My dad was a bit of a wiseass, and one of his sayings was, "I made a mistake once. I thought I was wrong." In fact, I think he had it on a sign on his desk! I was reminded of it this morning when I was trying to figure something out, and thought that I had made a mistake on my "books read" spreadsheet.
Back in 2013, I started this spreadsheet to keep track of what I read when (some day I plan to write about all the things I use spreadsheets to track). Over the years I have added more and more things to track about each book I finish (I don't track the DNFs). I don't necessarily know what items I added when, but as of today, I put:
- the date, title, and author
- whether I read the book for the first time or it was a reread
- was it from the library
- was it sci-fi/fantasy, YA/YR, non-fiction
- was it on the tablet/e-book
- was it an advance copy
At the end of the year, I copy the date/title/author fields onto a tab called "combined," so that I can sort by title or author to see when I first read a book, when I started reading an author, how many times I've read a book, that kind of thing.
So, an author I have discovered this year and greatly enjoyed (listing those is another blog post on its own: I've found a bunch this year) is KJ Charles, and she has a new book releasing this week, which is a sequel to the first of hers that I read. I wanted to read the first one again, but it wasn't on my Kindle, AZ doesn't show I bought it, and the entry on my spreadsheet doesn't say I got it from the library. In fact, I didn't check off tablet/e-book either, so I was very confused about how I read the thing: I read more and more e-books these days, so that was where my mind went first.
Finally, I thought to check my actual, physical bookshelf. There it is!
And now I can read it again before the e-book of The Duke at Hazard drops into my Kindle on Thursday. (I generally prefer not to mix formats, but the e-book is $2.99, and the paperback is $17.99, and for that much of a difference, I can stand it. Well, it's not as expensive from the UK, oddly enough. I may end up ordering that too.)
A note about the series, btw, which is Regency period romance that the author called "Heyer but gayer" (any Georgette Heyer fans reading?): they are neither straight nor straight-laced, so if men with men and on-page sex is not your thing, pass on by. The author has a whole page on content warnings for other items in all her books as well. I very much like her writing style, but everything isn't for everyone.
C, I have a spreadsheet too! Yours is more detailed though. I just note the date, the book, how many days it took to read it, and - recently, within the last two years - my "star" rating.
ReplyDeleteI have thought about adding star ratings. My only hesitation is that I would get too deeply into the reeds with what to score a book. I dithered for ages trying to come up with a scoring system for my migraines, and only was able to implement it once I took it down to mild-moderate-severe. Keep it simple!
DeleteHeyer but gayer! omg, love. I use Goodreads because I suck at spreadsheets, but trying to track some things I'd like to track is difficult and Goodreads is problematic in many ways. But with my declining memory I REALLY need a way to keep track.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be true now, but at the time, Goodreads didn't allow you to mark re-reads, and that is crucial for me, so that's why I started the spreadsheet in the first place. And now I wouldn't give it up, it's exactly what I want from it and yet can be added to any time.
DeleteI loved Georgette Heyer and would have no issue with the gayer part of it. I don't think I've ever done a spreadsheet; I'm organized about some things but NOT books. Sadly.
ReplyDeleteI would never say anyone has to! This is just what works for me. I'm definitely more organized in some facets of life and not in others.
DeleteI have only used a spreadsheet that Stephany (from Stephany Writes) sent me for the last two years. I track if it's a book from the library or one I own and because I keep track of format (ebook or not), I can easily tell if it's a book on my shelf, but I would definitely not default to that!
ReplyDeleteI guess I buy physical copies just often enough to throw myself off! I do buy e-books as well as borrow them, so it's all a motley collection of ways to read. Not a bad life, honestly!
DeleteThere's an old Peanuts strip with Lucy saying, I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong. So it was fun to read your dad saying something very like.
ReplyDeleteI love my reading spreadsheet! I've kept one since 2015 so next year, I'll have a whole decade worth of data. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteI just added that KJ Charles book to my TBR - I'm always looking for good queer romances!
I enjoy looking at the way the data breaks down! I hope you like the book; I really enjoy her writing.
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