Keep Track of the Books You Read

A reading log is the list of books you have finished — with the date and a short note, so the impression is still there a year later. Spreadsheets work until the list is long. All My Books for Windows is a catalog and a reading journal in the same file.

You can use it only as a diary. It is more useful as both: the books you own and the books you have read, including titles you borrowed and never bought.

Build the list

Install All My Books and add a book: Book → Add… (or the Add button). Type part of the title or the ISBN and press Enter. The program fills the card from an online book database — cover, description, pages, publisher. If several editions match, you pick one.

Mark a book as read

Each book card has an Unread flag. New books get it by default. When you finish a book, clear the flag. The program asks for the date read. Fill that field. Then use View → Group by → Date read to see a year-by-year (or month-by-month) journal.

Put a few sentences in Comments while the book is still fresh. Later rereads often disagree with the first note — that is the point of keeping it.

Books you abandoned still belong on the list if you want an honest journal. There is no built-in “gave up” mark; add a custom checkbox or text field under Preferences → Custom fields (for example Did not finish) and filter on it.

A reading log for a child

School reading journals are easier as a separate database: Database → New. Switch files with Database → Recent databases…. Print the list (Book → Print collection…) or export a PDF (Tools → Export to → Export to PDF…) if the teacher wants paper.

Loans: who borrowed a book

The same catalog has a loan manager. When you lend a paper copy, record the person and the due date. Turn on the overdue reminder in Preferences if you want a nudge. Tools → Loan history (or F12 from the how-to) shows who still has what.

Home-library overview, including loans: home library organizer.

Start the log

Download the trial, add three books you finished this year, clear Unread, set the dates, and group by date read. If that list is nicer than a notes file, you have a reading log.

Download All My Books

Russian version: читательский дневник. Paper-book walkthrough: how to catalog books.

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