I opened a ticket (4209) so it does not get lost, but here is my idea on how to handle the "read tag" that has been discussed in the past.
I know there has been a ton of discussion about the need (or desire) to be able to label a book as read or not and that finally got me thinking...
How about adding a circle on a column to the left of the book name like you see for movies in iTunes?
In iTunes, a solid blue dot signifies a new movie, a half filled in dot means the movie is partially seen, and no dot means the movie is not new...
Same can be used for books. When adding a book, a blue dot is automatically added to signify a new book, half filled for a book you are reading, no dot for a book that has been read...
Or backwards... no dot is added upon import of book and the user can add the half dot as they start to read and fills in the dot when they are done.