Welcome to Marginal.

Marginal is a private space for the thoughts books give you. You track what you read, write your thoughts against each book, and, only when you choose to, share a few of them with one or two people who get it.

The name is a nod to marginalia : the notes readers have always made in the margins of their books. That is the whole spirit of the app. Margin space is finite, so every word earns its place. Nothing here is public. There is no feed, no follower count, no ratings. Just your reading and your mind.

The first five minutes

1. Add a book. Tap the + on your Shelf, search by title or author, pick it, and set its status: To Be Read, Reading, Finished, or Did Not Finish.
2. Write your first Thought. Open the book and start with Dialogue, your immediate, unfiltered reaction. Say whatever the book made you think. There are no wrong answers.
3. That's it. Your Thought is private and saved automatically. Come back whenever you have more to say.

The three things that make Marginal Marginal

• Thoughts: the record you keep against a single book. One Thought per book.
• Ideas: the five kinds of note inside a Thought (Dialogue, Analysis, and three more).
• Hindsights: short reflections the app invites you to write months later, once a book's Thought is locked.

Free vs Premium, briefly

Everyone gets Dialogue and Analysis, up to 3 friends, and the default Hindsight schedule. Premium opens all five Idea types, up to 50 friends, and custom Hindsight timing. See Premium Features for the full picture.

Common questions

Q: Is Marginal only for serious readers? Not at all. Marginal is for anyone who reads a book, any book at all. The person who reads one book a year and wants to remember what it meant to them belongs here just as much as someone who reads fifty. You never need to prove you read enough.

Q: What's the difference between the Shelf and the Thoughts tab? Your Shelf holds every book you've added, whatever its status. The Thoughts tab is narrower. It shows only the books you've actually written in (any book whose Thought has at least one Idea with content). Shelf is everything; Thoughts is everything you've had something to say about.