Do you keep a book journal or log?

[Paperbackstash]

I keep logs on Google spreadsheet when have time and Goodreads. Also have a website I haven't updated much in years, but it's all random spots, including book pics (some) on instagram.

[spacepope]

I do admit I keep a log of ebooks I buy on Google sheets. I'm decently handy with spreadsheets so I created some automatic calculations for how much I've spent on books, how many books I've read vs. remain unread, etc. This helps me keep my ebook buying habits under check, and it's more a budgeting measure than anything else.

Goodreads I use to log all my book readings. It takes maybe a minute to log a book on Goodreads, so it's an easy habit to maintain.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by rcentros

That's me. If I really like a book I read it more than once. For me, having a poor memory makes reading it the second time more enjoyable.

Fortunately (since I read a lot of library books) Overdrive shows if a book is in my history so I can see if I've checked it out before. They also usually have at least a chapter or two available as a preview so I can look at that too and see if it's familiar.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

The stats at The StoryGraph are constant source of fun, and the site also offers a reading journal function for notes and comments on books as one reads them. Great for the book data nerd who doesn't want Amazon swallowing all that data.

Yeah, but haven't they put a lot of those behind a paywall?

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Yeah, but haven't they put a lot of those behind a paywall?

Most of the stats are available to all users. There is a paid option that offers extra features, in addition to removing any ads. The adage says that if you don't pay for the product, you are the product. That is why I was happy to pay TSG for their premium features rather than have my data commodotized at the very ill-yclept Goodreads. Others may think otherwise, naturally.

[poohbear_nc]

I'm way old school - started listing books read by month in July 1986, using a leather bound 2 column accounts book with thick paper pages -- author & title, 1 page per month.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by rcentros

That's me. If I really like a book I read it more than once. For me, having a poor memory makes reading it the second time more enjoyable.

Me too.
Apache

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm way old school - started listing books read by month in July 1986, using a leather bound 2 column accounts book with thick paper pages -- author & title, 1 page per month.

I have ten years worth of paper moleskine journals that I did something similar with. Now I use a massive spreadsheet that i created graphs and pivot tables, etc. for. I use NixNote to track quotes and notes.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by DNSB

At one point in time, I did keep records but after a few years (around 1998), I decided my time was better spent reading since I very seldom looked at the records after I had created them.

Some 8 or 9 years ago, a friend persuaded me to "track" in Goodreads. She said it was fun. I did it faithfully for a year, counting only new reads, not any re-reads. I totally skipped any social doings on Goodreads. Only to see exactly what I already knew... I read a lot. I think I hit 120+ books that year.

The process of constantly adding what I'd read was annoying as heck and at the end of the year, I quit cold, because as you say, my time was far better spent just reading.

If I forget whether I've read something, I simply read it again. If I don't enjoy something on the first read, I dump it out of Calibre so I don't have to worry about re-reading it! And if I start reading and go "Oh yeah, I remember this!" then I can choose to continue or not.

It's a simple system. Reading is like breathing to me. I don't track each breath I take.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

That all sounds like way too much effort to me. I just read and if I forget, I forget.

Yep, that's the way I rock it! Besides, it might get weird if I tracked all the re-reads. There are, shall we say, comfort books that I just gotta re-read from time to time.

[tomsem]

If you are on Kindle platform, with books from Amazon, it is trivial to keep track of things with GR: it will automatically mark it as Reading, when you finish, it marks it Read. And it is fun to track reading of people you know, or who read things of similar interest.

[Tarana]

I use Goodreads. It was encouragement for me to continue reading (I had to relearn to read after a brain injury). I'm pretty good now though.

My sister has kept a log since she was in 3rd grade (she's 59 now). Just simple theme books like you get for school. I think she has 8 or 9 of them now. I know her 3rd grade teacher is long dead, but I'll bet she would be surprised that my sis kept the log all her life.

[spacepope]

I also used Goodreads to encourage myself to read
I would constantly update reading progress, and it was nice to see the bar move.

Now I don't need to do that, I've gotten into the habit. I could see myself falling back on that type of tracking if I stopped reading regularly.

[wandalynn]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Most of the stats are available to all users. There is a paid option that offers extra features, in addition to removing any ads. The adage says that if you don't pay for the product, you are the product. That is why I was happy to pay TSG for their premium features rather than have my data commodotized at the very ill-yclept Goodreads. Others may think otherwise, naturally.

Storygraph is a new one to me, I'm going to look into it. I've started using Librarything to keep track of my reading and books but i still go to goodreads for reviews. I dont care for the changes that have taken place since Amazon acquired the site.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by wandalynn

Storygraph is a new one to me, I'm going to look into it. I've started using Librarything to keep track of my reading and books but i still go to goodreads for reviews. I dont care for the changes that have taken place since Amazon acquired the site.

Which changes to Goodreads do you not like? I cannot even remember when anything at all changed, and I think I’ve been using GR since before the acquisition.

I WISH they’d change some things (particularly with the mobile apps) but they seem to be in total keeping-the-lights-on mode, and there are no signals to the contrary.