Some people get a hankering to clean and organize in the spring. Me, when it’s beginning to get dark earlier and I see back to school schedules and promotions, I get all itchy to clean out closets and organize everything I see. I fall clean like crazy.
Fall also brings on the Jewish high holidays, one of which is Rosh Hashana, which marks the New Year (5772). So not only do I clean but I also make a set of new year’s resolutions (which I do again in December for the other new year). My goal for this fall’s resolution is to be better organized and to keep things in a logical and somewhat efficient system. Or, as I put it, making sure Present Sarah does Future Sarah a favor and doesn’t make more work for her.
One of my goals for all that organization and thinking aheaded-ness is to better organize my reading list. Because I read mostly digitally but occasionally on paper, I have to create a system to track not only what I want to read, but where it is – on the Kindle? On my iPad? On paper and currently on the side table? My list in progress is as much of a GPS for my books on the list as it is a schedule.
Which got me thinking – most people are probably better organized than I am (Shut up, you SO are). So, do you track and organize the books you have to read? A giant vertical pile? A written list? A spreadsheet?
I asked this question a week or so ago on Facebook and the answers were fascinating. Some use Calibre, and some use GoodReads. There’s the ever popular spreadsheet, either in Excel or GoogleDocs, or a pile of books or shelf order in the bookcase. Other folks use a time-honored system: the due date for the book to be back at the library.
I’m still trying to figure out the best way for me, but I’m curious, since all of you are avid (which really isn’t a strong enough word, really) readers: how do you track your reading list?
I have a system. It just doesn’t look like it to the untrained eye. My poor fiance, he just sees full shelves and piles off books and he’s a neat fellow and wants to clean it for me. So he’s always hearing “No, don’t touch that, it’s right where I want it.”
All of the paper books that I’ve read go on a shelf in alphabetical order by author and in series order (or by publication date if it isn’t a series). Then there’s the real source of contention, the TBR. First books in a series or stand alones get one shelf. Then come the second books in a series, then the third, and so on. Books I’m likely to read very soon go on a pile (umm, ok small mountain) next to my side of the bed.
Favorite books that I’m rereading or am likely to reread can be ANYWHERE. One time Here Comes the Groom by Katrina Bliss got folded up in a towel and put away in the linen closet. Oops.
I am great procrastinitor of “I am going to clean out this closet this week”, but the week goes on and on and on and it never gets done..
Now my books to read and have been read are all on spreadsheets. I have never had so many boosk to read at one time.. OMG it my books ever colapsed and rained down on me, they would not be able to find me for a month…
I have a list of books that are on my tbr shelves, I have a list of books that I read each month, I have a list of books that I want to purchase and a list of books I might want to read.. OMG if I ever printed them out, I would have to buy a ream of paper..
lol I’m so a library-due-date kinda girl!
After that, I try to pick four books at the beginning of the week based on this criteria: the release date of the book, how long it is going to take me to read it, and whether it will allow me to finish the other three books on the weekly list.
After I make the list of four books, I set it aside, never to look at it again, and read whatever strikes my fancy on my shelf or iPad. I wonder why I keep making that list? lol
i don’t track what I’ve read because, if it was worth reading again, I would have bought it. I do, however, track all of the books that I own, in a big old list in Microsoft Word, which also tells me who has borrowed any of my books. sadly, this list is months over due for an update but I just have so many damn books it’ll take at least a week to do that.
My wish lists at Amazon have turned into my system for organizing my “To Be Read” pile—aside from the physical one beside my bed, of course. It started out as a wish list of future releases so I could stay on top of the pre-orders I wanted, with a “purchased” list to move them to (since I don’t necessarily buy them at Amazon).
Now I have various additional wish lists such as “Possibles” (good for perusing when I’m in one of those don’t-know-what-I-want moods), as well as “Definite to Buy,” “Library Possibles,” “To Look For at Used Bookstores,” and “Read and Probably Won’t Buy.” For whatever reason, this is easier for me than trying to keep up with updating a program every time I finish a book. Maybe it’s because I’m more often there at the computer anyway when I’m purchasing/looking, as opposed to actually reading. Plus Amazon also gives recommendations based off of the books on these lists… and while their recommends system may not be as sophisticated as others, I don’t have to do anything except fix the recommendation if I’m not interested or own it already.
