My name is Shelley Munro, and I am an avid romance reader.
In fact my love of reading and books started me on the path
to becoming an author. Like many romance readers, I’m fast and read a lot of
books each year.
A few years ago, I decided to keep a record of the books I
read each year, and from 2007 I’ve kept an Excel spread sheet of the titles
I’ve read. It’s interesting to look back to see which books I’ve read and how
my reading tastes have changed. For example in 2013 I read a lot of
contemporary romances, I started listening to audio books and flirted with a
few new genres such as New Adult. I read more e-books than print books these
days, and my number of audio reads is increasing rapidly.
Reading challenges are a fun way of challenging yourself to
read more, either in genres you love or in new genres. You’ll find lots of
different challenges on the web at this time of the year. Last year I participated
in the Goodreads’ Reading Challenge where I recorded 103 books for the year. My
target was 100 books. This year I’ve signed up for the same target and have already read a book or two from my to-read mountain.
I’m always interested to learn how other readers operate.
Do you keep track of
the books you read? If so, how do you do it? Have you or are you participating
in the Goodreads Reading challenge or any other reading challenges?
16 comments:
103 books last year?! Wow! I've always wanted to keep track, but it's just one of those things that I had to let slide when life got overwhelming. (Plus, it's a bit depressing that I don't have as much time to read anymore. I hope to rectify that in the new year!!) Great post! :)
Holy cow, that's great! I wish you'd done a screen shot of the excel page too. Would love to see your list... :)
I also keep record of my reading in Excel spreadsheets. Sadly, things have changed a lot. When I first started I topped 200 titles a year. Now I'm doing good to read 50
It's funny that you ask that question because when the end of December rolled around and I started seeing everyone else's lists for the books they'd read in the past year, started thinking of keeping track of my own reading list for this year. I've never done if before but all I did was start a blog post and make the publish date for the end of December of this year and started adding the books I'd read to the post.
I listen to 99% of my books. I let Audible keep track LOL! I good back and listen to those I really really like. It's inspirational for me.
I try and use Goodreads for this but I forget to add most of the books. *sigh* I also use it as a way to keep a note of research titles I borrow from the library LOL. The problem is I don't like the star system. Ah well. Well done on your spreadsheet :)
Wow - that's a huge number! I've never tracked mine, but I can tell you, my number pales next to yours.
Anne Marie - I use a lot of public transport and while away the journey time reading. I also listen to audio books while I walk the dog, so that helps me squeeze in some reading time.
Hi J,
My spreadsheet is very basic. I have a column for the title, author, the genre, the format e.g. print/audio/ebook, whether it's an erotic romance or not (because I like to know the balance) and a column for what number book it is (i.e. 1st book read, 10th book read etc)
I also have a column where I write whether I liked the book or not and the last column is for notes. Is it a series or not? That sort of thing.
I've got into the habit of filling it out and seldom miss a book.
I keep every year in the same file and just open another sheet within the excel file.
Simple :)
Alice - I hear you. Reading takes a back seat to writing and family stuff.
Mary - a blog is a great idea for keeping a list. I hadn't thought of that.
Rita - I'm definitely listening to more books too. The reading experience is very different and as an author, I learn so much with each book I listen to.
Toni - getting into a routine is the main thing. I find my spreadsheet easier than relying on Goodreads. I miss the odd book on Goodreads.
Yeah, the star system can be a pain because you have to put a rating in before it registers the book as being read.
Wynter - I love to read, and as I said, I came to writing because of reading. I like to keep that up :)
I am not in a reading challenge, but I am keeping track through Goodreads.
Angie - Goodreads is helpful for keeping a record.
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