The Sword and Laser discussion
Did you list past reads when you joined Goodreads?
Mod
I could never remember more than a fraction of the thousands of books I've read over the past 40+ years.
I started keeping track of the books I read in 2005 via my blog and later Librarything. When I moved to Goodreads I imported my Librarything library and at some later point cleaned it up a bit, i.e. deleted duplicates, added lost ratings and "finished" dates, so it's really a yes and a no for me.Yes, I did list past reads when I joined, but only those that I had kept track of anyway. I think you will find just a very small number of books in my library that I read prior to 2005.
I listed books I own because I didn't have my books listed any where until now...so "yes" I guess is the short answer..
It was easy to add back through 2005, because that is when I started tracking the books I read in LiveJournal. Others I add anecdotally; I have a shelf called "Read Long Ago." It ends up with everything from the Bobbsey Twins to the missionary memoirs my parents had me read to the reading I can remember from high school.
I used to have a superlong list in Excel with all my books since I was a teenager. I tried to remember my children's books but I'm sure I forgot a lot.Still, I put all my read books (that I remember) in my goodreads shelf. It's wonderful for making lists and statistics. :)
I added my favourites and memorable reads when I started. I still add older books as the occur to me. I like maintaining lists, and I'm hoping it will make my recommendations better.
When I first joined I added books I'd read in chunks, then as I saw them either on the homepage or they came up in discussion and i thought "oh aye, I've read that!"still happens...
I added a few old reads when I first joined. But, it would have taken forever to have added them all. Don't know how you would review books you read a long time ago.
You peeps with your historic lists are way more organised (or OCD) than me. I do like Jenny's categorisation indicating a historic nature. Seems a nice approach.Still I think I personally would struggle adding old books. I mean I'd be adding things like Roald Dahl, Paul Jennings, Tintin and Asterix if we went back enough.. or even Dr. Seuss if we went further back.
Originally I tried not to, but every so often I go a little OCD and try and every single book I've ever read. Occasionally I'll remember another series and add that.@Andrew Your post just reminded me that I've not put any Roald Dahl, Tintin or Astrix reads in yet. Or any comics at all for that matter...
@Been: No Dr. Seuss? really need to add it to your to-read list if so :)
I have tried to list all the past books I have read, but am still missing quite a few. 40+ years of reading makes it difficult. My goal was to have all books I have read in one place, but easier said than done!
OCD... love of list making... take your pick. And to answer Vikz, I'm more likely to just mark them as read than to review them this amount of time later, especially since my opinions are bound to be different now compared with who I was at 15, or 10.
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who's tried to add every book I remember reading. I like the reference aspect of having a list of my books in one place. (And no, I usually don't bother giving a star rating to the older books.)
I only added what I could remember at the time. Added a few since then that I've remembered but only if I can recall the actual story.
Yeah I added a bunch I read in the past, and I gave them some star ratings, but I didn't add any reviews. There are some I've re-read since, that I've updated and added reviews for. And I only really included books I've read in the last 5 years or so, so you won't see any Babysitter's Club books on my list, for example...But yeah, I definitely added books I read before Goodreads to my Goodreads list. Before Goodreads, I never kept track of books.
No, I've read all 748 books on my shelves in the 18 months since I switched to GR. True fact. Yeah, I don't like to brag, but I make Jenny look like a piker.
Sean wrote: "No, I've read all 748 books on my shelves in the 18 months since I switched to GR. True fact. Yeah, I don't like to brag, but I make Jenny look like a piker."Oh man, you know I can't resist button pushing. Why does everyone always want to point out how much I read?
So I ran the stats. Number of books means nothing! Let's just take the last two years, shall we Sean? In 2010 up through today, you have read 59,268 pages. I have read 97,157 pages in that same amount of time. That means you have only read 61% of what I've read. I win!
....
Was that the point? Winning? Well, if it was, I totally did. HaHAhahaha.
Jenny wrote: "Sean wrote: "No, I've read all 748 books on my shelves in the 18 months since I switched to GR. True fact. Yeah, I don't like to brag, but I make Jenny look like a piker."Oh man, you know I can't ..."
I bow to your awesome page turning powers....you are the one!
Mod
I like having as much as what I've read listed, it gives me a sense of the journey I've taken as a reader, makes me want to re-read certain titles, etc. And it certainly makes sense in terms of giving more input to the hive Goodreads rating for individual books.
Jenny wrote: "So I ran the stats. Number of books means nothing! Let's just take the last two years, shall we Sean? In 2010 up through today, you have read 59,268 pages. I have read 97,157 pages in that same amount of time. That means you have only read 61% of what I've read. I win!"
Sean has been GR-pwned! :D
Jenny wrote: "Oh man, you know I can't resist button pushing. Why does everyone always want to point out how much I read?"We're envious.
So I ran the stats. Number of books means nothing! Let's just take the last two years, shall we Sean? In 2010 up through today, you have read 59,268 pages. I have read 97,157 pages in that same amount of time. That means you have only read 61% of what I've read. I win!
If you really want to go there, I'll just point you to The Golden Witch, who's not only read more pages in 2010/11 than you and I combined, but quite possibly more than everyone in this thread.
I add books I've read when I look them up on the site. I've been reading too long to add everything I've ever read, even if I remembered them all. I add the new books I read, usually.
No, just current books as I read them. So when I want to look at the books I've read in the past year they're easy to find.
Jenny wrote: "The Golden Witch wins!"dang. I couldn't read that much and have any semblance of balance in my life. I know I'm not a speedy reader, but still...
Golden Witch reviews followed.I put everything I remember I read. Mostly graphic novels.