As for tracking on my Kindle, I’ve created collections with a 3-digit number in front of the collection title, like “000-Currently Reading/TBR” and “003-Lunch Reading” (which are books I can put down more easily). This enables me to get them back to the top alphabetically when needed.
car76—It sure seems like 76 cars couldn’t contain my print book collection at this point… probably why my database project to catalog my books isn’t going anywhere.
I couldn’t possibly keep an effective list for myself, I read too much in too many different places, and am always picking things up and putting them back down.
I do, however, keep two kinds of tracking lists. One for my son, whose school has a program called the 100 Book Club, so I record every book we read together there. The other, for our review site, because we get so many requests and books arriving and I have to get them to our reviewers, knowing who has what, and trying to keep everyone on track. For this I keep a list in GoogleDocs.
There is just no way I could possibly conceive of keeping any kind of accurate list anyplace else. I occasionally make attempts at Goodreads, but so far, I just can’t be consistent.
Wow. I’ve half a mind (well, yes, that too) to make my husband read the comments in the thread so he will stop complaining about what he views as my list obsession.
For my TBRs, I divide books into my request list at the library, and Amazon wishlist for titles the library doesn’t have or that I suspect I’ll want to keep/own on paper.
I don’t track what I’ve read, like many of you, I’ve been a voracious reader from an early age, and only recently have I allowed myself to quit reading a book even if it’s dreadful, or dropping a series when it loses my interest.
(I worry about this: is it maturity and learning the value of my time? Or the shortening of my attention span as a consequence of our speeded-up culture?)
I haven’t had a chance to read previous posts yet, but…
For myself, I have a set of bookshelves entirely devoted to books I haven’t read yet. They’re sorted by basic genre>author>series or pub date. Which sounds all organized, but if you actually see it as an outsider it looks like a horrible mess (When I fill up the bookshelves I make myself promise not to buy anymore books ‘til there’s room. So I, of course, do the reasonable thing and put books into every available space).
My digital library is still very small (can’t quite get into reading off a screen) but is all on the same reader.
I use Amazon Wishlists to keep track of books I’m interested in, but haven’t decided if I want to take the plunge and buy yet.
Then when I finish a book I catalog it (I keep a list every year with title, author, page count, how I graded the book, and the date I finished it), and put it in the appropriate spot on the Finished bookshelves (same system as TBR shelves only without the cramming).
All of it is a system that only bookie types seem able to understand, where nonreaders look at me like I have lobsters coming out of my ears and just go, “…Okay….”
I use BookPedia on my Mac and sync it with PocketPedia on my iPod Touch, which goes with me to bookstores. It’s a database with links to all sorts of sites online (I have mine set to check U.S. Amazon) and has default categories.When I add a title, it pulls the metadata from Amazon, as well as the cover. I’ve added my own categories (series, Got Rid Of, comments, etc.). I need to add one for paper vs. ebook.
It sounds like I could as easily be using any of several systems mentioned in the comments, but I bought BookPedia three or four years ago and it’s always worked really well – no point in changing now.
I have a Goodreads account, though I’d say that’s less to keep track and more to share with my friends (and brother who recently moved away) what I’ve read and what I thought of it. (And I’ve got so many “currently reading” books it feels like an accomplishment to mark them “read”. I just love seeing the number of “read” books go up.) But GR does have a to-read “shelf” which I use to keep track of titles I’m interested in that I found while on that site.
My main TBR list is my private Amazon wish list. I like my books in paper and I tend to buy them (mmm, used&new;!) so that’s mainly how I keep track. (And with printed txt files of titles and online prices that I can take to the book stores. Printed. ‘Cause I don’t even have (or really want) a cell phone, let alone one of those fancypants iThingies.)
As for the ones I already own, my shelves are very neat and organized. To ME at least; no clue if anyone else could find something without just going through it all. It’s by size of book (some books are too tall for some shelves, I mean), how much I liked it (or think I’ll like it), subject (very messy on subject, some shelves. Why are the Crusades with modern war and Tibetan history? Or the Star Wars guide with Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome? ‘Cause I felt like it, that’s why! And it might move next week), and by what I felt like putting where last time I went into a book-organizing frenzy.
