Since there hasn't been as much money coming into our household this past year as we are used to (ahem), I've been using my library privileges as much as possible. I try to get as many books as possible on my Kindle, but there are some books that either aren't available to borrow on the Kindle or the wait for the digital copy is really long that will force me to actually go to the physical library. Witness these library books.
I sometimes get questions about which books I pick to read and how I keep track of all of them. I have a spreadsheet (see above). I have it listed by author and book which makes sense, but then I have two columns for two different libraries. The third column is our local library and as soon as someone recommends I read a book, I look it up. If it's available locally, I type in where I can find it (digitally or on the shelves). The fourth column is a different library where I have access to digital files (fine, maybe not quite so legally) so if it's available there, I note it in this column. I also note in those two columns if I have requested the digital item or not. There is a limit to the number of books you can request digitally, so I have to prioritize.
There's an additional column with who did the recommending and other notes. If a row is highlighted red, it's because the book is not available at either library. If it's yellow, it's an "active" book, meaning either I have borrowed a physical copy from the library or I've requested or borrowed a digital copy. White columns are books that are available to me somewhere, but I haven't done anything with them yet.
Each time I finish a book, I go to my computer, write up a little blurb about it for this here blog, and then delete it from the spreadsheet.
I get ideas from everywhere - other blogs, Facebook, wandering the bookstore or library, what my peeps say on Goodreads, and lots of amazon recommendations - especially people who know me like my family. If anyone asks, I'm done taking book recommendation from the magazine Real Simple. They never turn out well. On my phone, I have an app called Book Catalogue and when I stumble on a recommendation and I'm not at my computer, I put it in there and then put it in the spreadsheet when I get home.
Yes, I do spend a lot of time on this. But books are what make life worth living.
I have journals where I document what I've read, MLA style. I also have a blog dedicated to reading/writing, and a blog dedicated to being nothing more than a bibliography (when I remember it's there).
ReplyDeleteYou know about the time I spent weeks compiling a list of books to read for the coming year. I also have a book from 1999 that listed like 10,000 movies that had been made by that time, and it would list if each movie was made from a book or not (and list the name of the book, in case the titles were different). I spent months one summer going through that entire book and typing up a database of all the movies made from books. It's something like 70 pages.
I feel like the ones recommended by me should be highlighted in some kind of Def Con five color. Maybe black.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has a book spreadsheet too. I associate book spreadsheets with wonderful and highly intelligent people.
ReplyDeleteWow that's so cool, never thought about doing that.
ReplyDeleteYou're my kinda girl! I'm known as "The Spreadsheet Queen"! You've won a book on my blog. I'll be emailing you shortly. Thanks!
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