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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not? (question courtesy of MizB)
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.
Oh no.
See, I really wanted to ask this question some time ago but was too chicken; too afraid to let you all know JUST how crazy I really am (Wendy, I can hear you snickering from you, you just shush)... but then MizB went and offered up this question and now I just have to face the music.
I think I suffer from some weird kind of latent OCD so when you factor in my obsession with lists and record keeping with the thing I love even more than that - books - you get, despite my conscious efforts to limit myself, many avenue for recording my reading.
I have several files -including graphed monthly books/pages read - that live on my hard drive but also come with my on my phone and ipod, but my number one record file is my "Book List" excel sheet (... in as much as someone who doesn't *really* know how to use excel can do).
I file by author's surname, then title, but have in recent years added page number, year written, date read and isbn (a little patchy in places where I'm going back to add in info on books I read before I got more detailed). I've been keeping this solidly for three years now, but whenever I come across a book I've read in the past that I've forgotten about, I add it to the list. I also use this file for keeping my list of books I want to read from various reviews and if/where I can find them in various libraries. (note: If anyone has any suggestions for improving/refining this system, I welcome suggestions!)
As well as this I also keep a separate excel file for books in my actual collection, with sheets for various series I'm working on. Because I take this with me on my phone, it's excellent for when I go on unplanned second hand book store exploring.
Online, this blog aside (which is very handy for tracking what/when I read), I also have accounts at Shelfari and GoodReads (user rebeccavoy at both, if you want someone to chat too). Why both? Why not?! Okay, truth is, I started at Shelfari and absolutely fell in love with it. But then I discovered GoodReads and hey! Neverending trivia! But I couldn't leave Shelfari behind and because I couldn't decide which one I preferred, I maintain both...
So basically, for every book I read I update:
- on my 2009 monthly file
- on my book list excel file (both under 2009 and the main sheet)
- tick the 'read' box on My Library excel sheet
- update here on the 2009 reads post as well as post the review when I (finally) write it
- add it to Shelfari
- add it to GoodReads.
Crazy, yes? Oh well, I am so excited to hear about all your tracking systems.