Sometimes I think of my room more as a book/DVD/CD library, only with three house rabbits, a bed, and a whole lot of model horses, too.
Then there’s the books I can’t fit in my room but don’t want to sell; those go in my brother’s old room in the basement. In boxes. 🙁
I’m definitely a library gal. Due dates rock! And if I haven’t read it by the due date (or I’ve done the maximum number of renewals), I obviously wasn’t that compelled to read it in the first place.
My books are pretty much organized by color and size (I’m weird like that), though I do try to keep authors grouped together. I keep TBR physical books at the top of my tallest bookshelf (I have three), and any ARC’s I may blog about are in a pile on top of my smallest bookshelf.
The Nook has been a godsend for TBR’s: my very first visible shelf are the books I haven’t read yet. I also put a lot of things on my wish list, and occasionally go through the list to cross-check with the library to see if any are available in ebook.
When it comes to buying books, print or ebook, my test is usually: will I want to reread it? I’m not big on buying books I will only want to read once (see: Room). If it’s an author I love, I try to buy it so I will support them, though if they’re a New York Times-bestselling author I’m a little more lax on that. In the interest of space – I have a studio apartment – I’m trying to keep most of my book-buying in ebook format. The exception is if I want the whole collection – like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books – or if I know the author is coming to town and I want them to sign the book (though I’ve had two authors sign my Nook cover!).
This was an interesting post – I love hearing how people organize their reading!
I am a spreadsheet person. Any time I need to research something, I start a spreadsheet. When I bought my first car, I had a multipage, multi-sheet, color-coded spreadsheet with all of the objective information on the cars I was looking at. I am uber detail-oriented so lack of organization kind of makes me insane. I finally reached the point where I could no longer mentally keep up with where all my books are when I was 20 so I started keeping track of my books via Excel.
I have 4 separate sheets in the workbook: My library, DVD library, CD library, and Wish List. My library has columns for Author(alpha by last name), Title, Date of publication, page count, genre(or what I think of it as), and location in my room or who it is loaned to(by shelf number and title). For books that are “To Be Read”, the entire row is highlighted in light blue. I finally have gotten to the point that I’m no longer updating it every time I buy a book and am only saving a copy once a month with each month’s copy saved as “Jessica’s Library-11.08.16”. They are saved in the European format of date so that when I move them into my Saved Libraries folder, they automatically are in sequential date order.
For my DVD library I have this neat filing box that I got at the Container Store(I LOVE the Container Store) so my dvd’s are in alphabetical order by title in there and then I have them input into my spreadsheet by file number and title. They’re fairly simple and relaxed compared to my books and cd’s.
For my CD library, they are organized by Artist, Album, Collection if one of a multi-cd set, and genre(which is subjective to what I consider it). I primarily rely on iTunes to organize my cd’s. My cd’s are also in their own separate filing box, except for my Christmas cd’s which have their own cd binder.
My Wish List is organized by author and has titles and nook prices so that when I’m the bookstore I can compare prices.
I have about 900 books right now, 100 of which are on my Nook, so without a system in place I would completely lose my mind. I’ve probably sold 100-200 books in the past year to HPB to try and free up shelf space for more books. I need more bookcases!!!!
PS: does anyone have any recommendations on high quality affordable bookcases? I’m looking at IKEA and Target but if someone has any ideas I would love to hear them!
I don’t track my books or reading in any way. I do sort my books (both paper and electronic) by genre, then by author on my bookshelves, but as far as tracking what I have read – I don’t do that. Nor do I have a TBR pile.
Several years ago I had a 100+ book TBR and I made a pact with myself that I would not purchase another book (other than must have new releases, especially those in a series) until I had read the entire TBR pile. Once that was completed, I sorted all the books I own into keepers or not; the nots went to the Library book sale, the keepers got sorted to their appropriate shelves. If it is on the shelf it has been read – most of them more than once, as I am a rabid re-reader.
The only time I have a TBR pile now is when I am actively judging for an RWA chapter contest. Since those have a definite read by date, they go in a stack by the bed and get read first.
