How to Keep a Private Reading Shelf

Quick Answer

A private reading shelf is a short list of books you want, are reading, or have finished. You type the title. You set a status. While a book is reading, you keep a percent from 0 to 100. A rating from 1 to 5 and a short note are optional.

This book tracker keeps that list on your device. There is no account, no cloud sync, and no cover lookup. Privacy is the product: the browser stores the shelf, and the page never sends the titles out. Runs entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

What is a private reading shelf?

A reading list is the set of titles you intend to finish, not a social profile. Goodreads and StoryGraph start with an account. A spreadsheet starts with columns you have to maintain. A private shelf starts with one title and a status.

The three statuses are want, reading, and finished. Want means you have not started. Reading means you are in the book now. Finished means you are done. The page shows filters for All, Reading, Want, and Finished, plus a search box that matches title or author.

Because the list lives in one browser, it is useful as a private log rather than a public one. The shelf is free. Open it online in the browser you already use, then come back later in the same profile. Another browser will not see the list unless you export JSON and import it there.

How it works

How it works is simple. Title is required. Author is optional. Status is one of the three values. Reading progress is a whole number from 0 to 100, and the field appears only while the status is reading. Rating is optional and stays between 1 and 5. The note is optional and short.

Changes are instant. Set a book to reading, type 40, and the card shows 40%. Move the same card to want and the percent field goes away, because want has no progress. The shelf holds 200 books. At the cap the form names the limit and refuses the next title until you delete one.

The first visit places one sample row, The Lantern Road by A. Sample, set to reading at 20%. Delete that row when you add a real title. The add form stays on the page either way.

How does a finished book leave Reading?

Mark a book finished and two things happen together. Progress becomes 100, even if the field still showed 10. The card leaves Currently Reading, so the Reading filter no longer lists it. Open Finished to see it.

That pairing is the whole point of the status. A card marked finished that still sits in Reading is a contradiction, and it is how people lose track of what they owe attention to this week. The page will not save that contradiction.

For example, you are at 60% of a novel and you set the status to finished by mistake. The saved percent is 100 and the card sits under Finished. Switch the status back to reading if you were not done, then set the percent again. The move is local and instant.

What is the difference between merge and replace?

Export JSON downloads the shelf as a file. Import JSON reads that file back. The default path merges. A row matches an existing book when title and author are the same, ignoring letter case. The match updates the card. It does not add a second copy.

Re-import of the same export therefore leaves the count unchanged. Header aliases title, author, status, progress, and rating are accepted when the capitalization differs, so a column named Rating is not dropped. If a later file omits rating, the stars already on the card stay.

Replace is the other path. Check Replace entire shelf and confirm before the page removes titles that are not in the file. Cancel the confirm and the shelf stays as it was. Use merge for a second copy of a backup. Use replace only when the file is the shelf you want to keep.

For example, you export two books, import the file again, and still see two cards. Import a row whose Title is Dune and whose Rating is 5, and the stars show. A later row for the same title and author with no Rating keeps the 5.

Common mistakes

The shelf is honest about its limits. It does not sync. It does not look up an ISBN. It does not fetch covers. Avoid treating it like a cloud account, and avoid clearing the browser before you have a file.

Book Tracker vs alternatives

Goodreads is a social catalog. It wants an account, friends, and reviews in public. StoryGraph is a reading log with charts, and it also wants an account. Both are useful when you want recommendations. Both are the wrong first screen when you want a private count of what you are reading this month.

A spreadsheet can hold title, author, status, and stars. It lacks a finished rule that forces progress to 100, and a re-import pastes duplicate rows. Unlike those sheets, this page merges on title and author and keeps the Reading filter consistent.

Choose this shelf instead of a cloud app when the list is personal and small. This page is a Goodreads alternative: offline books, a private count, and no signup. Choose the cloud app when you want shared reviews. The difference between them is an account wall, not the three statuses.

How to export a bookshelf backup: tap Export JSON and keep that file. A bookshelf export is the copy you import later, on this browser or another. Do it before you clear site data.

How do you use this book tracker?

Delete the sample if you do not want it. Add a title, an author, and a status. If the status is reading, set a percent. Add a rating when you have one. Leave it blank when you do not. Search when the list grows. Filter when you want one status on screen.

For example, add Dracula by Bram Stoker as want, then switch it to reading at 15 when you start the first chapter. When you close the book, set finished. The card leaves Reading and the percent becomes 100. Export JSON that evening if the browser is one you do not control.

Pair the shelf with a daily check if you want a reading habit, and with a note tool if a review runs longer than the short field. The shelf is the list. It is not a diary and it is not a streak.

Why keep a reading list offline?

An account is a tax on a small job. You wanted to remember that a novel is at 40%, not to join a network. Offline here means the file never leaves the device. You can still open the page online. The data does not travel with that request.

Keeping a private reading list without a Goodreads account is the use. Marking a book finished so it leaves the reading view is the second. Backing up the shelf with export JSON before clearing the browser is the third. Merging an import so ratings stay on the same title and author is the fourth.

Privacy

Runs entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded. Titles, authors, notes, ratings, and progress stay in browser local storage on this profile. There is no ISBN call and no cover call. Clearing site data deletes them unless you exported a backup first.