{"id":274,"date":"2025-08-03T12:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=274"},"modified":"2025-11-23T13:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T19:51:22","slug":"500-books-later-how-goodreads-helped-me-track-my-reading-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=274","title":{"rendered":"500 Books Later: How Goodreads Helped Me Track My Reading Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Huzzah!<\/strong> I recently hit a milestone: I\u2019ve tracked 500 books using <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/\">Goodreads<\/a>. That felt momentous enough to take a minute and celebrate\u2014because let\u2019s be real, that\u2019s a lot of pages!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"788\" src=\"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/500-Books2-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-276\" srcset=\"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/500-Books2-1.png 940w, http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/500-Books2-1-300x251.png 300w, http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/500-Books2-1-768x644.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Several years ago, I decided I wanted to track the books I read so I could build a better, more intentional reading list. In the past, I would be at a bookstore or library and stare at the cover of a book, trying to go through the dark recesses of my mind to determine \u2013 \u201cHave I already read this book?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever had that moment\u2014you&#8217;re not alone. I see posts on social media where people are asking for help keeping track of what they&#8217;ve read. My go-to solution? Goodreads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Why I Use Goodreads<\/strong> <strong>to Track my Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goodreads has a website (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\">www.goodreads.com<\/a>) and a mobile app. I use both when entering books, but the app is especially helpful if you want to enter books retrospectively. You can scan a book\u2019s barcode to quickly add it to your digital shelves\u2014no manual typing required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once scanned, just choose which \u201cshelf\u201d to place it on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Read<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Currently Reading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Want to Read<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also add dates, though I usually just enter the finish date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>How Accurate is My Book Count<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of me is bothered by that number because it\u2019s not fully accurate. It\u2019s only accurate in the fact that it counts the books I\u2019ve owned or read since I started entering the books into the app. I also added books I know with certainty I previously read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Books not counted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Childhood and college books (In writing this, I wish I had started tracking the books my boys have both read so they would have that information available to them).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Books I&#8217;ve read to my children over the last 12 years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Books I\u2019ve re-read.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But this is as accurate as I\u2019m going to get, which is OK with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Features I Love on Goodreads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goodreads has a lot of other capabilities other than book tracking, and here are just a few noteworthy features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Leave book reviews and ratings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create a reading challenge for yourself<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Connect with friends so you can see what each other is reading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create a Want to Read Shelf so you can add books that are on your radar to read<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Join a Group or Discussion of interest to you<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>And<\/strong> <strong>Features I Wish Goodreads Would Add<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cOwn It\u201d Button \u2013 A way to mark if I physically own a book. (It would help if I ever needed to replace them\u2014looking at you, homeowner\u2019s insurance. Any other paranoid readers out there?)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Track Re-Reads \u2013 I\u2019d love to log when I re-read a book without messing up my original dates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>How to Start Tracking Books on Goodreads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to start your own reading tracker? Here\u2019s a quick step-by-step:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Create an account at <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\">www.goodreads.com<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Download the Goodreads app<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Start scanning books you\u2019ve read or plan to read<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Organize them into shelves: Read, Want to Read, Currently Reading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set a Reading Challenge to keep yourself motivated!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>What About You?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you use Goodreads? If not, how do you track the books you\u2019ve read? Let me know if the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huzzah! I recently hit a milestone: I\u2019ve tracked 500 books using Goodreads. That felt momentous enough to take a minute and celebrate\u2014because let\u2019s be real, that\u2019s a lot of pages! Several years ago, I decided I wanted to track the books I read so I could build a better, more intentional reading list. In the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221,220],"tags":[222,100],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-tracking","category-goodreads","tag-book-tracking","tag-goodreads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":510,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}