My reading pattern

[Vala]

Maxiart- You just added to the deciding factor for me. I will try GR this next week.

Thanks to everyone.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I just wish I had started tracking this data when I was a kid. I've been a voracious reader since I learned to read, and I'd be interested to know exactly how many books I've read, and I'd love to be able to go back and re-read some of them, if I knew had any idea what they were.

Ditto that. I can remember vague plot outlines of some books I enjoyed, but have no idea who the authors were anymore; and some were library books from a branch library that no longer exists, and from a library in a town where I no longer live.

This is my second year of creating a reading "goal" here, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself to achieve that goal, mainly because I've never been a goal-oriented person so I really don't care if I meet, don't meet, or exceed it. I'm going to be reading books all year anyway.

I'm only counting in books not pages, because I couldn't care less about the total number of pages I've read. To me, that's just one step up from counting the number of words that I've read and it seems a tad too obsessive for my taste.

[Tattncat]

I used Good Reads but don't always have the internet available, which presented a problem. But.....the cloncher was all the independent self-published stuff I read. What has been working (for me) is the Nook Tablet Journal app. I put the Title in the subject line enter the start date as the date of the entry and make the first line Author, next Source (I gave up on Publishers), Next line - Number of Pages, Next - Series if applicable, Then Book (number in series)Next line Read dates (1/01-2/12) Then next I list characters and finally a synopsis and opinion. This helps me when I decide to re-read a favorite. I merely look for itinthe subject line and add another read date.

Works for me.

[SensualPoet]

I don't have a formal goal but I like the notion of reading about 50 books a year. Goodreads is a terrific way to keep track -- dead simple to use and you can make it more complex if you are inclined to do (like adding your own reviews, tags, etc). One of the things I like is putting titles in the "to be read" category. I only add something if I really, really, really intend to read it ... this list is my constant reminder and I never have more than 8 or 10 titles in this category. (I've been known to jump the queue.)

I had intended to write a short review of everything I read but I've fallen off the rails there.

I do find I read 2 or 3 books at once but they are different genres so keeping track is easy. I also sometimes pause for a week or two in the middle of something if it's getting a little too "hot" (like a thriller). I'll switch out to something lighter for a bit or sometimes read an entirely new book before returning to the "stalled" title. It's rare for me to abandon a book altogether but it has happened.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I don't have a formal goal but I like the notion of reading about 50 books a year. Goodreads is a terrific way to keep track -- dead simple to use and you can make it more complex if you are inclined to do (like adding your own reviews, tags, etc). One of the things I like is putting titles in the "to be read" category. I only add something if I really, really, really intend to read it ... this list is my constant reminder and I never have more than 8 or 10 titles in this category. (I've been known to jump the queue.)

I had intended to write a short review of everything I read but I've fallen off the rails there.

I do find I read 2 or 3 books at once but they are different genres so keeping track is easy. I also sometimes pause for a week or two in the middle of something if it's getting a little too "hot" (like a thriller). I'll switch out to something lighter for a bit or sometimes read an entirely new book before returning to the "stalled" title. It's rare for me to abandon a book altogether but it has happened.

8 to 10??? I just had to go through 7 pages of "To Read" and clean it out! I was the opposite. If it looked marginally interesting, had a nice cover, my finger slipped...I added it. Good Gad I had enough books in there to smother every bookmark in the house. I got it down to 3 pages now...

[sakura-panda]

I was on a scrapbooking site a few years ago and there was a thread where some of the members listed the books they had been reading. I did it along with them one year -- the first year I got my ebook reader, I believe. They have since closed down, but I have my current list on a different scrapbooking board now.

I tried Goodreads one year and it didn't work out for me -- it took me too much work and too much time to enter the books. I didn't enjoy it at all and gave up when I decided that the extra information that I got from it wasn't worth the frustration. I don't know if I was using it wrong, because I found it to be neither simple nor quick.

I am very happy with my plain text list of book titles and author names. I keep one list on MR in the annual reading challenge thread and another on my scrapbooking board. I don't care about how much I read -- I'm only interested in what.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I was on a scrapbooking site a few years ago and there was a thread where some of the members listed the books they had been reading. I did it along with them one year -- the first year I got my ebook reader, I believe. They have since closed down, but I have my current list on a different scrapbooking board now.

I tried Goodreads one year and it didn't work out for me -- it took me too much work and too much time to enter the books. I didn't enjoy it at all and gave up when I decided that the extra information that I got from it wasn't worth the frustration. I don't know if I was using it wrong, because I found it to be neither simple nor quick.

