Keeping notes on books read

[Cocojazz]

I’d like to start keeping notes on books I’ve read, mainly to remember what I’ve read and how much I enjoyed a book.

I know I could rate a book on Goodreads (and it has a list of books I’ve read) but I don’t want to put up a public review - just wanted to to put my own thoughts down. I know you can add private notes on the website but for some reason they don’t show up on the Goodreads app.

So I’m interested in how any of you keep track of your reading? I would like something I could access on my phone - that way I can recommend books to people quite easily. Thanks!

I have been looking at tracking apps, mainly because if I am reading books in a series, if there's a gap I just can't remember what happened, so I want to keep notes of plot outlines.

i can't recommend either, as I haven't tried them yet, but you might want to have a look at Bookshelf: reading tracker and Bookmory.

I used to use Bookly it was pretty good

Thank you both. I'll take a look at your suggestions x

I don't keep track of books in general, and if I did, it certainly wouldn't be in a public forum.
And, really, how often do people ask you for recommendations? I never get asked.
If it were me, I'd do it in a beautiful little notebook - or, failing that, on my home desktop, where I could easily write at length.

I don’t really keep notes as such, because I review books as I read them on the 50 Books thread, but I just keep a list of what I’ve read in a Google document (I used to use the Notes app on my phone but the dysfunctional numbering drove me mad).

I then just cut and paste as needed.

There ought to be a reading record book for adults like children have at primary school

There is! Loads of book journals online x

I have two Pinterest boards, "books I read" and "books to read". Much as I would love to record my reading in a "beautiful little notebook" in practice I wouldn't have it with me all the time, whereas I can access Pinterest through my phone, tablet or laptop. I also like having a picture of the cover. I don't write anything about the book but I could. "Books to read" also doubles as a wish list I can point people to who might like to buy me a present, and I can easily move books from one board to another once read.

I use the Colornote app on my phone for that. It's just a notes app but I really like it's simplicity. I keep a list of books read and add any comments.

I just use a nice notebook.

I’ve moved from good reads to jelu recently as I wanted an offline self hosted version and it lets you put in notes, ratings etc

This would have helped me out- I'm trying to find a Scandi author who I want to read more of and can't remember who it was from the sketchy bits of plot I can recall, is so annoying

Start a thread! Someone’s bound to know.

I could, hope I don't get berated for vague details from crap memory!

I've done it, bet no-one knows!

I used to do that, but I could never find what I wanted!

Im not interested in sharing what, but I sometimes need to remind myself what happened in a book I read, so I like to keep notes on the plot.

I use self-hosted Jelu too. Very similar to Goodreads but private.

I use Storygraph which is a great free app. It allows you to record what you've read and the format so audio, graphic novel, paperback etc. You can keep private notes on anything you ate reading. I personally love the way it gives you graphs of what you've been reading.

Thanks for all the additional replies. Certainly given me a lot to look into x

I use an excel spreadsheet! Different tab for each year. Space for as long or short a comment as you want. I then put in bold books I have particularly enjoyed!

A good friend of mine jots the date she reads books on the flyleaf. She has a notebook she writes her thoughts in, so if she wants to know something about a particular book she looks at the earliest date on the flyleaf and looks that month up in her book journal.

I make short note in the review section of Good Reads if it was good enough or bad enough to merit comment.

I keep 98% of my books hence 2 floor to ceiling bookshelves groaning with books! The floor next to the bookshelves is involved now too with mire stacked there. If I'm trying to remember an author or a book, series etc, I turn to my shelves.

Microsoft OneNote is great for this. You can use the search function to look up a key word once you have added your notes. I use it to keep notes on everything!

Bookmory for me. I like the visual of the calendar too.

I use LibraryThing for this (though LibraryThing is primarily for maintaining a catalogue of your books).