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How do you handle re-reads?
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Good luck figuring something out! I so rarely reread that for the few I've done since joining, I think I've just moved it out of Read to Currently Reading for the short time I am rereading.
You should pose this question in the Goodreads Feedback group or search there for a similar topic. I think there is an already created solution.
Mod
One work around is to choose a different edition of the book each time you re-read.
Sorry I can't be more helpful than that.
I have heard of the different edition work around but I really don't want to add multiple editions of a book unless I actually own multiple editions. Anyway not every book has multiple editions including the book that I would like to reread in the near future.I have also heard that using the alternate edition method will mean that the same book will count more than once toward my total number of books read which I really don't want. If I read 100 books twice each than my total number of books read should still be 100 because it's how many different books I've read rather than how many times I've read them.
I had searched for answers among that group which mostly all said the same thing about using alternate editions. I was just curious how Shelfarians, who are used to a different shelving system, handle this.
I will likely use my last idea of the non-exclusive "total books read" shelf unless anyone has any ideas that I like better.
Though this isn't exactly the same topic, it's related. Does anyone know how to mark two separate dates for when I finished reading a book (then later reread it)?
Thanks!
I don't think re-reads should count as multiple books for the number of books in your read shelf or for your review/rating count, but if you set a challenge where you want to read a certain number of books in a year, re-reads should be able to be counted.If you read 50 books in a year, but 10 of them were re-reads, you still read 50 books that year. It sucks that you can't add multiple read dates to a single edition for this reason. In these cases I end up changing it to the most recent date read do it will count for my current challenge, but it's annoying that I can't have it count for past challenges as well.
Most challenges count re-reads n the totals. There can be compelling reasons why they can seem to be "fresh" the second time around, particularly for classics. Another example are books I read over 20 years ago when my reading palate was much different. I know I read books by Ed McBain and Larry Sanders but I cannot even remember the titles, let alone the stories. Just another point of view.
Well obviously different people will have different opinions on this, but everyone should be able to track their reading the way they want and do their challenges the way they want.If re-read dates could be added it would make the people who want them happy, but there would be nothing to force you to add multiple dates if you feel that re-reads shouldn't count for any reason.
I'd also like to state that it is not always the case that re-reading a book is easier than reading it the first time. It depends on the reader and the amount of time that passes between reads. With me, if enough time passes, I might actually lose all memory of a book. Specifically with I, Robot. Apparently I had to read this in college as part of my sci-fi lit class, but I have absolutely no memory of reading it and the only reason I know I read it is because I found an old journal entry that said I did. So when I re-read this book, it will feel like I'm reading it for the first time. It's possible that once I start re-reading it my memory will be jogged, but it might not be.
In answer to LC's question, right now there isn't a way to put in multiple read dates. What you can do in the review section under more options is put in how many times you've read the book.One solution might be to change the read date and in the private notes section put in the date you first read the book (or how ever many dates you want to add) so that you will have your own record. Perhaps in time the PTB will add the option of multiple read dates. Not holding my breath though :0(
No, I've not had a "flashback" when rereading a classic I first read in my teens. It was as if I was reading it for the first time.
Lauren, there's also a reread shelf. I also see reread data when I get my updates from certain friends. Let me see how they've handled them as it may be helpful.
Jonetta wrote: "Most challenges count re-reads n the totals. There can be compelling reasons why they can seem to be "fresh" the second time around, particularly for classics. Another example are books I read over..."I think you might be talking about group challenges? I simply meant the main site yearly challenge where all you do is put in how many books you want to read that year which are the only challenges I do on this site.
Hmmm...the person I was thinking of uses multiple editions to denote the reread and uses one of them to chronicle all of the reread dates. That seems less than ideal.
Kythe42 wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "Most challenges count re-reads n the totals. There can be compelling reasons why they can seem to be "fresh" the second time around, particularly for classics. Another example are b..."I was talking about both actually.
Jonetta wrote: "Hmmm...the person I was thinking of uses multiple editions to denote the reread and uses one of them to chronicle all of the reread dates. That seems less than ideal."Yeah I refuse to use multiple editions unless I've actually read multiple editions and probably only if the content is at least somewhat different. If I add multiple editions just to put in re-read dates then it screws up the number of books in my read shelf and in that case I only want a book to count once no matter how many times I've read it.
Kythe42 wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "Hmmm...the person I was thinking of uses multiple editions to denote the reread and uses one of them to chronicle all of the reread dates. That seems less than ideal."Yeah I refu..."
I agree.
