There are multiple ways to track your favorite books, quotes, reading progress, and wishlist. However, using boring tables and spreadsheets doesn’t really cut it for power users. After trying out multiple tools, I finally landed on Notion. Thanks to its extensive database features, flexibility, and customization, you can create a personalized book tracker that’s unique to your reading tastes.

If you are curious to see how this rolled out, continue reading as I walk you through how I built my ultimate Notion reading hub, complete with widgets, charts, and other fancy add-ons.

Start with a blank Notion page

While there is no shortage of book tracker templates in Notion, I would advise starting with a blank page. It gives you the flexibility to decorate and design it the way you want. Let’s get started.

1. Open your Notion database and click +.
2. Give it a relevant name, assign an icon, and apply a banner at the top. You can insert a picture from third-party sources like Unsplash as well.
3. I have searched for Book on Unsplash and added a matching wallpaper that vibes with my Notion setup.

Now, let’s jazz up your Notion page with a quote on reading. Type /quote and type it down. You can even make it bigger from the six-dot menu.

Create a database for tracking books

Now that the basics are in place, it’s time to create the ultimate book tracker for your Notion page.

1. Type /database and insert one into your page.
2. In the example below, I have inserted the properties below into a database. I will quickly go over them and share their purpose.

• Title: As the name suggests, it shows the book's name.
• Author: Displays book author name. You can also add a publication.
• Rating: Lets me rate a book out of five stars.
• Status: I have added Ready to Start, Reading, and Finished status here.
• Current pages: Displays my current page on a specific book. This will help me track the reading progress (more on that later).
• Total pages: Shows the total number of pages.
• Genre: I can add specific genres like Horror, Adventure, Technology, Sports, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Self-Help, Fantasy, and more.
• Completion: I have inserted a formula to track the completion progress.

You can also get creative and add other details like month finished, year finished, release year, main characters, and more. At any point, you can open a book page to check all the relevant properties.

Now, let me show you how to add Rating property as you may face a hard time setting it up.

1. Create a new column with Select property.
2. Rename it as Rating and insert a star icon beside it.
3. Select Edit property.
4. Click + beside Options and use the default emoji panel to enter star icons. I have added one to five-star icons and used different colors for better differentiation.

Add another database view

Notion supports several database views to choose from. I have added another database with a gallery view. Let’s rename it On the Bookshelf.

1. Click the + icon beside your database and select Gallery.
2. Notion asks you to link it to your existing database.
3. Select your current database and check your books in gallery view.

Similarly, you can explore other database views, but these two should be sufficient for most.

Track your reading progress

As I mentioned, I have included Current pages and Total pages properties in my database. That way, I can use the Formula property to track the reading progress. Here’s how.

1. Open your existing Notion database. Create a new column with Formula property.
2. Rename as Completion and add a relevant icon.
3. Use the bar chart, change its color to Green (goes well with book reading progress), and enable the Show number
4. Select Edit formula and type the formula below.

round((Current Page/Total Pages)*100)/100

Click Save and you are good to go. From now on, whenever you add current and total pages to your database, the progress bar updates itself automatically. Check out the screenshot below for reference.

Create a database for your favorite quotes

When you read several books, you may come across a variety of quotes, interesting facts, and inspirational materials. I have created a separate database to store such quotes with the relevant details, so that I can remember not only the information but also where it came from.

1. Type /gallery and press enter to insert a gallery view.
2. Rename it as Quotes and select New page.
3. Enter a quote, insert an icon, and add a book name and author as properties.
4. As always, you can add as many quotes as you want to your book tracker.

Utilize widgets

While Notion doesn’t support widgets by default, you can use third-party ones to level up your page’s esthetics. While there are several third-party widgets out there, I will insert a life widget to track month, week, year, and other progress. For that, I will use Widgetbox as follows.

1. Visit Widgetbox on the web and search for Life Progress widget.
2. Select Create and customize it to your preferences.
3. Glance over the preview and click Copy.
4. Move back to your Notion page and type /embed.
5. Paste the link and check the widget in action.

Notion widgets update automatically in the background. You can insert weather, time, and other widgets as well.

Never lose a book again

Prior to utilizing Notion, I maintained my book collection records using Excel. I have now ditched the dull rows and columns for a vibrant, customized book tracker that's as unique as my interests are. What are you waiting for? Go through the steps above and transform your reading experience from chaotic to captivating.

If you don’t want to create a book tracker from scratch, you can utilize the built-in templates to get started quickly. Check out my dedicated post to find the top templates for Notion workspace.