Nadia Odunayo always considered herself a dedicated reader, but even she was surprised when she went from finishing 12 books a year to 80.

“If you are reading books you’re loving and keep turning the pages, it doesn’t feel like a chore,” says Odunayo, the founder and CEO of the book-tracker StoryGraph. “Even if you’re a relatively slow reader, you’ll get through books a lot quicker.”

She founded StoryGraph to help readers discover books they’ll genuinely love—and she wasn’t far into the process of creating it when she realized her app would have to do more than just point readers to the right genre or author.

“The hypothesis behind the app is that everybody is a mood reader,” she explains. “There are many books that, if you read them at a certain time, they’re going to hit just right. The goal of StoryGraph is finding that book for you.”

Today the app’s filters work their magic using 14 carefully considered “moods” in tandem with in-house machine-learning models. There’s also an advanced book search that lets you explore by genre, length, publication year, and the pace of a book.

“The filters were developed based on my customer interviews in the early days,” Odunayo says. She researched social posts to see how people talked about books they had finished or hoped to read next. She then turned to social media to crowdsource ideas for creating a “succinct, yet comprehensive” list of moods, which community feedback helped her refine.

“Cheerful” was cut from the mood list because there was already a “Lighthearted” option. “Adventurous,” “Emotional,” and “Relaxed” were added to the mix. Odunayo’s methodical research paid off. Today the same 14 moods she landed on over five years ago remain.

The app’s community is also essential to the StoryGraph experience. Among the app’s coolest features are Buddy Reads and Readalongs, which let you enjoy a work in parallel with other users and discuss it directly in the app.

These aren’t your typical social media reading circles—Odunayo built them to avoid the usual hiccups of navigating chats, syncing schedules, and stumbling on spoilers.

“Buddy Reads was introduced to solve all of those issues,” she says. “You can read at your own pace, and comments are locked until you read to that point.”

The app’s Readalongs feature takes things a step further.

“It was created to allow bigger groups of people—right now, up to 1,000—to read a book together. The discussion is more structured, with checkpoints set up by the host,” Odunayo says.

To avoid spoilers, forums only unlock when you reach a checkpoint.

Contributions by the app’s devoted fans continue to be invaluable, Odunayo says.

“They spend hours running book clubs and reading challenges, and they volunteer as librarians to improve the book data in the app.”

Cofounder Rob Frelow develops the app’s machine-learning tools. Odunayo, StoryGraph’s sole coder to this day, continues to add new features at a steady clip. Despite the workload, she’s found her reading has only accelerated.

“Most people assume that, surely, when I started this, my reading plummeted,” she says. “In fact, my reading more than doubled. The more I read, the more I want to read.”

1. Get a recommendation for the moment: Once you add a handful of books to your To-Read Pile, the app will start offering machine-learning suggestions. “Whether it’s something similar to your last read, something that’ll help you reach your reading goals, or a random pick, we’ll help you decide.”

2. Put time on your calendar: “Find a time in your day when you can read. It can be five minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour, or an hour. Listening to books counts as reading as well!”

3. Read with friends: “Head to the Buddy Read section, click on the Suggestions button, and type the usernames of people you’d like to read a book with. We’ll suggest books to read together based on all of your preferences and the books you’ve already identified as want-to-read.”

4. Tag your reads: “Custom tags take your organization, tracking, and filtering to the next level. Track your most niche genres, where you heard about a book, or even whether a book made you cry. We’ve seen several examples of this!”

5. Chart your progress: “If you do make use of our custom tags, one of the most powerful features on our Plus plan is the ability to make your own custom charts, with tags being the data backbone.”

‣ The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin: “The first book in an epic fantasy trilogy that introduces a world where seismic activity shapes society. This is a challenging but highly rewarding read that pushes the boundaries of the genre.”

‣ Born a Crime by Trevor Noah: “A laugh-out-loud memoir by comedian Trevor Noah, recounting his experiences growing up as a mixed-race child in apartheid-era South Africa.”

‣ Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri: “An examination of the deep cultural, historical, and social significance of Black hair. It made me reflect deeply on my relationship with my own hair and the impact of Western beauty standards.”

‣ Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo: “This Booker Prize–winning novel weaves together the lives of 12 characters, mostly Black British women. I loved this book so much that I wanted to start it all over again the moment I finished it.”

‣ Long Division by Kiese Laymon: “A bold and unique novel that explores race, identity, and time travel, blending humor with deep social commentary. It’s a book that sticks with you, and I’m excited to revisit it in the future.”