[GUI Plugin] Reading List

[luciaisacat]

Hi! and thank you for this terrific plugin :-) I was wondering if there is a way in the setting / column update options to set the value in column to add/remove as the current date. This would help me to keep track of the last added titles to the reading list even when the book had been addded to Calibre long time before my selection for the reading list. Any idea? Thanks

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by luciaisacat

Hi! and thank you for this terrific plugin :-) I was wondering if there is a way in the setting / column update options to set the value in column to add/remove as the current date. This would help me to keep track of the last added titles to the reading list even when the book had been addded to Calibre long time before my selection for the reading list. Any idea? Thanks

If you aren't sorting your reading list specifically then they should exist on the list in the order that you added them. Is that not giving you the basics of which books you have added most recently?

As you have noticed I currently don't allow date columns to appear in the custom columns list, so there isn't currently a way to allow setting a date column like you asked for. It could be changed to do so potentially. I guess really it is whether there are any other use cases people can think of why they would want to update a date column when they add or remove to a reading list.

[luciaisacat]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

If you aren't sorting your reading list specifically then they should exist on the list in the order that you added them. Is that not giving you the basics of which books you have added most recently?

As you have noticed I currently don't allow date columns to appear in the custom columns list, so there isn't currently a way to allow setting a date column like you asked for. It could be changed to do so potentially. I guess really it is whether there are any other use cases people can think of why they would want to update a date column when they add or remove to a reading list.

Many thanks! I then hope someone else may see useful my proposal.

[Kraftwerk]

I'm no expert when using Calibre and the plugins, I use the basics and am happy with that, but I do have one question.

Once I've read a book, I like to go to the Reading List plugin and to 'Edit books to read list' and delete the book I have just finished reading.

I have about 200 books on my kindle and trying to find the book to delete does take a while if it was one I added a while ago.

I'm wondering if there is an easier way of finding the book I want to delete?

Thanks

[JimmXinu]

Find and select the book(s) in library, then use Reading Lists 'Remove from List' option instead of doing Edit List?

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Find and select the book(s) in library, then use Reading Lists 'Remove from List' option instead of doing Edit List?

That sounds easier than what I have been doing.
I will try it next time.
Thank you.

[kiwidude]

It can be a complicated problem to deal with depending on whether you use autopopulated lists vs manual lists, and the fact that users can read a book multiple times so auto-removing based on a #read yes/no custom column won’t work. Thanks JimmXinu for describing what you should do if you use the manual list type.

If you use the autopopulated list type it has an advantage, in that if you read a book on your device (Kindle in my case) you can delete it on the device when finishing the book. Then the next time you plugin the device with Calibre, your reading list is updated to remove that book automatically from the reading list. This is the approach I personally use with this plugin, along with a “Kindle” tag for books on the device so I can easily see which books I have synced when generally browsing calibre rather than viewin a Reading List.

The downsides to this approach are (1) you need a second list for books to add” that is for syncing additional new books to your device (set to clear automatically when synced). (2) if you want to mark a book as #read in a custom column, you must do so before you next plugin the device or else it wont be on your list to remind you. And (3) the autopopulated list cannot have functionality of reading order which some users like to play with.

That works well for me most of the time. But you might find yourself not deleting the book on your Kindle straight away, as maybe on holiday with no access to your calibre and not wanting to risk forgetting to update books in it befoe syncing. In that scenario I view the reading list in calibre and mark books Ive read (using Goodreads Sync) and have visible a #read column. Then with the device plugged in I know that any books with #read are possible candidates to right-click and choose Remove matching books from device. Then I do a Sync of the reading list again (or unplug/plug in) and the books are off the list. Alternatively you can page through the books on your device and remove them using its delete functionality and plug it back in.

So it can be a bit clunky depending on how complicated your workflow is (such as tracking which books you have read with Goodreads and custom columns like I do), or it can be as simple as just deleting the book from your kindle with autopopulated lists.

Ive wondered (again today if not years ago) if I could do something with auto-deleting books marked as #read yes when next syncing a list. The problem is re-reads. For manual lists when adding a book to a list I guess I could make an exclusion list of books not to automatically remove if the book was marked as #read at the time you added it to the list. But that will lead to inconsistent behaviour for new users wondering why some books they “just read” have now gone from their list but others have not. Plus some messiness of ordering - if you dudnt mark a book as #read before you plugin the device, then mark it as #read you have to do another sync or unplug/plugin to remove it from the list/device. So it all fell into the “too hard” basket at the time I think.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

It can be a complicated problem to deal with depending on whether you use autopopulated lists vs manual lists, and the fact that users can read a book multiple times so auto-removing based on a #read yes/no custom column won’t work. Thanks JimmXinu for describing what you should do if you use the manual list type.

If you use the autopopulated list type it has an advantage, in that if you read a book on your device (Kindle in my case) you can delete it on the device when finishing the book. Then the next time you plugin the device with Calibre, your reading list is updated to remove that book automatically from the reading list. This is the approach I personally use with this plugin, along with a “Kindle” tag for books on the device so I can easily see which books I have synced when generally browsing calibre rather than viewin a Reading List.

You mention deleting the book directly from my kindle, something I have not thought about doing.
This will be an even easier way of removing the book, and then letting the Reading List Plugin update itself the next time I connect my kindle.

Thank you.

[ownedbycats]

Reading Goal has an option to "jump to the selected book" when opening the edit goal dialog with a single book selected in the list. I'd find it useful for Reading List too. Is possible?

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Reading Goal has an option to "jump to the selected book" when opening the edit goal dialog with a single book selected in the list. I'd find it useful for Reading List too. Is possible?

I don't use that plugin so I'm not 100% sure what you are asking for. Are you saying that when using the Edit Reading List function, you want it to effectively do a "View List" first so that in the background of calibre you could see the selected first book? Is it really that useful given the edit dialog is modal and you can't scroll etc?

[ownedbycats]

When you have a specific book selected in the book list, and open the RG dialog, if that book is also on its list the dialog selects that book rather than the first one:



(blur for privacy - my reading is embarrassing)

I would find this useful for actiion chains that add a book to list and then edit the list order.

[kiwidude]

Ok now I think I understand, the other way around from what I first thought. So whatever book is selected in the calibre view, if you then do Edit list in the Reading List plugin then if that book is in the list you want it to be selected/visible.

Not sure when I will next look at tinkering with this plugin but will take a look to see how difficult it is to add.