Book Apps

I have been tracking my reading for the past 20 years. Before the apps, I have a notebook that I would write down the book, a summary, and a rating system. I, for one, like to be able to look back at my reading history, whether it is to weigh in on a book or to find recommendations for my friends.

Since I am of a certain age (meaning Gen X), I have used Goodreads for most of my tracking history. It was not a problem until Amazon, who I believe is going to destroy the world of publishing, bought the app. However, all of my friends are on Goodreads, and let me tell you that it is difficult to get people to change to a different app. So, I have been playing around with a couple of different apps.

Goodreads — The granddaddy of book apps. The great thing is that it has a history of my reading, even greater is that I can download that history and take it somewhere else. I like the challenges they set up, and I like to see what my friends are reading. I wish that I could give 1/2 stars; it really can’t be that difficult to add that into the programming, so I’m not sure why we are still dealing with the star issue. I also start my review with “this is a 4.5 book,” but it would so much easier if it was an option in Goodreads. My reading friends won’t change, so I put every book in Goodreads for them to see what I’m reading.

Bookmory — I used this one for about a year because I really like their graphic calendar of my reading. At first, I liked the statistic aspect, but I was not charting my progress every day, so the data was a bit skewed. I only stopped using this app because I found one that gave me more data.

Fable — One of my students introduced me to Fable. I like the app, but I do not have any friends on this app. It allows for greater input about a book, and yes, it does quarter stars for the ratings. Its app is more intuitive than Goodreads, and it looks much nicer as well. I’ve only started using this one, so I can’t say whether or not it will win out in the end. I do like that I was able to download my Goodreads history into their app.

Storygraph — My favorite app by far is Storygraph. I love the data it provides. I like that I am putting in the edition that I am reading. This app lets me know my ratio of regular books/ebooks/audiobooks. It tells me how many pages I’m reading daily (if I log it), monthly, yearly. It tells me what genres I tend to pick up. I’m sure there are more analytics that I could have, but I’m still using the free version. I feel like Storygraph is still in its infancy, and there are going to be great things coming down the pipeline. They recently changed the interface when reviewing books that it easier to use because of the way it is set up.

All this to say, logging your reading is a personal thing. Some people done have the consuming desire to have this information at their fingertips, while other (me!) thrive on this information. If find it akin to an athlete keeping track of their stats. They will be able to discuss those stats, so why shouldn’t I be able to discuss my reading stats?

Do you tracking your reading? What apps do you like? Am I missing out? Is there a better app that I’m unaware of?