Reading journal spreadsheet: what to write down for each book, with an example

Last updated: 20 October 2026 · By Quicksloth

A reading journal works when writing an entry takes a minute, so you keep doing it in March, not just in January. In a spreadsheet that means one row per book and a short list of columns, each with a job. Here is that list, with real rows from a filled-in example journal, and an honest look at what a paper journal still does better.

Short version: for every book write the title, author, status, the day you started and the day you finished (or stopped), and a rating. Add the format, pages or hours, the series and one line of notes if you like. Keep books you didn't finish in the same list, marked DNF, and leave long quotes and reflections to a notebook.

What to write down for each book

Every column should answer a question you'll ask later. If you can't name the question, leave the column out.

Pick the status from a fixed list rather than typing it: "Read", "Read " (with a space at the end) and "Finished" mean the same to you, but a count of Read books only finds the first. A drop-down menu (Data validation in Excel and Google Sheets) solves it.

Six entries from an example journal

These rows come from the example file of our Book Tracker: the library of a made-up reader, Emma, filled with 60 classics. Days is worked out from the two dates; the stars come from the rating.

Each note is one short line, and each one is useful later: "Reread from childhood" explains a 5, "Every December" is a reminder, and "maybe later" tells future Emma that Mansfield Park deserves a second try.

Two dates per book

• Finished decides the year. A book counts in the year you finished it. In the example, A Christmas Carol was started on 18 December 2025 and finished on 20 December 2025, so it belongs to 2025, not to Emma's 2026.
• Started gives you the days. Days = finished − started + 1: 18 to 20 December is 3 days. Across the 33 books Emma read in 2026, that's 11.3 days per book on average.
• A book marked Read with no finished date doesn't land in any year. Add the date, even an approximate one, when you change the status.

Ratings: half stars, finished books only

A scale from 0.5 to 5 in half stars is precise enough without overthinking it: 15 of Emma's 33 ratings in 2026 are half stars (3.5 or 4.5), for books that sit between two whole stars.

Rate DNF books too if you like, but keep them out of your average. Emma's 33 finished books average 4.23 (139.5 ÷ 33). Add the two books she gave up on, rated 2 and 1.5, and it drops to 4.09 (143 ÷ 35), which says more about two books she didn't finish than about the 33 she did.

Notes and quotes: one line per book

A spreadsheet cell is good at one line and bad at a page. What fits well in a Notes column:

• why you gave it that rating ("Best one so far.");
• where you stopped and whether you'd go back ("Stopped at chapter 12; maybe later.");
• which edition to buy or borrow next time ("Look for the illustrated edition.", from Emma's wishlist);
• one short favorite quote, with its page number so you can find it again.

For longer passages, reviews or a page of thoughts, a notebook or a document is the better home. Write where it is in the Notes cell ("Notebook 2, p. 14") and the row stays the index to everything you wrote. Our Book Tracker has one Notes column per book, not a separate tab for quotes.

Books you didn't finish

Keep DNF books in the same list, with the day you stopped as the finished date, so they land in a year. Then leave them out of your book count, your pages and your average rating, and count them on their own line. Emma closed 35 books in 2026: 33 read and 2 DNF, so she set aside 6% of them (2 ÷ 35). That share, more than any single DNF, tells you whether you're picking books well.

The full set of rules for a yearly goal, with pace and series, is in How to track a reading challenge in a spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet or paper journal?

Both work; they're good at different things. You can also use both: a spreadsheet for the list and the numbers, a notebook for the writing.

If your reading journal is mostly about writing, paper wins. If it's mostly about remembering what you read, how much and what's next, the spreadsheet does that work for you.

Start your own

Any spreadsheet with the columns above makes a good reading journal. Our Book Tracker has them ready in a Library of 1,000 rows, with drop-down menus for status and format, half-star ratings shown as stars, Days worked out for you, and a Check column that flags a Read book without a finished date. From that one list it builds your shelves (Currently Reading, TBR, Wishlist), your series with the next book to read, and your reading stats by month, format, rating and genre; DNF books never count against your goal or your average rating. It works in Excel and Google Sheets, in a light and a dark theme, and is coming soon to our Etsy shop.

Coming from Goodreads? See How to move your Goodreads library into a spreadsheet.

Emma and her library are made up, from the example file of our Book Tracker. The books are classics in the public domain in the United States.