MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Help with some things that have stumped me?

fidvo · 10-23-2025, 05:29 PM

I don't use Goodreads myself, so I can't answer most of your questions, but for #4, you should ask yourself what you really need to keep track of. Because I looked at the thread with the template you mentioned, and it seems like overkill 99% of cases.

Start with the idea of a custom column with fixed values, something like:

To Read
Reading
Finished
Paused
Abandoned
Try Later

Then update this column manually whenever the status of a book changes, e.g. you finish reading a book or start a new one.

This is probably the simplest solution to implement. Do you need anything more than this, and if so, why?

I can understand needing some kind of automation if you're currently reading 500 books, but manually updating the column shouldn't be too much effort even if you're juggling 20 books. And if that's the case, I suspect most of them aren't actually current and therefore should be reclassified as "Paused" or "Abandoned" instead, which you would have to update manually anyway.

But that's not something I can answer for you. It's really up to you to decide how complex of a solution you actually need.

10-23-2025, 05:29 PM	#2
fidvo Addict Posts: 316 Karma: 1645952 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: none	I don't use Goodreads myself, so I can't answer most of your questions, but for #4, you should ask yourself what you really need to keep track of. Because I looked at the thread with the template you mentioned, and it seems like overkill 99% of cases. Start with the idea of a custom column with fixed values, something like: To Read Reading Finished Paused Abandoned Try Later Then update this column manually whenever the status of a book changes, e.g. you finish reading a book or start a new one. This is probably the simplest solution to implement. Do you need anything more than this, and if so, why? I can understand needing some kind of automation if you're currently reading 500 books, but manually updating the column shouldn't be too much effort even if you're juggling 20 books. And if that's the case, I suspect most of them aren't actually current and therefore should be reclassified as "Paused" or "Abandoned" instead, which you would have to update manually anyway. But that's not something I can answer for you. It's really up to you to decide how complex of a solution you actually need.