The Sword and Laser discussion
Sword and Laser Bookshelf
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Jenny (Reading Envy)
(new)
Mar 08, 2010 11:20AM
Who has one? I do!
reply
|
flag
Mod
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
I am still in a phase of finding books that I've read to add to my shelves, but I plan on making sword-and-laser a shelf in my collection. :)
I'm with terpkristin, still adding books to my collection and will get around to organizing shelves as time permits.
Mod
My suggestion is to create the shelves as you're adding the books, so you don't have to go back and do them all later! Start with simple shelves (fiction, sci-fi, etc) and go from there.
Veronica wrote: "Rick wrote: "I'm with terpkristin, still adding books to my collection and will get around to organizing shelves as time permits."My suggestion is to create the shelves as you're adding the books..."
Well, had I THOUGHT of that as I started madly adding books this weekend.... ;)
I will say, the interface to do that is a bit clunky unless you want to open each book in a new tab. But for all books going forward, that's definitely the plan. :D
My problem is figuring out what books to add to my list now that I have joined! I can't possibly add every book I have ever read, even if I could remember them, so I think I am going with the "random sample" idea. Books from the various genres I read, ones that had a big enough impact to come immediately to mind. Also, if I read a dozen books by an author, I think I will just add one or two representatives. Any other useful strategies?
Vance wrote: "My problem is figuring out what books to add to my list now that I have joined! I can't possibly add every book I have ever read, even if I could remember them, so I think I am going with the "ran..."I spent a little while this weekend going through the various lists if you go to "find books." I went through I think 3 or 4 of the lists, and the shortest ones at that.
If I came upon an author where I know I've read multiple books, I added all of the ones by the author that I've read. I think the "winning author" for me is Robert Jordan, because I've read all 12 main WoT books and the prequel.
Now that I've got a baseline, I think I'm going to go more on the random additions as I have time (for books I can remember easily, like those in my Audible collection or those still on my Kindle). And, of course, I'll be adding new books. I still wonder what "book recommendations" does, though. I've rated 204 books, no recommendations.
Well, I had kept track of my reading for several years in LiveJournal, so I started there (that made it easy to make shelves based on year too, since any one book can sit on multiple shelves). Then I just do it as I think of it.
Hmm, I might just take a few minutes each morning before I start working (can always use a reason to procrastinate, no?). So, far, it is kind of fun remembering building up the list, just listing the books kind of brings them back to life for me.
Vance wrote: "I think I am going with the "random sample" idea. Books from the various genres I read, ones that had a big enough impact to come immediately to mind. Also, if I read a dozen books by an author, I think I will just add one or two representatives. Any other useful strategies?If there's an author you've read a lot of, the easiest thing is to just search his name and go down the list rating everything you've read. Even with an author who has several pages of books, it only takes a couple minutes.
Also, I've been using iTunes playlists to keep track of all the audiobooks I've listened to over the past few years, so it was fairly easy to add those to my shelves. Next up is my to-read pile, and maybe after that I'll tackle the boxes of books in my closet.
Holy Junk I didnt even know we could have multiple shelves. I have to get on this.
I don't have one, but I do have a "book club" shelf for all the books I read for various book clubs.
I'm in so many book clubs, I have different shelves for each one. I kind of have a book club problem, actually.
Jenny wrote: "I'm in so many book clubs, I have different shelves for each one. I kind of have a book club problem, actually."Admitting it is the first step. "Hi, my name is Jenny, and I am addicted to book clubs..." ;)
Oh, wow, this adding books is addicting! Is there a way to see how my books break down by genre?
Jenny wrote: "I'm in so many book clubs, I have different shelves for each one. I kind of have a book club problem, actually."There are certainly worse problems to have. (And I'll admit that I went and created separate shelves for my clubs this afternoon... after saying that I put everything on the one book club shelf.)
Leighann wrote: "Jenny wrote: "I'm in so many book clubs, I have different shelves for each one. I kind of have a book club problem, actually."There are certainly worse problems to have. (And I'll admit that I w..."
Ha! It is so satisfying to have it all broken down like that!
Vance wrote: "Oh, wow, this adding books is addicting! Is there a way to see how my books break down by genre?"You have to assign the genres. But the good news is that you can be as creative as you want.
I'm new to sword and laser (and book clubs in general), but I think I've got my sword and laser shelf all sorted out. I went through the website to figure out all the books and their reading order (little OCD kicking in there). It took a little work since there wasn't a summarized list, but I came up with 17, not counting a few of the recommendations that weren't part of the official read. Is that accurate?Looking forward to catching up on this list. I've already read a handful previously, and had a few on my to-read list for awhile. This looks like a great way to discover new stuff I would have never sought out previously.
