Friday, January 10, 2014

On Organizing My Reading Material

Since I've seen a lot of spreadsheets and stuff like that lately around blogosphere (like Debby's [Snuggly Oranges]), I thought I'd make one of my own as well and it's actually been really helpful. I have some books that I read last year (like Stealing Parker, Throne of Glass etc.) that I'd love to share my thoughts on, but it's getting harder and harder to rate all of the books I have read. I usually compare books on the scale of how much I enjoyed it, but it's even more subjective than it should be, especially depending on what I have read right before/after and very dependent on my mood. How exactly should I solve this problem?

I decided to do this:
  1. I'm writing down every book I have read (in Excel, but you can do it anywhere you please--in Word, Google document etc.), starting with the year 2014 (with the addition of the books I have yet to review on the blog in a separate spreadsheet)
  2. I write down everything I need to know about them, for instance, title, author, publisher, number of pages and such
  3. Then, since I find myself swooning quite a lot while reading, I decided to go borrow something from Lauren [Love is Not a Triangle] and put the love triangle scale there along with the name of my book boyfriend. Why? Well, by the end of the year I want to see how many books I read that included a love triangle, because, seriously, I hate them with passion. At the end of the year I can see whether or not a love triangle made a difference in how much I enjoyed the book and how many books I actually read that included one.
  4. Last, but not least, I wanted to realllllllly solve the rating problem I have. What I like on Nick's [Nick's Book Blog] blog is that she has this system where she rates things in a separate category and the average is what gives the overall rating. That's what I'm doing. Turns out, some ratings like the one I'm going to give for Stir Me Up will remain the same, but some like Throne of Glass will either go up or down. 
All of this put together looks something like this


Of course, it would look different for everyone depending on what they feel like is important to them, but this is what mine looks like for now. This should also help me carry out the end of the year survey since the one I did about last year--yeah, not gonna lie, it was tough. The system I'm trying to develop sounds extremely easy and right now I'm super excited about it. I'm sure it'll be tough to follow this all year through, but I'm going to work hard and try to get more organized when it comes to my reading. I have some questions for you though..

Do you have any way except for Goodreads to keep your reading organized? If so, what do you do? Would you want to be more organized?

Also, would you guys be interested in more posts like this where I talk about myself and how I read, blog, organize stuff etc? I love to read other people's discussion and otherwise helpful posts, but I never seem to get around writing some of my own.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I'll do my best to get a book haul post up this weekend, because I have lots of goodies to show you :) *hugs*

12 comments:

  1. I lack organizational skills for my personal blog. It's embarrassing really. I scribble things down in my notebook and I write a lot of notes on my hands. Except for blog tours (which I put in my YA Bound calendar) I kind of just wing it. Most of the time I have no idea what the hell I'm doing the next day :)
    I look up to you bloggers that are super organized. I don't know how you do it!

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  2. I love that spreadsheet! So far, I only keep track of my books on Good Reads and my blog. But I think I'm going to steal your idea and do the same for my books. I love making lists and spreadsheets. I've recently been thinking about making a spreadsheet of all the books I own (an idea I took from another blogger), so I might as well start one for this, too. Plus, I've only read two books so far this year, so it's not like I have a lot to catch up on or anything. So, thanks! And I've just started following your blog, but I definitely like posts like this! :)

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  3. Wow, look at you all organized Siiri! With my work, I'm crazy organized and have all sorts of lists and calendars to keep me on track. With the blog, I tend to be a little more laid back. I'm still organized in that I keep a detailed posting calendar, but I don't really track my reviews or books read or anything like that. I'm too lazy I think ;-) And I always like reading posts of any kind that are more personal in nature, it's fun to get to know the bloggers themselves, even if it's just knowing how they stay organized:)

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  4. Wow. This is so organised. I totally agree I really find it hard to keep my reading in check and everything. I think for me rather than the ratings, it what to read next with me. I do use Goodreads to keep track of all the books and everything but apart from that its what I feel like reading at the time. I think that I feel more pressure when I have to read the book by the pub date, so I don't do that anymore. I think for me I might actually give a spreadsheet a go, have more fun with it. Thanks for bringing to me attention. And yes I like these sort of posts, it breaks it up. Lovely post, Siiri! :)

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  5. Umm, I'm jealous of your organizing skills, Siiri. I'm the least organized person when it comes to books. I do however, plan what books to read ahead on Google Calendar though. I started taking down notes on the books I read though, so I guess I'm getting a bit better. But I'm doing that because I have trouble with remembering some stuff. I took a peek at your spreadsheet and I saw you read Violet and Luke and didn't like it? Good thing, I didn't get it off NG. Jessica Sorensen just uses the same theme over and over again in her books and I'm beginning to see people dislike them now. Also, DNF Defy! :P That book is so bad. Have you read Khan's review on GR? I almost died laughing when I read it.
    Great post, Siiri!

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  6. I actually have a couple of excel spreadsheets for my blog/book organization. I recently just made me one for my review books to since I was having so much trouble keeping up with publishing dates and it has helped me out tremendously! I love how you've done one for books that you've read, I never thought to do that. I might have to give it a try, and I'll probably add a note section so I can write a few spoilers since I have horrible memory when it comes to series.

    Great post!

    Christy @ Christy's Book Addiction

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  7. I'm not so organised. It's a miracle if I manage to write reviews at all . So I love the system but I don't think I'll manage to follow it cause I'm so busy

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  8. Girl, you are a Rockstar! I'm only moderately organized. I think I'm intimidated by all the work getting it organized. lol
    I hope this system works for you!

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  9. Gosh, you rock this girl. I'm usually really organized when it comes to the task that I must do connected with my studies. I have the timetable where I put what I need to do and all that but with blogging I lack that. I mean I do keep organized when and what I need to post but not like this. I totally agree that survey was hard to do and this will help you a lot. Great idea :)

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  10. Awesome plan! I have a Excel spreadsheet where I store the name, author, and release date for the books I want to buy in 2014. It consists of sequels, debuts, etc. I've been doing it for 2/3 years and it works great for me. In the BookTube community quite a few people have created these book jars where they write down all their unread books on a piece of paper and put it into the jar. Then they pull one out at random and that is the book they have to read. Well, being inspired by that I got a jam jar yesterday, decorated it and decided to write down the names of the books I've read so far in 2014. That way at the end of the year I can look at what books I've read and how many. :)

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  11. Besidse Goodreads, I use Excel and Calibre to keep track of several things. I think I'm organized enough :D

    I have an ARC/eARC file.
    A series document.
    I have a notebook for challenges & books I've read combined with Excel.

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  12. I LOVE this organization you're doing, Siiri! I always get to the end of the year and try to analyze what I've read and I feel so lost. This is a great way to do it. I love that you're including a love triangle scale. That's wonderful! I'm very curious to see how many books you read include them. I want to get more organized about the arcs that I have, so that I don't forget to read or review one of them! I'm so bad at that. A spreadsheet would be a wonderful idea. Great post! You've inspired me.

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