Keep track of "To Be Read" books

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I handle it by not planning my reading at all. I tend to "wing it." When I finish a book. I poke around a bit looking for some ideas... which usually results in me buying a book and immediately reading it. Other than a few irresistible bargains I might come across, I don't really have a formal TBR list of any kind. I used to, but I got tired of feeling guilty about ignoring it, or skipping entries, and generally just letting it get all impossibly big, unwieldy and rather pointless—so I stopped. Now I'm a hippy-type, free-range, listless reader.

I wing it too! I hate planning. If there's pressure involved, it stops being fun.

I do put books that sound interesting to me on my Goodreads list so I can remember them, though. But I never plan!

[sakura-panda]

I have a text/html file that I use to keep track of books I have not read yet. I think it is not the most efficient way to keep track, but it is what I have been using. I also use it to keep track of the books I've already read, and if I'm reading a series, the "read" list also shows me which books in that series I have not read yet.

Example of my unread/read book list.

[vxf]

One more vote for Goodreads!

[Quake1028]

I just keep all of my TBR on my iPad. I think it's currently at 127 books.

[caleb72]

I kind of keep track of TBR, but I'm not very good at it and I tend to break the rules all over the place because something comes along that I suddenly swerve for.

The only TBR list I keep pretty sacred is my indie read/reviews because I've already communicated with the authors and told them when I'm planning to read their books. I also publish the schedule on my site so I should at least make some effort to keep to it.

For ebooks I've owned I have custom tags for year for things I've decided to read in the year (or next year as the case may be). I tend to use Goodreads as well. But pretty badly.

Now the books I've read - that's a different story. Goodreads - and I do it pretty religiously.

[usuallee]

For books that I've purchased, they go on my kindle, so I always have plenty of books on there. For books I haven't purchased,I use goodreads to get recommendations and I have a "to-read" shelf there. I also send samples to my phone's kindle app, so that I have a list of books I'm interested in. I can then read some of the samples & weed out those I'm not interested in. I also have a "saved books" list on my library's overdrive website.

I also agree with those that just wing it. I try to keep track of books while browsing so I don't forget them, but I never know what'll strike my fancy next.

[whitearrow]

IMO fictfact.com is a great source for keeping track of series books. It does that and only that and does it really, really well.

I also mark unread books with an "unread" tag in Calibre and keep them in an unread collection on my Kindle. I use Shelfari for general tracking of what I own (both paper and ebook).

[Ravensknight]

I have a TBR tag in Calibre and once it gets around 50, I just transfer them to my T1 & 350 and then delete the TBR tag...

[xendula]

For series, Amazon often has the next book in the series for preorder, so I either preorder it or add it to my wishlist, which I check periodically.
For books I already own or plan to read in the "near" future, I keep a list on my iPad. I also started a list with books I read, with the dollar amount and, if applicable, the library name behind them, so I get very happy whenever I look at it
I just sent off an application for a fourth library. The $77 I spent combined on Brooklyn and Fairfax have already saved me tons of money, less than 2 months into my membership.

[mores]

Great tipps here, thanks.
It's a shame iTunes is such a mess with ebooks. I read on the iPhone and since Stanza stopped working I went iBooks full-time (I manually add epubs to my library and found it easiest to do in iTunes) and I generally like iTunes.
But even the store is a mess. They don't care about publication dates, everything is obviously time-stamped to the day they actually added the book to the store. Starting the Matthew Scudder series and trying to find my way in the iTS was a nightmare.

I hate all this fragmentation. Amazon, iTunes, Smashwords, self-published ... Calibre is a big help but still something that needs to be done on a computer. Somehow I always finish books late at night, lying in bed and being all comfy and warm I want to find my next read right there, on my iPhone ... argh! Reading is hard work

I think I'll immerse myself in goodreads.com and tell Siri to remind me of new books coming out.

[Stitchawl]

I just keep a list in a text file on my desktop. When I receive notices from the different sellers, I check to see if there is something that I wanted to read now available. Takes all of 30 seconds a week, although there are times when it might take a full minute. But I'm pretty flexible.


Stitchawl

[Bookworm_Girl]

I use Goodreads. I also use wishlists at ebookstores and the library.

[Blossom]

I have a Calibre library set up with the books I am interested in reading. I then have another library for Next To Read which are the books I plan to read next. I do use Goodreads but that is for books currently reading or already read.

For wishlists I use Amazon so I can import my wishlist into eReaderIQ which alerts me when a book has dropped in price.

[jersysman]

FictFact is great. It not only lets you follow your series, but it alerts you when a new book in the series has been released.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by mores

How do you do it?

I like to read books that are part of series. And usually it takes a while until a new book gets released, so by that time I have totally forgotten about the upcoming Vinve Flynn, Brad Meltzer or F. Paul Wilson book.

What makes things even harder for me is that frequently, the official release is a US release and me in outback Austria (on the old continent) has to wait even longer.

So how do you plan your reading, your purchases etc.? Electronically? Good ol' paper note with release dates?

I used goodreads. It's effective at tracking both "read" books and a wish list with standard functionality. It will also email/notify you when wishlist books are released. I don't know if you can specify a Australian release date, though.

On the kindle I use Collections and on the nook I use Shelves (same concept) to track what books I have read that are on the device. I also track what I've read on Calibre since I move books off and on my devices. The last 3 cannot handle wishlists.