Monday, April 06, 2009

Musing Mondays-- To Be Read, or Not To Be Read

As a follow up to last week's question, Joseph asks how you keep track of your tbr list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?




I really don't keep close track of my TBR list. All of the books that fall into that category are kept separate on my shelves. Once they're read, they're either swapped or donated, and removed from my catalog on LibraryThing. If I keep the book, it's added to the "general population on my shelves.

The only place where I keep any sort of TBR list is on Goodreads, and since I haven't been a member very long, it's incomplete. I don't have the time to go back and add everything to it, so I'm just adding new books when they arrive.

It's easy for a book to be added to my TBR list. All it has to do is pique my interest, or be written by an author whose books I've already enjoyed. I don't take a TBR list when I go book shopping because to me "TBR" means that I already own the book. Since I'm horribly compulsive when it comes to buying books, I've learned to take a list with me into a bookstore and pay strict attention to it. No browsing allowed. (That's where I can get into a world of hurt!) Since I'm now a member of Paperback Swap, what I've begun doing is making a list from my wish list there. It's composed of books that seem to be stuck in limbo there, and I'm tired of them waiting to turn up in my mailbox!

To see what other people said in answer to this question, click on the Musing Monday graphic at the top of this post. Thanks, Rebecca, for hosting this fun meme!


7 comments:

  1. I actually have started an Excel list a few months back and since then I also put my inventory on an iPod app. and I use Goodreads and Shelfari as well. I still have a long way to go with cataloging all of the books since I'm only done with the books I have not read yet.

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  2. I have one real set of books, that exist in my house and that are waiting to be read. These are mostly in the same area of my bookshelves but they do occasionally escape. I have another list which is my Amazon basket. This can sometimes get to be as long as 300, but I cull it every six months or so. If a book has been on there for getting on for 2 years and I have not bought it, I tend to delete it.

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  3. I just posted this today: http://djskrimiblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/dj-now-with-tbr.html

    - so this is how I keep track of my impressive TBR :)

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  4. Lilly--I have over 3200 books here in the house. I kept telling myself that I was going to catalog them all but never did. Until I had new flooring installed and had to move them all. What an exhausting incentive!

    Maxine--I do the same sort of cull with my Amazon list, although I don't think mine's ever gotten that long.

    Dorte--I went to check it out. You've got some good reading on that shelf!

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  5. I have a notebook sitting on the table beside me where I jot down my interests (and I usually try to write down who suggested it too). Then I transfer them to my Excel spreadsheet which gets loaded on my Palm TX and carry it with me to the store or library sales.

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  6. I have a small stack of books I own that need to be read. It is my books I want to read list that is out of control!

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  7. Kara--I normally sit here with several tabs open on Firefox, and when I find a book that sounds interesting, I'll immediately add it to my PBS wish list. For books that aren't readily available, I make notations on my desk blotter until I can get them sorted out!

    Nise--both of those categories are out of control for me!

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