What do you track while reading?

[Tarana]

I think tracking is great if it keeps you reading and not too hung up on the tracking. I'm not a tracker, but all for those who do, I encourage you. My sister was encouraged in a class in elementary school to track her reading and she has done so since 3rd grade (she is now in her 50s). I occasionally give her a 'blank book' to continue her lists. Occasionally she meets up with someone else who has a lifetime list and makes a new friend, even if they don't read the same things.

I personally am not much of a tracker although I started doing so with the Goodreads annual program as well as participating with the group here on Mobile Reads. As someone who completely lost the ability to read for 10 years due to health issues, it helps me to keep going when I'm having difficulties. I do mark books in Calibre as read so that I can focus on the TBR. I do reread about a dozen books a year either for comfort or the next book coming out in a series.

I don't concern myself with 'diversity'. I'm a genre reader and read for entertainment, so if it is in one of my genres, I'll get to it. Once a year or so, I read a nonfiction, usually a history.

[John Hopper]

I keep my book catalogue on LibraryThing and track my reading on there, including start and finish dates, review and rating. I also keep a spreadsheet with a straightforward list of books read and dates.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I habitually keep track of many different reading stats, such as pages/book, words/book, start and finish dates, publication date, genre, whether an author is new or the book is a re-read, cost, etc. ...

I've never felt that reading was a competitive sport.

What do you track? Just title/author or do you know the exact edition of every book you have read back through 1993 including how many reading sessions it took to read each book? ...

If I did track my reading it would be much further back than 1993, more like 1956 or so. I've been reading ebooks since before 1993.

All I track is whether a book has been read or not read. Recent ebooks (since ~2000 CE) via calibre using the rating column, or my now few paper books with a gold satin ribbon as a bookmark (no bookmark = read). I use calibre's rating column for my personal opinion with no rating meaning not read. With paper books, if it is read and still on the shelf then I had a positive opinion about the book or it is a special printing. If I don't particularly like a book that I've read I unload it on someone else (via a used bookstore or "freebay").

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kacir

NO!
And I am extremely annoyed when an e-book reader device tries to track my reading. One example of such tracking is Kindle displaying how much time remains in a chapter. Kobo even collects the reading data and displays "Reading Life" awards. As if I was a little kid that needs to be motivated to read more, or something.

I am also annoyed when the manufacturers put in crap for integration with social networks instead of focusing on basic functionality, such as bearable typography or nested folders for storing books.

Hear, hear! I only agree with "unread/reading/read". But all other stuff need to go down the deepest sinkhole i.m.o.
I have a tendency to re-read but as I also want to find new books, I use my "year read" date to tell myself that I'll have to wait a bit longer before I'm allowed to reread that book again

[ambient.quiet]

I track, but casually, as in my most recent phases of reading. Recently started an account with booklikes for that purpose. I'd never be able to find all of my books, going back to childhood, and to be complete it would have to include hundreds of comic books.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hear, hear! I only agree with "unread/reading/read". But all other stuff need to go down the deepest sinkhole i.m.o.

I completely agree on people tracking me: Stop it! I don't want them to do any of it. On the other hand, that isn't really what I was hoping for from this thread. This thread is about how we are tracking our own reading, not how others (i.e., manufacturer's) are tracking our reading. I just don't want this to turn into a "ranting about privacy/DRM/evil {Amazon|Google|Apple|etc}" thread. There are other places for that.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I completely agree on people tracking me: Stop it! I don't want them to do any of it. On the other hand, that isn't really what I was hoping for from this thread. This thread is about how we are tracking our own reading, not how others (i.e., manufacturer's) are tracking our reading. I just don't want this to turn into a "ranting about privacy/DRM/evil {Amazon|Google|Apple|etc}" thread. There are other places for that.

Well, apparently some people want to track without doing it themselves (or why else would companies add functions like that?)