Personally I would rather spend the time reading than tracking what I am reading, though I understand the need for some people to track. I just don’t have that need. And not keeping a huge TBR pile on hand allows me to not feel guilty about purchasing a new book when I know I have a ton of them at home just waiting to be read.
First, I’m glad I’m not the only person who tends to do major organizing and cleaning projects in the fall. I think it’s sending the kids back to school and having full days to fill that inspires me.
I am kind of OCD when it comes to cataloging my books. I use Goodreads, Library Thing, and BooksApp 2 Pro on my iPhone. Each method has good and bad points, so that’s why my system is redundant. That and I like to organize in general, so I don’t mind the extra work.
Mostly, I make sure to record any new purchases and/or recent reads in my BooksApp so I have something portable I can reference at the bookstore or library. Within that app, I assign books as TBR, Read or DNF. I also clarify if I own a paper copy or e-copy or if I don’t own a copy and it was a library read. I’ve also added a new category with my daughter’s name for books she’s read and/or has in her room so if she asks me to pick up the next title in a series, I know what she’s already got or read.
As for my shelves, they actually need a good cleaning and purging. The TBR bookshelf I have in my bedroom has filled to the point of being stacked double-wide. Time to do something about that.
Organized! Hahahahahahah! I keep waiting for those 1-800-GOT-JUNK trucks to pull up at my house with a film crew, a professional organizer, and a therapist. I’ll sit on the front lawn with a glass of red zin and watch as those strapping people carry away my junk.
Lists—don’t know nothin’ about no stinkin’ lists.
My CAPTCHA here is has44. I’ve got w-a—a-a-y more than 44. Of everything.
Sorry, I’ll go back to my writing corner now.
I keep a to-read list on Goodreads, along with my read list and reading list. Occasionally, I tear through something so quickly (I’m looking at you, Jill Shalvis) that it just appears as read. I’ve been keeping a “books I’ve read” list since 2002 in a notebook. I’m trying to make an electronic version of that whole list… slow going.
Anyway, I have the Goodreads app on my phone (Droid). Said app has a scanner, so when I see something I want to read at the library, store, friend’s house, hospital waiting room, wherever, I can scan it in rather than hypnotizing myself into remembering. It’s awesome. I can always change the format if I decide to read it in ebook form or in paper.
I mostly read ebooks from the library or from B & N (I heart my Nook), but sometimes those garage sales/church sales/library discard bin have great yields and I get my paper fix. (Bought 8 Bertrice Smalls in May for $4.) I still use the library for paper as well.
Granted, I must say that my TBR list continues to grow. I make an occasional effort to downsize it, but it’s currently hovering around 125. I read one thing and add two. Such is the life of a reader. Right?
I have exclusively paper books (though not necessarily for long), so my “to read” system is the pile books on top of the bookshelf. Anything I don’t own yet is put on the XL spreadsheet and printed out to be referenced whenever I enter a bookstore (or get frustrated and give in to Abebooks.com).
I’m only allowed to write down TBR recs from SBTB when my TBR pile is fewer than 20 books. So, it’s gona be a while.
Count me as another person who gets the urge to do Fall cleaning. I think it’s because I spent 16 yrs in Minnesota and felt the need to organize and prepare for winter hibernation. Now that I’m in Texas, I still get the Fall urge, even with #%*& 100+ temps.
I am SO low tech it’s almost no-tech. I carry a small Circa notebook in my purse with lists of authors and their books (handwritten) so that I know what I’m looking for and what I already have when I haunt the local USBs. Too many previous re-purchases of books I already own. And I kind of have an addiction to the USBs. Which brings me to…
At the moment there are five, maybe six of those plastic underbed storage bins stacked in the closet of a spare bedroom filled with paperbacks, in alpha order by author, then in publication order with a number written on the spine. I call them my book humidors (should my husband ever find them and question them.)
I have a 3-ring notebook with printed out authors’ lists (in publication order) from fictiondb.com and I check off the ones I own or have on my Kindle2. As I finish a book I make a notation of the month/year and the first names of the H/h (these are all romances) in this notebook, then I have a separate Circa notebook that I list the book in and then write my own personal review for future reference.
