your own. I run a fantasy book club on Fable and it’s been a magical way to connect with like-minded readers.
- Reading Progress Tools: Log books you’ve read, are reading, or plan to read. You can update your page progress, write reviews, and reflect on your thoughts as you go.
- Discussion Threads: Dive into thoughtful conversations and insights from others – perfect for readers who love dissecting plot twists and character arcs.
- Recommendations from Peers: Get book suggestions based on your club’s collective reads, keeping your TBR fresh and community-minded.
- Reading Goals: Set annual or seasonal goals and enjoy satisfying visual progress bars as you tick books off your list.
Getting Started
Fable is available on desktop and mobile. Sign up, explore the club options, or start your own private reading group. As with any reading journal, consistency makes all the difference – update your log regularly to stay motivated and discover new favourites.
Alternative Book Reading Log Methods for 2025
Not every reader vibes with apps – and that’s okay! Here are a few more creative and analogue options for logging your literary life.
Goodreads
Goodreads is still a popular go-to for a reason. It offers annual reading challenges, virtual shelves, and a massive community. While its design can feel a little dated, it’s a simple and effective book reading log for anyone who wants a digital bookshelf.
Pros:
- Massive community of readers
- Built-in reviews and ratings
- Easy-to-use reading challenge
Cons:
- Clunky interface
- Limited personalisation compared to newer apps
Bullet Journals
If you’re a creative soul, crafting your own reading journal using a bullet journal might be just the ticket. You can create customised spreads with book lists, star ratings, genre trackers, and even artistic flourishes like doodles and quote pages.
While I’ve never managed to keep one going long-term, I always admire the gorgeous spreads others create!
Spreadsheets
For data-lovers and spreadsheet nerds (guilty!), this method is flexible and highly customisable. In Google Sheets or Excel, you can track:
- Title
- Author
- Genre
- Page count
- Start and finish dates
- Star ratings
You can also create graphs to visualise trends, such as how many books you’ve read per month or which genres dominate your reading.
Notion Templates
Notion offers the best of both worlds: it’s digital, flexible, and endlessly customisable. You can design a full reading dashboard with shelves, tags, goals, reviews, and visuals. Think of it as a DIY book reading log that evolves with you.
There are also plenty of free Notion templates online to get you started. You can even incorporate your reading journal into a larger life dashboard.
Why Keep a Book Reading Log at All?
Beyond being a handy record, maintaining a book reading log has deeper benefits:
- Memory Keeper: It helps you remember your thoughts and feelings about books you’ve read.
- Motivation Booster: Seeing your progress builds momentum and keeps you reading.
- TBR Tamer: It prevents you from rebuying books you’ve already read (yes, we’ve all done it!).
- Reflection Tool: Over time, you’ll notice patterns in your preferences and learn more about your reading identity.
- Creativity Spark: Whether it’s a reading journal with artistic flair or a stats-filled spreadsheet, the process of logging itself can be deeply satisfying.
Ready to Start Your Book Reading Log?
Whether you’re team app, team paper, or somewhere in between, the most important thing is to find a system that fits your life. Tracking your books doesn’t have to be perfect or complicated – it just needs to bring you joy and clarity.
If you’re looking for a gentle push to get started, why not begin with one of these ideas today:
- Create a free account on The StoryGraph or Fable
- Download a Notion template
- Start a spreadsheet with your current reads
- Grab a blank notebook and design your own reading journal
Whichever method you choose, your book reading log can become a beautiful companion on your literary journey this year. Here’s to a thoughtful, inspiring, and book-filled 2025.
💡 Want more ideas like this? Head over to The Fabled Pages for even more cosy, bookish tips and tools to help you live your most literary life.
Amy x
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