Most reading logs die in February. They ask for too much: page counts, genres, a review for every book, a goal you already feel behind on. The ones that last ask for almost nothing. Here's how to keep one that's still going in December.
Log less than you think
For each book, three things are enough:
- The title and author.
- Where it stands. Want to read, Reading, Read, or Dropped.
- When you finished it. A rough date is fine.
Everything else is extra. Add a rating if you have an opinion. Add a note if a line stuck with you. Skip both when you don't feel like it. A log with 40 bare titles beats a beautiful one that stopped at six.
Set up your log
On Logfolio, Books is ready from the start. Open Books in the sidebar, press Add, type the title and author, and pick a status:
- Want to read is your to-read pile. Add books the moment someone recommends them, so you stop losing the list.
- Reading is what's on your nightstand now.
- Read is the finished pile. This is what counts toward your year in review.
- Dropped is for books you gave up on. Keeping them is useful too: you'll remember why, and you won't buy the same book again.
Dates don't have to be exact
You won't remember the day you finished every book, and you don't need to. The date can be a full day, just a month, or just a year. "Sometime in 2019" is a real answer, and the book still lands in the right year.
Ratings and notes
Ratings go from half a star to five stars. If you rate everything 4 stars, that's fine; it still tells you which books you'd hand to a friend.
The note on each book is for you. Notes stay private: your public page shows titles, ratings, dates, and tags, never what you wrote. So write the honest version.
Tags beat shelves
Instead of one shelf per idea, add tags: book-club, audiobook, borrowed, reread. A book can have as many as you like. On your public page, visitors can tap a tag to see just those books.
Already logging somewhere else?
Don't type it all in again. If your books are on Goodreads or StoryGraph, export the file and import it. Your ratings and dates come with it, and your shelves or tags become tags here. With Pro, your Kindle highlights can come over as quotes. The full steps are in the guide to moving your history.
Make it something people want to see
A reading log is more fun when someone else can see it. Your books live at logfolio.co/yourname/books, as a shelf of covers that look like real books. Visitors can filter by Read, Reading, and Want to read.
- Feature your best. Mark up to five books as featured and they lead your shelf.
- Keep some books to yourself. With Pro, mark any entry private and it never leaves your account.
- Send the link. It's the easiest way to answer "read anything good lately?" Here's a sample reading log to see how one looks.
How much it costs
Free holds 20 entries each in books, films, TV, games, and albums, which is plenty to see if the habit sticks. Pro removes the limit and adds quotes, bookmarks, and types of your own, all on the same page.