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"How anal are you all being?"
Not at all. I go with what I remember reading. Sometimes I'll search other peoples' shelves to see if anything they have sparks my memory, sometimes I won't. I give reviews as I please and don't shy away from giving bad ones, but the last time I checked I had far more 3-5 stars (generally good) than 1-2 star books.
I don't keep lists of every book I've ever read. My shelf here's about as close as I get to that. I re-read frequently as well.
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Tee
- Wednesday, May 7 2008
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No OCD behavior here neither. Other than keeping track of the books I absolutely loved the most during the last two years (started keeping "best lists" because of the AAR annual poll), I don't, nor do I want to start, keeping lists of all the books I've read, good or bad. So my shelves are filled only with my favorites during a two-year period and will branch out only as I continue reading and find more outstanding titles I've read. I guess you could say my 33 favorite titles look pollyanaish (nothing bad to say about them)--but that's the way I play this game of reading and listkeeping and how it works best for me. I'll dis books on the AAR boards, but I'll let this one be for my top ones.
I am adding tags, but only in identifying the publishing year. That way I can keep a year's worth all together.
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I am also tending to think that I have too many A's and B's on my beginning list but I am working off of my list that contains most of the authors I buy regularly. So, I made myself open my Tossed Books list and my Uncertain Authors list and I am feeding some from both of those lists in as well. One thing I have noticed though is that the first 2-3 years of reading romance, I gave a lot more A's than I do now. I may work on adjusting those grades at a later time.
Is there a limitation on space? I have reviews I have written - just for me - for over half of my books and can easily post many of those eventually. That will get pretty lengthy though.
Lea
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Lea -
You might want to simply link to your AAR reviews for those...that's what I'm going to do for mine.
TTFN, LLB
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I've pretty much finished entering my favorites, but now am thinking about going back and adding more tags, ratings, etc. Does anyone know if it's possible to link to reviews that you've written at AAR, or do you just say "I reviewed this at AAR?"
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LinnieGayl,
It's not possible to link to reviews at other sites. I have been copying my reviews and stating upfront on Shelfari that the book is reviewed at either AAR or Amazon and then pasting in the review text. I don't know if I will continue with this but I have been playing with it. I haven't figured out replying yet so I hope you see this!
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Thanks, Lea. I'd wondered about that. Since I've only done 19 reviews so far, it won't be too difficult for me to do.
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I was able to download my Books I've Read list from Paperbackswap.com as a csv file, convert to text and upload it (it took me several tries to get it right) so the basic list is there. Then I've been using the bulk edit feature to add ratings and tags. The only tag I've been adding is "audio" for all my books I have as audio.
I am trying to figure out how much customizing I can do - like, can I add a shelf with a custom name? Also, some of the "drag and drop" features are wonky - if you go to click on a book and drag it to favorites, sometimes you get that unwieldy pop-up and can't drop it on anything.
I've only been keeping track at PBS since Oct 07, although I did try to enter as many as I could recall from before that. I don't have nearly as many as some - I hardly read anything but magazines for years, I'm afraid. Now I'm averaging almost 1-a-day (including re-reads and audio).
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Melinda -
For my favorites, I've just been using the drop-down menu that appears when you put your mouse over a book...when you've clicked "I've read this," also choose "Favorite."
TTFN, LLB
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I am making progress on my entries and have found that it is addictive! I started with my DIK shelf and my favorites. I have to admit that I have a lot of those on my shelf! Some of the books that I have kept are not all my top rated books. I don't like to break up a set/trilogy so I'll keep all of them even though some might not be my highest rated books. I do not buy a lot of hard covers anymore, but do tend to keep those, too.
I have read a lot more books than I am listing right now and am still not sure if I am going to enter every book I've read, especially if I wasn't real crazy about the book. The jury is still out on that one.
I have started adding tags. At first I was doing each book individually by scrolling over the books and using the info. that popped up. Then I discovered that I can do this very quickly in the book list format. This way I feel as if I can sort my books into different kinds of genre or theme lists. I had not thought about adding a rating tag, but might go back and do that at some point.
I am still learning the ropes of the site and what all it can do. I may change my entry patterns, etc. once I become more familiar with the in's and out's of the site. I am not quite sure how to reorganize my shelves or even if that is possible. I like having books organized by author and publication date so I guess that is a bit of an anal tendency. So, far I am liking it; I love seeing all of the book covers rather than just titles and authors on my shelf.
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I found a way to shorten my time spent on this by about a third, and because of that, it's pretty fun - and I'm moving along at a reasonable clip now. I've got just about 900 books entered, tagged, rated, and ordered. My tags are for genre/sub-genre, and I'm using a combination of the list view and the shelf view to do the work,
TTFN, Laurie Lkes Books
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I'm entering things by author. So I'll pull up the author, add the books I've read, then I'll go add the tags and stars. It's the fastest way to go for me so far. I guess because I tend to glom books by favorite authors anyway. When I have only one or two books by an author that moves more slowly. I view my shelf by author and haven't customized it. I'm not sure yet if I'll take the time. Also, I'm definitely going to look into "bulk edit."
My tags are contemporary, historical, funny, favorite author but I think I will add date published as well because that did sound like a good idea.
I'm telling you this is the funnest thing evah!
Joyce
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My entries are going relatively slow. I'm entering a few authors at a time, just focusing on my As and Bs. Of course, I started with Nora Roberts which meant LOTS of entering. Think I'll try and do a few more authors tonight.
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Well, I finished a week or so ago...it was hard, but ultimately extremely worthwhile. Why, it gave me one of the ideas that went into tomorrow's ATBF column!
TTFN, LLB
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Just thought I would check in regarding my entry work. I have made a decision not to go back and try to enter all the books I have read in the past. I have not kept track and it would really be a challenge to try to recreate a list. My memory isn't that good! When my memory does get jogged by someone else's books, I may update my shelf, otherwise, it is "Onward!"
I have started to enter my TBR pile because it is a good way for me to visualize what I have waiting in the wings. And since I now own a Kindle and am purchasing electronic books, it is a way for me to "see" those as well.
I also have started to enter reviews of the recent books I have read and hope to keep that up. Again, no way can I go back and do a review for every book on my list! But, I eventually hope to add reviews for some of my all-time favorite DIK's and add them to the AAR Group Shelf.
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Kristine -
Because I think I must be a frustrated librarian, this weekend I added tags for my favorite Special Title Listings onto many of my Shelfari books, and today I finished adding "reviews" - which in my case is simply stating whether or not I reviewed the book at AAR or my blog. I feel like I achieved something incredible, and now I wish somebody would give me an entire library to catalog!
BTW, I'm loving my Kindele...hope you are, too.
TTFN, LLB
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