Bookworm Bulletin

I love to read. I could not even begin to guess how many books I have read in my life. What I could tell you is how many books I have read in the last year and a half (86!). I could also tell you what each of those books were and if there were any quotes or thoughts that were particularly memorable to me, and for those in the last six months I could even give you a rating out of five for each book!

The reason I could tell you all of that is because at the very beginning of 2017, a friend in my book club talked about how she likes to write down favorite quotes or thoughts from books she reads. I took her idea and ran with it (thanks, Analise!) and have since expanded on what I track and how I use the information.

I keep track of the title, author, start and finish dates, rating out of 5, type (currently I use fiction, nonfiction, or graphic novel), and favorite quotes/thoughts. I have gotten better in the last fews years at giving myself permission to decide I am just not into something, so I don’t force myself to finish books I am not enjoying. I still include them on my list, but I put an X in the finish date column and do my best to document the reasons why I decided to stop reading the book (these books are not included in my total books read).

I also write down if I’m reading the book for my book club, as a part of a podcast read-along (this currently means Harry Potter and the Sacred Text), or if it’s a book I got as a part of a subscription box. I am thinking about expanding this category to include if a specific person or source recommended a book to me, but this is more difficult for me to track as I don’t usually get to books right away (my list is LONG) and I frequently get the same book recommendations from multiple places.

Just in the last month, I started rating each book I read on a 1-5 scale (including halves, if necessary). I even went back and rated every book I’ve read so far in 2018. Having a chunk of books to start from, rather than just starting with my most current read, helped me figure out a consistent rating system by comparing my enjoyment of the books to each other and giving me a base to work from going forward.

After all of this work, I wanted to be able to share my reading, so I started posting a picture on Facebook every three months of the books I finished that quarter, along with my top fiction and non-fiction recommendations. It’s been fun being able share my book love, so I recently expanded to posting brief book reviews on Instagram (@hisingduck) whenever I finish a book.

The picture above includes a few of my 5 star books from 2018 so far. As I was pulling these books off my shelves for the picture, I noticed that a number of my top rated books are currently loaned out! Even if you have no interest in tracking every book you read, I highly recommend writing down every book you loan out and the person who has it. Not only are my books some of my most prized possessions, but loaned books naturally tend to be my favorites, so I have to make sure to get them back!

Do you track what you read or have a place you keep favorite quotes and musings from books?