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?

[TribalCat]

I started keeping track of my reading last December when I started joining online book clubs. So far I've been using word processing to keep my list of title and author and in which month I read it. I haven't done any rating of the books, as I tend to talk about them in detail through my groups. I made a 2007 reading resolution to read at least five books each month, with at least two of them being non-fiction, as I have a big library of unread non-fiction books, and I keep book list handy to make sure I'm meeting my goal.

[TribalCat]

At the moment I'm working on compiling a list of books that I've bought (read and unread), to keep me from buying the same books by accident. There are 300-400 books in my TBR pile already, but I can't seem to stop acquiring them! :)

[Daniel Hatadi]

For the last three years I've kept track of books in a spreadsheet by author and title, as well as the date I finished reading it. But this thread has inspired me to start listing books on LibraryThing. Seems like a neat idea.

Neat. I just used the word 'neat' in a sentence.

[Joy Calderwood]

LOL. It's happening, man!

[Kerrie]

My problem is where to keep my lists - I've already got 1 database I can't open, 1 notebook 1975-2000 that I've put in a safe place ( and now can't find). My current database and notebook system seems to be working just fine but I do like the look of LibraryThing.
You've certainly been busy there Daniel :-)
A friend has her very impressive one at http://www.librarything.com/profile.php?view=sally906

Our library has a link to a site called Library Elf at http://www.libraryelf.com/ which promises to help me keep tabs on my library books, but has links to other places like Amazon. However as it won't accept my card details, I have yet to explore its possibilities

[Kerrie]

I've made a start on LibraryThing. Have a look at http://www.librarything.com/profile/smik

[Daniel Hatadi]

Oh cool! I wonder how many Crimespacers are using LibraryThing?

[012158]

I started keeping track back either in the 80s or 90s, when the MBTB Houston discussion group started up again. Then I joined 4MA, and really had to know what I had read or not. So, what I did, was create a file in Word called books, then I list the author in plain text, the title in bold text, and then the date, whether it is an ARC or 1st edition or pb in plain text within parentheses. It is a crude way, but it works, and authors that have series or both series and stand alones, I list the series category in bold italic to separate it from the other titles.

[Codie]

I used to record all the books that I read when I was younger, but haven't lately. The only reason I still don't is because the real world seems to get in the way of my reading..lol.. I used to keep them on index cards in a box, sort of like a card catalogue. I think if I have the time that I'll start doing that again. It was always a good way of keeping track of what I've already read.

[Beth]

I've been keeping a list since March of 2004. I started it just to see how much I do actually read. At first i used this nice bright pink notebook but soon found myself wanting something alot easier to search through. I then started my own blog. I mainly just post the basic info.

Date finished, Title - Author.

I've just recently started notating what genre the book is, if it was a library book and give it a rating of 1 to 4 stars.

I'm in awe as to how much time and enthusiam people put into their lists.

I can generally read about 12-15 per month. I'm trying to break the 150 mark for the year but not to sure how thats going right now. I hate it when i'm in a slump.

[Kerrie]

I changed jobs at the end of 2000 Beth, and consequently bring a lot less work home, and have more time for reading. My husband retired in late 2001 and that has given me more reading time too, and he now does most of the household chores. I have noticed an increased in the number of books I read on an annual basis, but even so 150 a year would be a lot more than I have ever managed. In a good month I get 10-11 read,
I have found too that I need to record more about each book. It helps me remember the plot more easily and I find I can talk more sensibly about them.

[Gumshoe Carl]

I use an excel spreadsheet to track author, booktitle, grade (A-F), month and year of reading, and a short synposis. I have offically done this since January of 2006. I try to keep up with my spreadsheet and hope to do this for the rest of my life. I think it would be amazing to have 20-30 or even 5 years of content to look back on. I also initiated a travel journal last year to keep track of my worldly travels.