I am very happy with my plain text list of book titles and author names. I keep one list on MR in the annual reading challenge thread and another on my scrapbooking board. I don't care about how much I read -- I'm only interested in what.

Shelfari lets you import your Amazon purchases if you want, but GR took me a while. Mostly I entered about 10 and then friended my reading friends. It was VERY easy to "add" when I saw a book on their shelf that I had already read rather than input them all one at a time by typing the title. It took me a while (and I still add books when I see someone has one I've read) to get my shelf up to date, but it works pretty well for me now.

Different things work for different people!

Do you make cards too? My SIL makes the most beautiful greeting cards and I know some of the materials are the same.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Do you make cards too? My SIL makes the most beautiful greeting cards and I know some of the materials are the same.

I *want* to make cards, and have made a few, but for some reason have this hang up that they aren't "good enough." (Apparently there is some imaginary standard that I can't reach. )

I'm hoping to set aside time to papercraft on a regular basis this summer and start making cards and tags.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I *want* to make cards, and have made a few, but for some reason have this hang up that they aren't "good enough." (Apparently there is some imaginary standard that I can't reach. )

I'm hoping to set aside time to papercraft on a regular basis this summer and start making cards and tags.

Still OT, nothing to see here, move along...

My SIL took a couple of "classes" but if you buy something from the ladies doing it, you don't have to pay. She has a lot of fun at them and picked up a few neat stamps and whatnot. I made a couple of cards (oh boy were they ... special. Yes, we'll just say special.) I found some artwork on deviantart where the artist had the "prints" made on photo paper. So I took the "photos" of elves and whatnot and made them into cards by adding little flying fairies and leaves, etc. Of course I gave them to family members (what are they going to do, complain???) And I make them so that there's a removable "sticky" with the note to the recipient inside. They can technically peel that off and add their own sticky note and pass the card along. If they aren't entirely embarrassed by it.

SIL says there is actually a glue you can use so you can "sticky" any addition to the card and that's the way she does hers so her little notes match the cardstock and things like that. I've been able to pass a few of hers along (proudly!) They are such great cards.

And uhm, to stay on topic, I read. Stuff.

[sakura-panda]

OT continues....

Your cards sound really cute. Mine are usually layered blocks of paper with some sort of an embellishment.

The last time I gave one away, one of the other guests examined it closely and asked me questions about it. Nothing bad, just idle curiosity, but I felt like I hadn't done anything special and since then haven't made any. I just let my husband buy cards from the store instead. (Honestly, it's more a time issue than anything, but I did stop trying as hard to make them.)

[soulfuldog]

I've just been using Calibre to keep track of what I've read. I've split it into two libraries, once a book is finished it gets moved from the main library and into the 'Read' library. There it gets a star rating, and a custom column to show the month it was read.

That makes it fairly easy to browse through the books I've rated highly so I can then have a look for more books by those authors.

I like the idea of having small reviews for each book, but really it's too much effort and the kind of thing I'd start doing then soon fall away from. I'll perhaps just review some of the free Amazon books I read.

[graycyn]

Hoping curiosity doesn't kill this cat!
Signed up for Goodreads last night, not to be social, but just to log read books. I thought it might be interesting to get an idea of how many books I might read in a year. Can't remember all for sure that I've read so far this year, but I listed what I could think of and it has come to 40 books so far.

Remains to be seen if I'll keep up with it or not, but the app should make it relatively easy.

[Vala]

l_macd- Oh such good advice for me. I am a Calibre newbie.

I have only been into ebooks for 2 years with the old Sony prs-300. I am not a wiz with the computer (old age) but got into Calbrie because I ordered a Sony prs-t1 and it finally came.

I have been getting the books lined out with Calibre and DropBox and now a spread sheet. So your "two" library system is only going to add to the splendor of KISS.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm a free-range reader.

I've tried keeping track of stuff I've read before, but I suck at it. So I quit. I hope to hell there's no big "What Have You Read?" Reckoning before I can shuffle off... I'm sooooo screwed if there is.

Keeping track of the quantity that I read and accepting reading challenges are things I avoid like the plague (or like plaque).

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Vala

I have been getting the books lined out with Calibre and DropBox and now a spread sheet. So your "two" library system is only going to add to the splendor of KISS.

Cool, hope it works well for you.

It's worth having a browse of the Calibre section of this forum, that's where I first read about being able to use multiple libraries. I don't muck about much with it to organise collections or anything, but I really like the option of being able to have more than one library... Calibre is such a handy bit of software. Thank Kovid