But that sparked another question that would fit in here: Do you share your tracking information with friends/family/others? I notice a lot of people mention Goodreads. I've no personal experience with it, I only know it's something online. But do you share your profile with others?

I personally keep my own tracking information to myself. It's nobody's business but my own how many and which books I've read this year...

[gmw]

Some years ago (about the time I was starting to read ebooks) I finally got around to cataloguing my paper book library - built my own database for the purpose. It tracks most of the common metadata (title, author, series, genre, first published etc.) along with details of the edition(s) I have, page count, scan of the cover, description of its condition, cover artist etc..

I also added last-read date, description, spoiler, review, notes and a 1-5 rating. I haven't tried to track such things as author's country, though the database does include a separate place for notes about the author, which I usually write up when the author is added.

And since that time I've been keeping it up to date as I go, including my ebooks. Writing up a description and review in brief (I push myself to be brief) I have found to be an interesting exercise, as well as useful in retrospect. Since starting this database I have often been surprised at how my memory of a book differs from what I wrote at the time.

My 1-5 rating is mostly based on how likely I am to re-read a book. 5s are favourites to be revisited regularly, down to 1s that I consider were a waste of time the first time.

There's enough in the database that I could track lots of things, but the mostly I just use it to look back over recent reads, or books I'm thinking about re-reading. I also keep track of books I want to get in this same database. Sometimes I use it to count have many book I've read in the previous year. But that's about it.


I like this thread. It's like a support group for compulsive behaviour.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Well, apparently some people want to track without doing it themselves (or why else would companies add functions like that?)

But that sparked another question that would fit in here: Do you share your tracking information with friends/family/others? I notice a lot of people mention Goodreads. I've no personal experience with it, I only know it's something online. But do you share your profile with others?

Share? As is in personal info? No. Only people I've accepted as friends can see my last name. But other than that, sure. Anyone is free to see what I'm reading, what I've read, what I want to read, and what I've thought of the books I've finished. If they want. I could limit that to friends-only, but I've never felt the need.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Do you share your tracking information with friends/family/others? I notice a lot of people mention Goodreads. I've no personal experience with it, I only know it's something online. But do you share your profile with others?

I personally keep my own tracking information to myself. It's nobody's business but my own how many and which books I've read this year...

One of the most useful functions of Goodreads for me is finding people of like tastes and seeing what they're reading. Well, detrimental to my ever reading everything I'd like to read, but incalculable in terms of books I'd love that I'd not known of. And turn about is fair play; if I'm going to be voyeuristic among other people's lists, it's only just that they be able to see mine. There's a social contract element here; if everyone had private lists, what would be the point? I've got a smallish list of Goodreads cronies and they're apprised of everything I read, and vice versa. Everyone else is welcome to look, because how else would you find new cronies?

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Share? As is in personal info? No. Only people I've accepted as friends can see my last name. But other than that, sure. Anyone is free to see what I'm reading, what I've read, what I want to read, and what I've thought of the books I've finished. If they want. I could limit that to friends-only, but I've never felt the need.

That's exactly my situation, well, almost. I don't have my last name associated with my profile, but since my friends can see my email address, they'd have to be awful dullards not to be able to figure it out.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Well, apparently some people want to track without doing it themselves (or why else would companies add functions like that?)

But that sparked another question that would fit in here: Do you share your tracking information with friends/family/others? I notice a lot of people mention Goodreads. I've no personal experience with it, I only know it's something online. But do you share your profile with others?

I personally keep my own tracking information to myself. It's nobody's business but my own how many and which books I've read this year...

I have my list set as public. If I inspire someone to read books that I've read, all the better. I'm a member of several groups on Goodreads and it's a great way to find more authors in your areas of interest. Several members leave their racy books off their lists. Even if it's private, if it's on the internet, it's public.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I've got a smallish list of Goodreads cronies and they're apprised of everything I read, and vice versa. Everyone else is welcome to look, because how else would you find new cronies?