I’ve organized my Kindle 2 into collections such as Contemporary and Contemporary Read, so I can move the stuff I finish from one category to another. I do like to go back and reread some things so I don’t archive anything.
I have two bookcases with my keeper authors, and one bookcase with non-romance fiction/non-fiction books to be read. Those books I just have on a running list. Non-keeper books get put in a pile to sell back to the USB or give away.
Like I said, just about NO tech, but it works for me. My TBR “stack” is about 400 books. I just take a look through my lists and see what my favorite authors are coming out with and read from there.
Some of the systems listed sound interesting, but I shudder to think of the work that would go into transferring stuff. I’m happy with my pen and pencils and notebooks…
Of the 150 books on my Kindle, I’ve read probably 140 and the only book I paid money for that I’m not done with is Decision Points by GWB because it was boring. I own hundreds of paper books but I can pick up a book, read the back or look at the cover and remember whether or not I’ve read it. As a youngster my mom wouldn’t buy me books because I read so many so I read a lot of library books. Next year after I finish graduate school, I’d like to start compiling a list of the books I’ve read that I own and that I borrowed from the library or a friend. I think it will be a fairly ridiculous number.
@Jessica E – I have a bookcase from Target that I paid $20 for. It’s a three level and espresso color wood. I think stacking two on top of each other would work. It’s sturdy, it was easy to build, and pretty cheap. I’m storing about 60-70 books on it with the books upright. I know if I stacked the books it could store more.
I use LibraryThing as well. About two years ago I looked at both Goodreads and LibraryThing and liked the organization in LibraryThing much better. I love the tags feature. I use simple tags for plot devices as well so I can remember what the book is about. I know there is the book description but a lot of times I find those are more confusing than helpful. For me, GoodReads’ shelves were just to limiting. At LibraryThing you can use collections and tags. So, I keep everybook I own in the “Library Collection” and keep track of everything I’ve sold/swapped on the “Unowed Collection” within these I have a collection for ebook, to be read, and wishlist. I can then use as many tags as I want to identify a book. My standard tags for a historical romance would be romance, historical romance, the time period (i.e. 1800s), location (i.e. England), main plot device (i.e mistaken identity) and anything else (i.e. if its a favorite of mine). I know, I know. I’m anal but it really helps me when I want to find a book or jog my memory on a book. I love LibraryThing…
Plus the Early Reviewers program is great – I’ve gotten about 10 ARCs in the last two years (I love free books).
I got the idea to start a book list from Susan Elizabeth Phillips actually. She posted on Facebook that it was one of her New Year’s Resolutions to do a book log for the year so I have been keeping one as well! I just have it laid out in Word and my categories are as follows:
Title:
Author:
Date Finished:
Rating: (my personal rating…A,B,DNF, so forth)
Format: (Kindle Novel or Novella, Paperback, etc…)
Notes: (Here I just write whatever I liked or didn’t like about the book…sometimes I put a brief synopsis if I thought it was cute. This has actually helped me remember books and authors to look for new stuff.)
Then at the bottom of the entry I put mark what number that book was – so far this year I’ve read 128 books and that’s with being a full-time student and graduating pharmacy school!
I thought it was a great idea to do this and so far I’ve been able to keep up with it. I try to be diligent because it’s actually fun to track how many books I’ve read in so many months. It’s what I’m doing this year, but all of these good ideas may have me changing it for next year!
Sometimes I organize my personal bookcase in my own room by the color or combos of color on the spine. After a year or so it looses its coherency. The bookcase in the hall is a bunch of those leathery goldy thngs and they have to be by size. Under the console in the parlor they are huge like Bible and coffee table books and have to be by size. I am trying to get rid of many books as there are cases in my husband’s room and the family room. As far as what to read, I write in a notebook when I hear of something, but usually forget to take it. At the library, I somethimes have notes, sometimes go on impulse, sometimes search for a favorite author. This is a subject I can spend maybe .004% of my time on so I’ll have time to actually read. And I am usually reading two books at a time.
When I studied at the University and had to read a lot, I had a reading list. But today I choose books to read on the spur of the moment. Last time it took me two weeks to read 6 books of “A song of ice and fire”. As for my bookcase, I organize all books depending on their genre.