Jonetta wrote: "Lauren, there's also a reread shelf. I also see reread data when I get my updates from certain friends. Let me see how they've handled them as it may be helpful."I didn't think of that but it is also a useful workaround. However, adding it to a re-reads shelf would not keep a reminder of the original date read. For that, the private notes would be the best option.
First of all Eadie I'm going to assume your example of reading a single book 50 times is hyperbolic because really who would do that for the purposes of a challenge?Even if someone were to be insane and do something like that, I'm not sure how it effects you? If someone else wants to cheat themselves out of a fulfilling challenge, then that's their problem.
I will agree that there are certain types of challenges where I wouldn't want re-reads to count. Over at leafmarks there are community challenges where I feel a book should only count once because the idea is to try to read as many books as you can in a given list or genre and re-reads make it too easy. I still want to be able to have re-reads count for my individual time sensitive challenges though which don't effect anyone but myself.
@Kythe42: I was just trying to give an example of 'how many times can you count a re-read'. If participating in a challenge, the rules should state clearly how and if re-reads should be counted.
Jonetta wrote: "To each his own, Eadie."This is only my personal preference and I can understand other readers' desire to do so, but I don't count re-reads toward my challenges. For me, the concept of a challenge necessitates an original read so while I do keep a record of other dates read, I only keep the original date read in the official field.
I do agree with Eadie that multiple editions is not a solution. I haven't read multiple editions, I've read one over and over. The reading experience might have been different each time because I've changed as a person (older, wiser, or not, lol) but the edition is the same.
Yeah, using multiple editions seems to be a device to manage the counts. There are just too many downsides, IMHO.
Thank, Eadie :0)@Jonetta, yes it is just a way to work around the problem while GR fails to provide a feature that has been asked for repeatedly. I really don't understand the logic behind the refusal - Shelfari has multiple read dates :0(
Mod
Cin ... sorry but Goodreads does not currently have any feature that allows you to note a second (or 25th) date read of a single title. They're only suggestion is to use a different edition of the book. I just note the dates read in my review ... you can look up my TKAM review as an example: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lauren wrote: "In answer to LC's question, right now there isn't a way to put in multiple read dates. What you can do in the review section under more options is put in how many times you've read the book."Thanks, Lauren. I think that's what I did. Although I didn't think to use notes to post multiple read dates.
Kythe42 wrote: "If re-read dates could be added it would make the people who want them happy, but there would be nothing to force you to add multiple dates if you feel that re-reads shouldn't count for any reason."Agreed! But then, I also think if you read something twice, it should count twice.
Book Concierge wrote: "Cin ... sorry but Goodreads does not currently have any feature that allows you to note a second (or 25th) date read of a single title."And thank you, BC. Yes, I guess I sort of "stole" the thread to ask my question, but you are correct. My question wasn't to do with challenges at all. As BC mentions, I only want to accurately keep track of how many times and when I read something. Sorry if my post brought back a thread that brought up the conflicting viewpoints!!!
On Shelfari and LibraryThing I am free to set a book as both Read and To Read or Currently Reading(or all three if I want). So if I'm re-reading a book I would choose to keep the book as Read but also mark it as either To Read or Currently Reading, but I can't do that on here.
If exclusive shelves could be optional this would pretty much solve my problem. I know that tons of people on this site have asked for a better way to handle re-reads but the staff are extremely reluctant to do anything about it because apparently it would require a major database overhaul or something like that.
In the mean time I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to deal with re-reads within the current setup. So far the only ways I can think of to do this are to create custom exclusive shelves for "To Re-read" and "Currently Re-reading" or to just select the regular "To Read" and "Currently Reading" shelves. With the first option I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be any book status updates and with both options it would require me to take books out of the Read shelf which would mess up my total number of books read which I really don't want.
If I made the re-reading shelves as non-exclusive I wouldn't have to move the books out of the Read shelf, but again there wouldn't be any status updates with this option. The only other thing I can think of is to make a non-exclusive shelf called "Total Books Read" where I can permanently keep every book I ever read while I move books back and forth between Read, To Read, and Currently Reading as I re-read them in order to get the status updates. While this last option would allow me to easily be able to see my total number of books read, while keeping my status updates, I don't really like the fact that it wouldn't be immediately apparent to anyone else viewing my profile. If I'm planning to re-read a large number of books, then my Read shelf will be significantly smaller and I'm sure most people won't bother to scroll down to my custom shelf to see how many books I've actually read even if I make a note of it in my profile description. I guess this last issue is really more about vanity than actually tracking my books though and I should just try to let it go.
So how does everyone else manage their re-reads on here?