My cadre of friends is fairly small, too. Small enough that I'm very familiar with their likes/dislikes, and how they intersect (or don't) with my own. So their opinions on books that I haven't read provide valuable insight to me when considering a book to read. And it's not as simple as all of us liking/disliking the same things; I have friends whose rave review of a book might tip me against reading it (and vice-versa).

They're a big part of how I wade through the hype publisher's/authors bombard me with.

[issybird]

To expand a bit on my Goodreads cronyism:

Anyone who friends me will be accepted, except for authors trying to spam market their stuff. If someone follows me, I'll respond with a friend invitation. However, if a new friend doesn't read books generally to my taste, I change settings so I don't see his/her updates, just so items irrelevant to my own reading don't crowd things I do want to see off my front page.

On the other hand, if I find someone whose tastes are congruent with mine, I "follow" him/her and hope for a friend invitation, but that's up to him/her. Some people like to manage their lists closely and I still can see what they're reading. I don't like to ask someone to be "friends" if we haven't interacted. Said interaction can take place within a group, however, in which case I don't feel the need for the preliminary "follow."

This is just me, but I see people with hundreds of friends and I don't see the point. I assume covert list management is going on, because how can you keep up with what hundreds of others are reading and how is that helpful?

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Well, apparently some people want to track without doing it themselves (or why else would companies add functions like that?)

Certainly someone does, but many don't. I wouldn't have a problem with it if there was a way to totally opt out.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But that sparked another question that would fit in here: Do you share your tracking information with friends/family/others? I notice a lot of people mention Goodreads. I've no personal experience with it, I only know it's something online. But do you share your profile with others?

I personally keep my own tracking information to myself. It's nobody's business but my own how many and which books I've read this year...

I share what I am reading in the yearly challenge threads and my GR list is public and basically up-to-date but I don't actively share it. I use it more as a back-up for my personal list and a supplementary TBR list since I sometimes find things there that I don't feel like copying over at the time.

When I first got my Kindle and joined MR I found I was limited in what I could find (and afford) to read on it (other than classics). As I explored I found the 2011 challenge thread and while looking through it found a few people who read books similar to what I like which helped guide me to some new and very good books. That's another reason I keep my list public and post in the What are we reading? thread. I get value out of seeing what others read so maybe someone will get some value out of seeing what I read.

Originally Posted by gmw

I like this thread. It's like a support group for compulsive behaviour.

Between this one and the Ebook Buying Addicts thread there are a lot of bases covered.

[Raptwithal]

Do you track your reading?
Yes.

Where/how do you do that? In the challenge threads here, in Calibre, on Goodreads, a journal, elsewhere?

On Google calendar since 2012. When I finish or stop reading a book, I note it on the proper date. I input, "Finished book: American pastoral by Philip Roth" or "Stopped reading: The book thief by Markus Zusak." If I want to see the books I have read (by date) I just search Google Calendar for "Finished Book" and there they all are.

I also mark the book "READ" on the Amazon "Your Books" page and give it a rating.

What do you track?

Typically just title and author, because I know that I can find the bibliographic data online anytime I need it, including summaries of what the book was about.

But, for books of short stories (e.g., now reading John Cheever's complete collection), I write a draft summary of each story in longhand, then enter each story's synopsis online in Google Docs when I have completed the book. This means, for example, that I will summarize all +/- 60 of Cheever's stories.

A little odd, I know, but I want an accessible "memory" of each reading experience (each story), and books, as I said, are already conveniently summarized online.

(How) does what you track affect what you read?

Mmmm...my tracking doesn't appear to affect what I will read in the future nearly as much as price. I'm always looking for a good deal on ebooks, which is all I read.

How do you define "diversity" with respect to what you read?

I've never purposely tried to "diversify" my reading. If the book sounds like it will appeal to me and the reviews are telling me the right things and the price is right (very important), I will purchase the ebook and attempt to read it.