This week, BTT asks about record-keeping:
Do you keep a list of the books you’ve read? How? In a journal? Through one of the online services? If so, WHY? To keep good records for future reference? To make sure you don’t accidentally reread? If not, why not? Too eager to move on to the next book? Too lazy? Never thought to bother?What a lovely question -- I'm so happy you asked! List-making and reading have always been two of my favorite ways to pass the time, so you can be sure I've always kept lists of the books I've read. In fact, a couple of years ago, I decided to put together a "life list" of all the books I've gone through since I first started reading, several centuries ago. Seemed like a daunting task until I discovered I'd kept a pretty thorough record over the years -- most of my diaries have lists in the back, detailing my reading through the year, with titles and authors, and even (in some cases) dates when the book was read. See -- I've always been a geek for record-keeping.
These days, I mostly use the internet to keep track of my reading: I keep a cumulative listing on my blog (see this year's pitiful list here), and also lists at LibraryThing and GoodReads. (Also have a Shelfari account, but I haven't kept up with that one for a couple of years now.) And I guess the WHY would be just for my own amusement. I know I'll enjoy the list in a few years' time -- I like being able to look back and see what I was reading each month. And, as I said, I'm a fiend for record-keeping and list-making, so mostly I do it for fun.
I never kept track of the books I read until I started blogging. I can't tell you how many times I brought a book home only to discover I'd already read it.
ReplyDeleteI had a Books Read list in a spiral notebook starting in 1999. Now I've transferred it all to an Excel spreadsheet. I know it's not truly a database but it works for me. I have columns for Year, Number, title, author, Comments, Rating, Genre. I can sort any column so I can see if I've read a particular book or what I've read by a certain author. I have always liked record keeping but really got into it when a couple of close friends who also love to read got into recommending things to each other and sharing what we really liked. I also write in pencil the date in the front of the book (if I own it) so I can see when I read it quickly (or IF) I have lots of books waiting on the shelf! I number then so I can tell easily how many books I've read at the end of the year. I'm on 54 right now for 2012. I usually average about that.
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