Keep track of "To Be Read" books

[Tattncat]

Thanks for the tip about fict fact. I just signed up it sound like a hany way to track my series books. I use Good Reads for info and tracing a lot of my books and Calibre for the details.

As to what I am reading and have read. I keep a journal of all books read and re-read, I find it very informative.

[DrNefario]

My work-in-progress TBR spreadsheet is up to 692 rows. That is lacking 40-50 paperbacks. Argh, no, I have forgotten the complete set of Nevil Shutes I inherited off my father. That's another twenty-odd. That will be overcounting by about 30-40, because of the way I list omnibuses, and another few are going to be short stories or novellas. It'll still be some way north of 700. Yikes.

Then it'll be down to culling the ones I don't really care about reading - mainly all the junk freebies - which could probably halve the size of the list.

And I'll probably have read a couple more by the time I get it up to date. Although I might have acquired more, too.

I think I need to find some other outlet for my collectorish instincts.

[AndrewH]

I have "To Read" and "Read" tags in Calibre. When I start a new book, I mark it as "Currently Reading" on Goodreads. When I finish it I:
1. delete it from my ereader (I only keep "To Read" books on my ereader).
2. update the status on Goodreads, give it a rating, and possibly a review.
3. change the "To Read" tag in Calibre to "Read".

My TBR books are more a pile than a list; when I finish a book I poke through my ereader to decide what to read next.

[captkjaneway]

I have a "To Read" category on my Kindle, whe I get a book I add it to the subject/author category and the "To Read" category, and when finished delete it from "To Read"

[Tarana]

In your case, it isn't just a to-be-read, but remember-to-get. Clearly pre-order isn't an option for you or necessarily even desirable. I thought about that considering the demise of Fictionwise. If you set up a Calibre library with the last volume of the series that you read and periodically select it and then click on GET BOOKS. Presumably, you have selected retailers where you can buy your items. I found more things come up when you click on a book with the author and then GET BOOKS than using the Get Books search button alone.

BTW, this works even if your volume has a DRM that you can't remove. You can load it in Calibre, you just can't read it.

[mores]

Pre-Order is quite frequently not an option.
Last example that comes to mind is Vince Flynn's newest book. First time I heard about it was when he posted on his website that he was having health problems and his new book would be pushed back to spring of 2012. No way to pre-order, but definately a need to keep track.
Also, I might not remember where I pre-ordered it ... amazon or iTunes ... it doesn't help me keep track. So basically my need is a remember-to-get list and I think I'll manage it with goodreads for now.

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by mores

So basically my need is a remember-to-get list

If I know a book is coming out that I want, I add it to Calibre as an empty book and tag it as "Wishlist". If I know when it's coming out, I'll put that down as the publication date.

[DrNefario]

Well, I think my spreadsheet of unread books is now as complete as it's ever going to be.

I have 848 unread works in total, from Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch to A Sorceror's Treason by Sarah Zettel. Works are normally at least book-length, but I have listed a few shorter stories separately where I downloaded them on their own, or where an omnibus contains a mixture (I have expanded omnibuses, but not collections).

The next stage is to chop out the junk, and see if I can get that number down to something that's not completely ridiculous.

[BenG]

Goodreads is good, but also I have a Pinterest board for books to read, so that if I come across a book that interests me on the web, I can just press the Pin It button to save it. Though if there's no picture you may have to search for one.

[xendula]

Ben, that's a pretty cool idea!!

[Nothingness]

In my case I've been using bookTome for years to manage my books and my wishlist, I also use Goodreads but I view Goodreads more as a place to add my books and write/read reviews. So I've decided to do the same for the ebooks. Each ebook I add to Calibre I enter it too in bookTome. Well, so far I've only entered though in bookTome the ebooks of the books I already have so I can get rid of the real life books later.

For the other books I've found for free on Amazon and other places (I keep those in another calibre app though since I use the portable one, so I created a directory just for those books), I created in Calibre a shelf called New so I put just a few ebooks there at a time, the ones I find interesting, and I wait to read them to see if they're keeper of not, and if they are I plan to add them in bookTome, and add them in Calibre in the proper shelf.

I've liked the idea of the "To Read" tag so I've added it to the ebooks that are unread in Calibre.

[Quexos]

Interesting. But if you know you want to read some book, isn't it more simple to get it as soon as you decided that you'll read it eventually ? I got several books that are there just waiting for my reading, whether tomorrow, next week or in the coming months ...

Originally Posted by BenG

Goodreads is good, but also I have a Pinterest board for books to read, so that if I come across a book that interests me on the web, I can just press the Pin It button to save it. Though if there's no picture you may have to search for one.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Interesting. But if you know you want to read some book, isn't it more simple to get it as soon as you decided that you'll read it eventually ? I got several books that are there just waiting for my reading, whether tomorrow, next week or in the coming months ...

In my case, if I don't want to read a particular book right away, I wait until luzme.com alerts me that the price has dropped. Of course, it can backfire and the price can also increase - it's a gamble.... a few days ago one of the book on my wishlist went from 7.99, where it has been at for the past few months, straight to 12.99. I don't need to read it that badly.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Interesting. But if you know you want to read some book, isn't it more simple to get it as soon as you decided that you'll read it eventually ? I got several books that are there just waiting for my reading, whether tomorrow, next week or in the coming months ...

No need to spend money on books I may read months down the road and I may end up finding other books I want to read before that.

But really I mainly use it for books that catch my attention and I want to investigate further. The Pin It button lets me do it on the spur of the moment.

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by BenG

No need to spend money on books I may read months down the road and I may end up finding other books I want to read before that.

But really I mainly use it for books that catch my attention and I want to investigate further. The Pin It button lets me do it on the spur of the moment.

I agree, and also sometimes a book is $12.99 when I decide I want to read it, but by the time I actually do read it the price has dropped down. Most of the books I read lately are newer and fairly expensive, though I'm trying to change that habit. Still, if you read the more expensive books, it makes sense to wait until just before you read them to see if the price has dropped.