I have kept a log of all the books I have read since the mid 70's. When I started GR I began adding them from the current year and working backwards. (I am back to 1993 so far.) It's a long task but at least when I've finished I will be have an electronic copy in case my house burns down or something.
Andrew wrote: "I have kept a log of all the books I have read since the mid 70's. When I started GR I began adding them from the current year and working backwards. (I am back to 1993 so far.) It's a long task bu..."Amazing. Every time I tour the Biltmore (in Asheville) and they talk about how George Vanderbilt did the same, I sigh dramatically and announce he is my intellectual idol. So are you, I suppose.
Andrew wrote: "I have kept a log of all the books I have read since the mid 70's..."Impressive. It must make for an interesting timeline. Did you have any sort of review beyond a simple log? I must admit I do keep logs in other areas such as wines and apple ciders which has also tended to go electronic with smartphones and such.
Everything I could remember. OK, I had a list that started in 1997.
I've been keeping a book list since I was twelve (I'm currently twenty-eight). It's gone from note book to typewriter to Word doc to shelfari to Goodreads. So I did in fact add past books and I am incredibly anal retentive.
Rikki wrote: "I've been keeping a book list since I was twelve (I'm currently twenty-eight). It's gone from note book to typewriter to Word doc to shelfari to Goodreads. So I did in fact add past books and I a..."Curious what inspired you to start when 12? like some of the others I'm impressed with your dedication in continuing it. Must be a real journy down memory lane to look at the list now.
I joined this year. Since 2004 I've kept a little notebook, where I've written dates and titles of the books I started reading. So they were easy to add here. I've also added books I was sure I've read, and then I've added all the unread books I own to my TBR shelve.
I did. But I only added a sampling of books I've read in the past. No way could I recall every title of several thousands of books.
@Jenny: "intellectual idol".. Wow nice compliment, thank you. But in reality I think I am more of an annoying smart ass that nobody will play Trivial Pursuit, or watch Jeopardy with :(@Andrew: I keep my log in an index tabbed book and use the tabs for authors alphabetically. One per line I only list year read, title, author and a one or two word comment such as SF, Fantasy, Great, Horrible etc. So I don't have reviews of them all but I do know which ones are worth recommending.
The reason I started keeping a log of all the books I read - my mother has kept a log all her life.
Now I'm wondering if I should set up a second account for remembering books I've read in the past. Hmm.
Since I've kept lists of books I've read for years, and still keep a Google Docs list, I think the bigger improvement with GoodReads was a way to keep track of the books I want to read. Before I'd have some written down in the notebook I carry with me, some on postit notes, etc, etc. Now they are all on one daunting to-read shelf. I've thought about making new shelves for to-read, like to-read: sci-fi but maybe that's overkill, and GR isn't really set up to handle it that way.
kvon wrote: "Now I'm wondering if I should set up a second account for remembering books I've read in the past. Hmm."Why would you need a second account?
In my early teens I was reading a book a day and that was about 30 years ago so I haven't listed all of them... but I'm trying.I tended to mow my way through favourite authors which makes it easier to get a load listed in one fell swoop.
I started tracking 3 years ago using a Facebook app. I imported them but it would be hard to add everything i have ever read.
Mod
I did not do ratings or try to add the date when I read them Too much for me.
I added the books that I could remember when I signed up, but certainly not all of them.
Adrienne wrote: "A little "select multiple" link is there under your list of shelves. "Ooooooh. I really had no idea.
I added the sffan I could think of from the top of my head, then found a top 100 novels list and added the ones I've read. That led to kindle store searches for ones I have not read and I downloaded many of the free ones. Now gradually adding ones from HS and college as I remember them.
I only added the ones from the intro quiz and whatever recommendations popped up on the front page. I would like to eventually update my GR list.
Andrew wrote: "@Been: No Dr. Seuss? really need to add it to your to-read list if so :)"Nope, never read a Dr. Seuss book in my life. I've heard a few of the more popular lines here and there regarding a lack of affection for off-colour ham and eggs, and like everyone else in England I've seen "When the Grinch stole Christmas" which seems to be on TV pretty much every year. But other than that, not a bit. I'll look into it one day, but there's always so many people in my "authors to read" backlog. I've only just now got into Neal Stephenson.
Been wrote: "Andrew wrote: "@Been: No Dr. Seuss? really need to add it to your to-read list if so :)"Nope, never read a Dr. Seuss book in my life. I've heard a few of the more popular lines here and there re..."
Unlike Neal and his tombs you could probably read most of Dr. Seuss in an hour :)
Is the Grinch the live action Jim Carrey movie? if so wasn't a fan.
Andrew wrote: "Rikki wrote: "I've been keeping a book list since I was twelve (I'm currently twenty-eight). It's gone from note book to typewriter to Word doc to shelfari to Goodreads. So I did in fact add past..."Andrew wrote: "Rikki wrote: "I've been keeping a book list since I was twelve (I'm currently twenty-eight). It's gone from note book to typewriter to Word doc to shelfari to Goodreads. So I did in fact add past..."
I can't remember exactly why other than for fun. I liked cataloging. It was probably an off-shoot of my cataloging all the books in my house (genre, author, etc). I'd put aside the books that I'd already read.
I only listed the past reads that I had on hand. Unfortunately most of my book collection is in storage as I move around a lot so I haven't been able to scan it all into my library.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Asterix the Gaul (other topics)Tintin in Tibet (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dr. Seuss (other topics)Paul Jennings (other topics)
Roald Dahl (other topics)
As such I'm curious how others approached the adding of books for years gone by? I get the sense from the number of books some people have listed that they have indeed added books from times prior to joining.