M. Suzanne Terry

A big part of my reading life is taking notes – on what I’ve read and when I read it, how much I liked it, what I want to read, etc. Maybe someone out there is wondering, “But…why? Isn’t reading enjoyable enough on its own?” Well, yes. I loved to read long before I actually kept any sort of records about it. But why settle for enjoyable enough when I can heighten the enjoyment? That’s what tracking does for me.

There are several reasons why I track my reading habits and goals:

• It helps me stay out of the reading rut. Left to my own devices, I will grab the nearest thing to read and plow my way through. When I do this, I tend to gravitate to certain types of books. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but after a while, even my favorite genre starts to seem like homework if that’s all I’m reading. Actually planning my reading and keeping track of what I’ve finished helps me head off staleness at the pass so that I am more likely to stay engaged.
• Related to the first point, tracking my reading helps me ensure that I’m not just sticking to my comfort zone by gravitating toward authors who tell stories that are similar to my own. One of my favorite benefits of reading is that it constantly fine-tunes my ability to empathize and appreciate other people’s perspectives, and maintaining some diversity in my selections is a good way to aid this process. 
• Tracking gives me better recommendations. I love tracking through Scribd, because when I rate something highly after I finish it, it updates with suggestions for other books I might enjoy. So what if my TBR list is so long I’d never finish it in 10 lifetimes? I like having well-curated choices.
• Keeping up with what I’ve read also helps me offer better recommendations to others. Inevitably, upon learning that I love to read, people will ask, “What’s the best book you’ve read?” First, how dare you ask me to choose just one. Second, off the top of my head? I have no idea. I can gush at length about one of the books I’m currently reading, but if a person (or one of my book clubs) is actually looking for something I liked that they might like, too? I’m going to pull up the trusty Goodreads app and peruse my personal reading challenge lists and filter through until I find something I think they’ll enjoy. 

In March 2020, when everything shut down, I found myself going through my planner and crossing out all the plans that were getting canceled. I tried making it festive by putting stickers over them, but the novelty of that wore off quickly. So as the fresh pages of new weeks appeared, I just started using my planner as my TBR list. I limited it to my notes section in my 2021 planner, but it was already full by the end of August. Now I have a designated book journal that I carry around. 

I also just got the newly released book journal by Anne Bogel (aka Modern Mrs. Darcy, queen of book lists) called My Reading Life. I have started thumbing through it and think it will be an excellent way to track at least the books I read for book club, as the tracking pages each have a notes section. She also gives tips for leading book club discussions (which is great – because I’m not awesome at that), her own tips for overcoming ruts, suggestions for setting reading goals, and, of course, more TBR lists. I look forward to using it!

Do you track your reading? If so, what’s your process like?