Readers: do you keep records?

[Kerrie]

Do you keep records of books you've read?
How long have you done it? Why did you start?
What do you use to do it? What do you record about each book?
How do you use your records?

[Ayo]

I used to. But it was more to keep track of what books I had got. I am generally very good at remembering whether or not I have read a book before and because of my ecelctic taste it is quite easy for me to do so. I have stopped at the moment but have to restart doing it again.

[Patricia]

Well I can see a few names and faces of those I recognize and not only are we readers we are listkeepers!

Like most I started with a notebook of just the books I had read...not being a very fast reader this became a problem when I started buying duplicate books so I started an Excel spreadsheet. I only list the title, authors first and last name, date read and the edition I have have, either mass market, hardback, trade or ARC. I also have a column for notes and date read. The only problem I now have is that I have stopped worrying about buying duplicates because I "keep a list" but the dang list is so big I have given up printing out a hard copy...so I still buy duplicates. But not as many!

[Karen from AustCrime]

We use a web based application that provides what did you read, internal reviews, what do we own, what is on our wish list, who's borrowed what etc etc etc.

That exports to an Openoffice.org spreadsheet if I need it to - that way I can run it on all of the desktops and the laptops if they are offline - and directly to a little database application that I run on my Palm.

[Joy Calderwood]

I started logging everything I read in 1968. Why? Who knows why a teenager does anything? Maybe I just wanted to savor the list. I read 300+ books a year at that time, and tracked them in three other forms of list for a year after, so they stuck in my memory pretty well. Now that they are on the computer, I can search out what I've read by a particular author or find out if I've read a particular title (unless the book has been renamed!) A graph shows me what broad category I've been reading the most of for the past year. If I was reviewing it or editing it, I notate that, too. I also have a Friends and Family Book Blog, a year old now, in which several of us record our reading with brief comments.

[Eliza Tucker]

300+ books a year? You're so, so awesome.

[Joy Calderwood]

That was before life took over.

[Helen]

I started keeping a record of what I read when I joined email groups and started posting monthly reads. I started adding books I owned but hadn't read when I found myself buying duplicates. My first database, starting around 1995, was an MS Works file. Several years ago I started using Readerware, which has an add-on that syncs with my Palm. I keep my TBF list in an EndNote library, which I can also sync to my Palm. EndNote is reference management software that I get free from work.

[Eliza Tucker]

I started keeping a record in 2006, but nothing more than the title and author. For this year, I'm reviewing each one. If it's really good I don't say much, because I'll be recommending it to my readership, and I hate spoilters. This year's reviews are on my blog, and I've got all from both years registered with LibraryThing.

[Margot Renne Payne]

Yes. The easiest way is to use www.librarything.com. It is very easy to use and you can see what others are reading and read their comments. I just started using the website this year. Librarything does all the work for you--author, pub. date, ISBN, cover art, etc.

I have also kept record over the past nine years of the books we've read for the library book group I coordinate for the Putnam County Public Library, where I work.

[Dianne Day]

I just started doing this in January of this year. I do it purely because I can no longer remember the title and authors of all the books I've read, and writing them down helps. I got tired of bringing home books that began to seem all too familiar a few pages in, whether from the library or from a store where I'd just paid for something that was no longer what I wanted to read. The books I want to re-read, I do keep, and I remember those.

Since I was writing author and title down anyway, I decided to go ahead and do stars to signify how much I liked the book. It's only for my own use, though if somebody asks "What were the best books?" I might consult my new-born list.

[Fran Read]

I keep very basic records on my computer. I have a fresh file for every year and I just list the name of the author, name of the book and a rating out of five. If I make a written comment it's only a word or two (so that it fits into the column of the table). I've done this for about six years and it helps to remind me of authors that I've really enjoyed and might want to read more of.

[Marie Claude Gagnon]

I have a nice hardback notebook dh bought me some years ago in which I note, for each month, the titles of the books I read. So I note, the date I finish the book, it's title and author as well as 1 to 5 stars, 5 being a book I loved so much I might have forgotten to eat and sleep ;o) I have noted all the books I've read since 1999 in it, and I love to see what I've read when...