If your Kindle is full of highlights you swear you’ll revisit, but you never do, you’re not alone. The fix is a tiny system: one place to collect them, and a couple of views that make them searchable.
If you want a clean reading hub already built (TBR → Reading → Finished + notes + quotes + wrap-ups), NotionReads is the fastest way to get there.
The goal (keep it simple)
You’re building two things:
- A Books database (or reuse your existing reading list)
- A Highlights database that links back to Books
That’s it. Everything else is optional.
Step 1: Create a Highlights database
Create a database called Highlights with these properties:
- Highlight (Title) — paste the quote here
- Book (Relation → Books)
- Location (Number or Text) — Kindle location/page if you have it
- Type (Select: Quote, Scene, Character moment, Worldbuilding, Writing tip)
- Theme (Multi-select: Love, Grief, Found family, Healing, Revenge, Etc.)
- Spice (Select, optional for romance: Closed door, Open door, Explicit)
- POV (Select: 1st, 3rd, Multi)
- Timestamp (Date) — when you added it
- Notes (Text) — why it mattered
Views you’ll actually use
Add 3 quick views:
- By book (group by Book)
- Best quotes (filter Type = Quote)
- Themes (board grouped by Theme)
Step 2: Connect highlights to your reading tracker
If you already track books in Notion, reuse that database as Books.
Minimum useful properties for Books:
- Title (Title)
- Author (Text)
- Status (Select: TBR, Reading, Finished, DNF)
- Genre (Multi-select)
- Tropes (Multi-select, optional)
If you don’t have one yet, start here: Notion reading list template
Step 3: Add highlights (3 low-friction methods)
Method A: Manual copy/paste (surprisingly sustainable)
When you finish a reading session, add 3–10 highlights. Not 100.
- Copy highlight → paste into Highlight
- Link Book
- Add 1 tag (Type or Theme)
That’s enough to make it searchable later.
Method B: Export from Kindle (Amazon "Your Highlights")
Amazon has a page for your notes/highlights (varies by region/account). If you can access it, you can copy in batches.
Tip: don’t try to import everything at once. Start with one book you loved.
Method C: Email/Share to a Notion inbox
If your flow is “save now, organize later,” create a database view called Highlights Inbox (filter Theme is empty OR Book is empty). Dump highlights there, then clean it up weekly.
Step 4: Make highlights usable (not just stored)
Here’s the part most systems miss: highlights are only valuable if they show up where you need them.
Add a Highlights section inside each book page
In your Books database, create a template that includes:
- Linked view of Highlights filtered to Book = this page
- A small prompt like: “Best 3 quotes / Best scene / 1 feeling”
If you like prompts, these help: Reading journal prompts in Notion
Use highlights for your quotes + wrap-ups
- Turn favorites into a shareable list: Book quotes tracker in Notion
- If you do monthly wrap-ups (BookTok/Bookstagram), pull your best lines per book: Notion monthly reading wrap-up
Common mistakes (and easy fixes)
- Mistake: importing 1,000 highlights on day one → Fix: start with one recent book.
- Mistake: too many tags → Fix: keep Type to 5 options; Theme to 10–15.
- Mistake: no “favorite” signal → Fix: add a checkbox like "Top highlight".
A tiny weekly routine
Once a week (10 minutes):
- Open Highlights Inbox
- Link missing Books
- Star 3 favorites
That’s how your quote bank becomes something you’ll actually reuse.
CTA
If you’d rather skip the setup and start with a full reading system (reading list, notes, quotes, stats, wrap-ups) that’s ready to go, start here: https://www.notionreads.com