I can tell you the last novel I finished. I cannot always tell you whether I stopped a long manga on volume 11 or volume 12, or which chapter I actually read versus the one I meant to read on the train.
A novel has one bookmark. A manga series has a volume on the shelf, a chapter in an app, and a release I am waiting on, and those three numbers drift apart. After a month I open the wrong book, or I buy a volume I already own.
I built NotionReads because I was tired of typing covers into Notion by hand. The same shelf helps with manga, once it has a place for the volume, the chapter, and the last day I actually read. Try the live demo if you want to see that shelf before you build one. No signup needed.
One row per series
I tried a row for every volume. It looked thorough for a weekend, and then I stopped updating it. A short list I trust is better than a complete log I ignore.
One database, called Manga. Each row is a series.
What I fill in:
- Title
- Creator (text)
- Status: Want to read, Reading, Caught up, On hold, Finished, Dropped
- Current volume (number)
- Current chapter (number)
- Volumes out (number), when I know how many are published
- Format: Print, Digital, or Both
- Where: Shelf, Kindle, Viz, Shonen Jump, Library, Other
- Last read (date)
- Next: Tonight, This month, Whenever
- Notes. One line is enough. "Stop before the exam arc." "The library copy is volume 4."
Status is the field I used to fake. Want to read is the pile I have not opened. Reading means I would pick it up this week. Caught up means I am waiting on the next volume, not that I forgot the series. On hold means I wandered off. Dropped means I decided I am done. When those get mushy, the list lies to me.
I keep both the volume and the chapter. Print lives in volumes. The apps live in chapters, and a note that says "somewhere in the middle" is useless by the next month.
The views I actually open
Four views cover the questions I ask. I do not keep a dozen.
Reading
Filter: Status is Reading.
Sort: Last read, newest first.
This is the short list. If twelve series are on it, I am not reading twelve series. I am collecting a pile.
Stale
This is the view that changed how I use the list.
Add a formula property called Days since last read:
if(empty(prop("Last read")), "", dateBetween(now(), prop("Last read"), "days"))
If Notion’s formula editor rewrites prop(), keep the same idea: blank when there is no date, otherwise the number of days since Last read.
Then a view called Stale, filtered to Status is Reading and Days since last read is 30 or more. Sort by that number, largest first.
Once a month I open it and make a decision, not a promise. If I miss the series, it stays on Reading and I put the right volume where I will see it. If I do not miss it, I move it to On hold or Dropped and write one line about why. Reading stays honest. The series I left behind stop pretending they are in progress.
Caught up
Filter: Status is Caught up.
Sort: Last read.
These are the series I am waiting on. They are not stale, and I am not behind. When a new volume is out, I switch the status back to Reading and update Volumes out.
Start next
Filter: Status is Want to read or On hold.
Sort: Next, with Tonight first, then This month, then Whenever.
"What should I start" is a different question from "what am I in the middle of." Mixing them is how I buy volume 1 of something new while volume 8 of a series I love is already on the shelf. Tonight is one series. This month is a few I would be glad to open. Whenever is allowed to be long.
If you also lose the order of a novel series, that is a different page. I wrote it up as a book series tracker. With manga I usually lose the place I stopped, not the publication order.
When a volume log is worth it
Most series do not need a second database. I add one when I reread, or when I want to remember which volume I liked instead of one rating for the whole run.
A Volumes database, related back to the series:
- Entry, something like "Vol. 12"
- Series (relation)
- Volume (number)
- Chapters (text), when the range in that volume matters
- Read (date)
- Note
I only do this for the series I come back to. Everything else is a number on the series row, updated when I close the book.
Borrowed volumes disappear
A library copy has a due date, which my memory does not. If the volume is from the branch, I track the hold and the return the same way I track any other library book, in the library holds tracker. If it came through Libby, the clock belongs to the app, and the Libby and OverDrive tracker is where I put the ready window and the due date.
The manga row still holds the volume and the chapter. The loan row holds the date the library wants the book back.
Finished volumes can sit with the novels on the reading stats dashboard. A volume is a book I finished. I like seeing the month without turning it into homework.
A Sunday check that takes ten minutes
- Open Reading and fix any volume or chapter that is wrong. This is the only moment I need to be precise.
- Open Stale. For each series, stay, pause, or drop it. One sentence in Notes if I drop it, so I do not buy it again next year.
- Glance at Caught up, in case a volume I was waiting on is actually out.
- Pick one Tonight series for the week. Leave the rest alone.
I do not backfill old chapters I will never remember. I start from whatever is on the desk now.
Where the series itself goes
The tracker above is properties and views. You can add them to any Notion database.
What I did not want to keep doing was pasting the cover, the creator, and a blank page for every new series. That is why I built NotionReads. I search for the series, and the cover and the book data land on the shelf I already use. Then I add Current volume, Current chapter, and Last read. A novel tracker can live without those. A manga shelf cannot.
Try the live demo and search for a series you are in the middle of. No signup needed. If the cover looks right, that public shelf is the same idea as the database, and the volume number is just a property you keep current.
The series tracker is the cousin page for novels. This one is for the stack of volumes, and for the chapter you do not want to guess.