First of all, let me say that I am completely anal retentive. Obsessive compulsive. Detail oriented, as my significant other says. I like neatness. Order. Tidy stacks and piles. Everything in its place, and a place for every thing.
In other words, I am stark raving mad.
My desire for order above all else even extends to my books – and my book database in particular. Yes, Virginia, I have a database of all the books I’ve read with the author, the year the book came out, and my ranking (1, 3, 5, 7, and 10, with 10 being the best). I recently added a new field for the year that I read the book.
I’ve kept this database ever since high school, when I scribbled it down in a notebook. Since then, it’s gone through several incarnations and moved from computer to new computer. Right now, I’m at just over 800 books read. Some of my recent reads include Dark Lover by J.R. Ward, Demon Angel by Meljean Brook, and High Profile by Robert Parker.
I thought I was the only person in the whole world who kept a database of the books she’d read, until I started reading some of the romance blogs a couple of years ago. But I discovered something wonderful – there are lots of people out there who do the exact same thing that I do. Some of them are even more serious about it than I am.
Which means that I am not alone in my insanity. Yeah!
Keeping a list may seem silly to some, but I enjoy it. More importantly, it helps me keep track of all the authors I’ve read and enjoyed in the past. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been putting in a new entry when my eye’s caught on an author that I hadn’t thought about in a while. More often than not, I go to Amazon and find out to my delight that they’ve released a couple of books since last I read them. A couple of clicks, and bada-bing, bada-boom, Jen has more cool books to read.
So, yeah, I’m anal retentive. Obsessive compulsive. Detail oriented.
And proud of it.
I know a couple of people who keep spreadsheets of the movies they’ve seen (over 1,000) and the number and ranking of beers they’ve had (about 300). I keep a mental list of books though.
I do have a list. In fact, I’ve multiple lists.
My July goal is to consolidate the mess it’s become over the years into one simple spreadsheet.
Wasn’t Demon Angel wonderful? I think that Demon Moon’s even better than Demon Angel.
No, but my critique partner does and I am SO sending her the link to this 😀
Hello. My name is Gwen and I’m an anal-retentive-detail-oriented crazy person.
[crowd says, “Hello Gwen”]
It’s been three hours since I last organized something. The last list I made was of all the spring projects I want to do around the house and that was last night.
[crowd claps]
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot organize;
courage to organize the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
um..yep, I have all my owned books catelogued…the books I have read in the past five years that I don’t own and a list of the must-buys….
Lawson — I have a movie database list too! Like the book list, I’m up to about 800 movies watched. 🙂
May — Demon Angel was good. I’m looking forward to the sequel. Now, if I can just find time to read it …
Amie — Pass it on. Us neat freaks will take over the world some day soon …
Gwen — Hello, Gwen. You are not alone. I made my last list about three hours ago. I need groceries tomorrow. 🙂
Dennie — I use to have all the books I owned catalogued too, but now I just do the books read list. It was too much trouble keeping up with the paperbacks I buy and swap.
I did one year, but this year I started, but it quickly fizzled out. Things have been crazy this year, it seems. But I’ve certainly read a lot. I just keep forgetting to write them down. Probably goes along with my lack of blogging this year. It’s been pathetic.
hehe Jen …Denise is my CP 😀 and today’s her birthday!
I keep my list on my blog. It is my reading journal. I was too scared to start a database on my computer because i had started doing that once on my compter and it crashed a couple days later. So I like putting it on the internet instead.
Uh-oh! I have more than one list!
At the moment I have two excel workbooks. One is of the books that I have read this year, and was designed by the wonderful Rosario, so it gives you tables and graphs, and all sorts.
The other is my own and it is a list of both the books I read, and the books that I own, whether I have read or not. The next page is a TBR list – as soon as I see a book that I might like to read I put it on the list, including whether or not it is available at the library and then as I read books off the list I cross them off (oh, and it also is where I record if a book is part of a series, what number in the series it is!), and then the third list is of what I have out of the library, how many more times I can extend the loan period, and what date they are due back, and I refer to that to decide which book I have to read next!
Funnily enough, I don’t keep lists like this for anything else – just reading!
I don’t keep a list of what I have read but I do keep a list of the books I want to buy.
I think having a list you’ve read is a good idea if you are able to keep it up, which is my biggest problem. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with a great memory and I remember the books I’ve read. Regretfully, I don’t read as much as I used to, but I hide books in the bathroom and near the side of the bed so I can get some “sneak” reading done.
Lucynda Storey
http://www.lucyndastorey.com
Coming soon: The Collector Book 7: This Time Forever
You know, if all us book list makers united, we could take over the world. Wha-ha-ha! 🙂