Jenny wrote: "You have to assign the genres. But the good news is that you can be as creative as you want"
Ah, I was hoping that the genres they must already have embedded would be a default. But, you are right, by doing it myself, I can really pin them down.
Micah wrote: "Holy Junk I didnt even know we could have multiple shelves. I have to get on this.":)
Vance wrote: "My problem is figuring out what books to add to my list now that I have joined! I can't possibly add every book I have ever read, even if I could remember them, so I think I am going with the "ran..."My plan thus far has been to add the books I have read into a big pile and sort them as a I re-read them (as I eventually seem to.
Mod
When I first joined Goodreads several years ago, several friends and I competed to go through our physical book collections and add them to our 'read' Goodreads shelves. There was also a good bit of noticing someone adding a book you'd read & going 'Oh yeah, I read that, too!'. So that spurt of competition helped with the initial cataloging. ;)
Other than a sword-and-laser shelf, a re-reads shelf, and a 'Abandoned but Tempting' shelf (Eye of the World is there haha), I just use the standards: read, currently reading and to-read.
Competitive reading! Love it.I recently started adding cookbooks since I have a baking blog, but take it off my update feed because I felt weird about it. :)
Mod
I recently started adding cookbooks since I have a baking blog, but take it off my update feed because I felt weird about it. :)"
I want to read your baking blog!!! DM me on Goodreads if you're not comfortable sharing with the general public ;)
Veronica wrote: "I want to read your baking blog!!!"Ha, I share it with everyone! JennyBakes.com. I've had it for four years, but lately haven't posted as much because I've been doing a gardening blog too.
Jenny wrote:"Ha, I share it with everyone! JennyBakes.com. I've had it for four years, but lately haven't posted as much because I've been doing a gardeni..."Hmm between your baking and my general cooking (which I end up talking about recipes on my blog more than anything else), we could singlehandedly put a LOT of weight on our S&L compatriots. ;)
Terp, I'd love to see your blog too!
Jenny- I have a crush on your Chewy Chunky Blondies, they remind me of my wife's Blond Brownies- which are crazy good!
Back to books- the adding of books to Goodreads is a great endeavor for me because I like to re-read books I really enjoyed. I also save web pages of my collection and back it up, so in the event Goodreads goes away I have a list of books I've read for reference(OCD anyone?). All I need is a 2 or 3 year span and I can run through a book again and have a good time of it! I don't retain 100% of a book anyway, so revisiting it is very enjoyable, often better than the 1st time. My wife claims they have medication for people like me :0)
Jenny wrote: "Terp, I'd love to see your blog too!"It's gimpygal.blogspot.com (originally started as a place where I could write about experiences with my genetic disorder and how I handle my broken joints, it's really moved into what I'm eating/cooking...I should rename it, but I'm lazy hehe).
During Lent, I was actually doing a lot of posting of recipes I was cooking, as I gave up meat and was finding all kinds of fun vegetarian things to cook. Haven't added a new post since Lent, since my company just launched a satellite and I was working way too many hours (pre-launch, launch, then early mission operations) to post, but now that that's done for my part, I'll be posting more again.
Cool, I'll start following it in my Google reader! My posting goes in and out but now that I'm done teaching for the semester, I should have more time.
Philip wrote: "Jenny- I have a crush on your Chewy Chunky Blondies, they remind me of my wife's Blond Brownies- which are crazy good!
Back to books- the adding of books to Goodreads is a great endeavor for me ..."
Hehe.
And to the booklist thing - I keep all mine also in a Google Doc. I have one for each year, listed chronologically (author, title, and page number) and then sorted by category, because at the end of the year I like to see how many books I've read, how many pages, how many in each category, etc. Is that OCD? Maybe. Let's call it being "reflective."
I also keep separate Google Docs for poems I read that I liked, and for quotations that I marked while reading. And I find I DO go back to them, so it is worth it!
terpkristin wrote: "It's gimpygal.blogspot.com (originally started as a place where I could write about experiences with my genetic disorder and how I handle my broken joints, it's really moved into what I'm eating/cooking...I should rename it, but I'm lazy hehe)."Heh. I've had a blog since 2003 and still haven't settled on a primary topic. I'll focus on a subject for a while, then real life will keep me from blogging for a couple months, and when I get back I end up with a different focus.
