Which recap tool fits the way you read?

Why do recaps matter more with ADHD?

Gaps are where ADHD readers lose books. A week away and the plot is fog; a month away and the book goes back on the shelf. A recap that stops at your page turns a restart into three minutes. The best recap tool is the one that covers the format you actually read in. For the method behind it, see Coming back to a book you abandoned.

The comparison

Kindle readers: start with what you already have

Amazon's Recaps, Story So Far and Ask this Book work inside supported Kindle ebooks, bought or borrowed, for US customers. (Amazon) If your book is on Kindle and supported, there is nothing to install. Our dispatches cover Recaps and Story So Far and Ask this Book, including the Authors Guild's objection that authors cannot opt out. (Authors Guild)

Print and audiobook readers: what works outside Kindle

Magic Bookmark works alongside your own copy: photograph the page or type the page number, or for audiobooks type the last phrase you heard. It gives a recap, a cast list built only from what you have read, spoiler-free answers, and in-character chat that only knows the story up to your page. (magicbookmark.com; App Store) Limits: supported titles only, iPhone only, English only, and one credit per book after the first. Our review is a listing-based desk review: we have not used it and have not timed it.

What about ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude?

General chatbots do not know which page you are on. You have to tell them exactly where you are, and trust them not to mention later events. They can also mix up books in a series or state details that are not in the book. If you use one, give it the chapter number and the last event you remember, ask it to stop there, and check anything surprising against the text.

Your own notes: the tool that always works

Two lines at the end of each session and a short cast list cover every book in every format, for free, with zero spoiler risk. They also do something no app does for you: writing them is retrieval practice. See Externalize the plot, the session card and the cast list template.

Which should you choose?

• Kindle ebook, supported title, US: Story So Far, then Ask this Book for specific questions.
• Print or audiobook, title on Magic Bookmark's list, iPhone: Magic Bookmark; the first book is free.
• Anything else: your own notes, plus a reread of the last chapter you finished.
• A series between books: your series tracker, plus Kindle Recaps if the series is on Kindle.