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Personal Reading List
The reading list is a place to set works and authors aside while you look around the library, so you can come back to them. It works across the site — the timeline, search, the bookshelves, author and work pages — and it needs no account or sign-in.
Where your list is kept
Your list is stored in your own browser, on the device you are using. Nothing is sent to the library, and nobody else can see it. That has three consequences worth knowing:
- It is still there when you come back, as long as you use the same browser on the same device.
- It does not follow you to a phone, a tablet or another browser. To move a list, use Share link or Download CSV (below).
- Clearing your browser's site data, or using a private window, removes it.
Adding to your list
Look for these on any page:
- Add to reading list — on every author page and every work page, at the right of the row above the page's details. Once added, it reads ✓ Saved.
- + Reading list — a small button on each result in Search the Library, each line of the bookshelves and the Read here index, each item in a collection, and, where the page shows it, the author and work of the day.
- The ⋮ menu on a timeline card — choose Add to reading list. The same menu can also copy a card as text or search for it on Goodreads.
You can save works and authors. Saving an author puts the person on your list; it does not add all of their works.
Adding something you already have does nothing, so you cannot end up with a duplicate.
Your list
The Reading list button in the timeline's toolbar opens your list in a panel, and the Reading list (N) link beside the search box, above the bookshelves and Read here lists opens it as a page. Either way the number shows how many items you have.
Each item shows whether it is a work or an author, its title or name, and the author and year (or the dates of the person's life). Click a title to open its page. Click the × at the end of a line to take that item off.
The bookmark icon in the site menu, with a number beside it once the list has something in it, opens your list from any page, and the number goes up as you add.
Along the top of the list:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy | Copies the list as plain text, one line per item — Title — Author (year) — ready to paste into an email, a note or a message. |
| Download CSV | Saves a spreadsheet file, `reading-list.csv`, with the type, title or name, author, year or dates, the date you added it, and the page's address. It opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. |
| Share link | Copies a web address that carries your whole list. Send it to someone and, when they open it, they are asked whether to add your items to theirs. |
| Clear all | Empties the list, after asking you to confirm. |
Receiving a shared list
When you open a link someone has shared, the page tells you how many items it holds and how many are new to you. Choose OK to add the new ones to your own list; Cancel leaves your list as it was. Items you already have are never doubled, and your own list is never replaced.
Tips
- Browsing first, deciding later. Add freely while you search or scroll the timeline, then work through the list when you are done.
- Reading together? Use Share link to give a friend, a class or a reading group the same starting list.
- Keeping a permanent copy? Download the CSV from time to time. It is the only copy that does not depend on your browser.
- Ready to read? Items marked Read here open straight into the reader.