I tend to pick books based on my mood. But, when I try to be more organized, I use a nifty Calibre plugin called Reading List to organize my reading lists.
Shelfari.com. It’s the bee’s knees for organising what you’ve read, how you feel about it, and what you want to read. You can also add it to your blog so others can see what you’re reading.
I don’ t track my reading list, I track books to-be-purchased.
I took over a bedroom in my house and turned it into my personal library. The room holds 2000+ books, over half of which is my to-be-read pile of various genres, alphabetized within book binding type (hardcovers, trade size, paperback). The balance of the room is my keeper section, which is generally organized in a similar style. I track my to-be-purchased books in an excel spreadsheet, sorted by publication date and then by author’s name. If I am shopping and happen to see a book by a favored author and it isn’t on the list or just published, I probably already own it, have already read it, or didn’t want it in the first place. I stay organized by keeping all the books, except for whatever I’m currently reading, in the library rather than all over the house.
I’ve been using an Excel spreadsheet for years that has several columns, including: author, title, size (trade paperback, large paperback, hardcover), type (historical, contemporary, fiction, non-fiction, spiritual, etc), to read (after I’ve read this the cell is blank), series info, specifics (whether its a first edition, signed, etc), on loan, who its on loan to. I use shorthand for most of my columns as I’ve found what helps me best to organize. Then I can run a query to let me know how many books i have to read.
Is this so micromanaging important to people cuz they are naturally organized individuals? I’ll get a book out of the library and discover I already read it and I might read it again, or I might take it back. Some of this stuff people describe must take hours. My computer is so slow even if I am deleting an email that I cannot imagine consulting a spreadsheet to pick out what to read. And it’s Comcast and DSL so I am not in a dial up area. I’ll admit I am not too organized or practical. I cannot figure out how to get that old couch out of the basement, for example. I should Google it. Maybe there is an algorithm for that.
Spam filter: reason 29. No, way more than that about humans surprising me.
GoodReads is the best way to track my books for me. Especially since I have so many, I love their shelves feautre so I can prioritize what I want to read.
Oh Emily, 20 years ago I would have answered like you did. Sigh. Was it the late nights in the lab? The moves from State to State that necessitated separating my beloved books from my pretty good books? The libraries that de-accessioned the books I remember so clearly by location? [Sometimes, when I am trying to remember an author, I think of where on the shelf of the YA section at the Donnell Branch of the NYPL the book was. Once I have pictured that, I can guess the first initial of the author. The last time I did that it was Irma Walker. Do you know how hard it is to use two or three plot threads from a YA SF from the 80’s or earlier to track down an author? If only YA SF had HABO.]
Start your list fast before your brain starts aging. You will never regret writing down the name and author of a good book that you would reread, you will always be annoyed if you buy a second copy of a book that you don’t particularly want to give away.
For me, it is too late. I have scattered lists and email them to myself (so that Yahoo or Google will take care of them for me). I use the wishlist function for ebook purchases and library e-books. I end up with duplicates now and then.
And if anyone can remember the author of the book about “Reality Nirvana Tuttle” please tell me. I think it was in the T’s in the Ithaca Public Library (the old one that they don’t use anymore). Reality went by the nickname “Really” and worked at a nightclub deciding who was cool enough to get in. She gets in trouble for not letting in Jackie O one night (but really, Jackie was dressed like a frump that night, it wasn’t Reality’s fault). She opens her own club in her apartment. She has names for each of her outfits (there is a dress named Gina, after Gina Lollobrigida, Gina is very sassy and likes when construction workers whistle at her). Reality wants a tattoo of the Chanel logo, but it is so painful she stops after the first C. She draws the rest in in pen. She calls her job “door whore”. She has a relationship with an art critic who everyone thought was gay (especially his male lovers). She dates a model who uses the same material for hair gel as Cameron Diaz in “There’s Something About Mary”.
Hey, this made me remember. She is Lee Tulloch and she has another 5 books on her website. The book is Fabulous Nobodies.
Maybe my memory is good enough.
My word is example37 – I tried to use an example and it got 37 times larger than I expected.