I love spreadsheets. I use spreadsheets for everything. When my family moves, I create a spreadsheet for each room, closet, and drawer. I track when I’m going to pack it and how long it’s going to take. I’m an organization freak.
So it seems unlikely that 2008 is the first year that I actually kept track of every single book I read. The number of books I read last year was 176. That averages about three books a week. I probably reviewed about 90% of those books.
I’m beginning my spreadsheet for 2009. So far I only have two books on it.
So do you keep track of what you read? What do you use? Why do you like keeping track?
I use Goodreads to keep track of my books. I’m not sure exactly how many books I read in the past 12 months though. Goodreads says I’ve read 411 books since July 1, 2007 (when I decided to break my reading hiatus). Unfortunately, without actually counting, I couldn’t tell you how many of those are full-length novels, how many are novellas, or how many were short stories.
I track them on my blog. Compared to you guys I”m a major slacker–weighing in at like 24 books for last year–which was actually better than the previous year!
I keep a running list for each month on my myspace blog. It was just something I started for rating the books, etc. It came in really handy at the end of this year though when I was trying to figure out my favorites and see how many books I read. And I’m not really a spreadsheet kind of gal. 🙂
And I used goodreads too! 🙂
I just started my spreadsheet for this year. Last year I only used Shelfari to keep track. I decided to use the spreadsheet because it’s easier to manipulate and access.
In the past, only in my mind.
This year I plan to use Goodreads to track all the books I read and to keep track of all the books on my shelves. I’m tired of going into the store and wondering if I read that book a long time ago or if I have it at home waiting to be read.
Last year I tracked all of my reading on Library Thing. I read about 44 books which rounded out to about three to four books a month, all of which I reviewed.
This year I’m keeping track of my reading on my blog. I’ve created a mock spreadsheet that I update as I finish each book. My goal is 50 books. I’m a slow reader compared to most.
I love LibraryThing!! I use tags to track the year, “done” to indicate I read it, and “owned” vs “not mine” (ie, library books). I can also export my LibraryThing library to .csv. so I can have it on my Palm. Very, very handy.
I just started keeping track at my blog last year, and for a lot of them I did reviews so that helps me to remember if I liked them LOL.
I also do the LibraryThing, Shelfari thing, and GoodReads thing, but I find I tend to forget to update it there so it’s not as complete as my blog.
Thanks for that fantastic idea
I do keep track of the books I have but I’ve never tracked what or how many I read in a year (b/c I also do a lot of re-reading). I am curious though how many I read per year…since 2009 is still a fairly new year I think I’ll start tracking now. Thanks for the inspiration! =)
I love that so many people keep track! I never could be bothered before last year, even though I tried. I would forget to update it and then give up.
I’m going to have to check out a few of those sites. I do like the Access idea.
I started keeping track last year. I read 319, counting rereads, but I won’t get anywhere near that number this year (last year it was part of my New Year’s Resolution to read at least 15 a month – this year it’s 5).
I started keeping track of the books I read back in 2006. I use word pad for the books coming out and the books to read. I also have them set up in a blog, just incase my computer crashes. Then I also use Goodreads and Shelari.
Oh, I LLLOOOVVVEEEE keeping track of my books – spreadsheet, LibraryThing, Shelfari, Goodread – I track on all of them.
As to why – I’m not really sure. I originally started to keep my excel skills up since I wasn’t using them where I worked – but then I got hooked.
I use Goodreads…stacked up 306 books last year..Woot!
I’m a Librarian by trade. I like my information… *grin*
Sadly, the only way I kept track of what I read is because it just stays in my memory. That’s not the best way to do it. For last year, I took part in a challenge and posted reviews for almost everything I read, though I ran out of time for a little over 10 of the books.
I want to keep better track, though, and like your idea of using spreadsheets. I think I’m going to try doing that this year and see how well it works for me.
You know, I’m really anal about that kind of stuff and like you, I have a spreadsheet for EVERYTHING. I do keep track of my reading, I have for the past three years and this is my fourth year.
I just keep tabs of the books that I read on my personal blog but I do keep a spreadsheet as well. I like keeping track of the books I read because I feel so organized! =)
I’m hooked on LibraryThing. I love going into my library and seeing all those beautiful covers.
Yes. I track my reads on my blog. The moment I finish a book I come right to my computer and list it on my side bar. Even if I finish the book at 3AM I still get up to list it on my blog.
I’ve used Microsoft Access (database) since 2005 to track my reading. I keep pretty simplistic records – Author, Title, Date Finished, Grade, and Genre.
This year I’m thinking of putting my spreadsheet on Google Docs. That way I can access it anywhere I have access to a computer and the Internet.
I used to be very good about tracking my books, but, alas, that’s declined over the past few years. I ought to get back into tracking them (I used a boring old Word document)–maybe that should be my New Year’s resolution!
I tried, really I did. I tried sooo hard. I have an awesome spreadsheet, that graphs all my reads, and graphs my grades, and even the pub years, etc. I have a tab with a graph for everything. All I have to do is enter the title, author, publisher, grade (which I HATE doing) and pub year on one tab and I get awesome graphs and data everywhere else. And I’m all about the data. Data is my life (and my job, LOL!)
But I just couldn’t keep it up. (get your minds out of the gutter). I think it’s the expectation that there’s a grade that needs to be entered, and I don’t like to grade. So then I need to enter a little thought or something so I’ll remember if I liked it, and at that point I may as well write a review. You see where I’m going with this, right?
So yeah, I gave up the spreadsheet. Now I only remember what I read if I review it. Senior mind and all that, LOL.
The number one way I use my blog is to keep track of what I’ve read, what’s in my TBR, and upcoming releases.
Having said that though, last year I joined LibraryThing- even bought a CueCat scanner- but I’ve yet to finish physically organizing all my books, which has to happen before I can electronically organize them.
I keep several spreadsheets! One is a list of all the books I have read and bought, another is the books I want to read (including what books are in what order in a series), then there is the library due dates spreadsheet so I know when books are due back, and then what series I am up to.
The other spreadsheet is one just for this year so that I can see how many books read this year, graphs of grades etc etc.
For the past few years I’ve used a spreadsheet to keep track of what I read, what I own, what I want to read and what I’ve placed on hold at the library. Last year I read 124 books comprising over 45,000 pages (yep, I keep track of page #’s too, lol). I would have read more but work, sleep and family kept getting in the way.
I also have a program called Readerware that I use as a ‘backup’. I purchased a CAT that scanned the barcode of every book I own into this program (and since then every book I’ve read including library books) allowing me to inventory my personal library in less than an hour. I love it! No need to type in anything regarding the book as the CAT scans it all then downloads the needed info from the internet.