Books to read/booklist log

[Ema]

So. How do you all keep track of the books you want to read, or you want your kids to read? I have a booklist binder with compiled booklists from random sites and sources, but right now my system for individual books I find or hear about is to write them down on a scrap of paper, lose it, then find it two years later. Any brilliant, easy, ideas? That keeps random scraps or sheets of notebook paper out of my life? I would like to be able to organize it easily for different people/interests. No online suggestions or bullet journaling, please! Anyone who comes up with a solution that works for me will be my hero forever. I kid you not.😁

[Matryoshka]

57 minutes ago, Ema said:

So. How do you all keep track of the books you want to read, or you want your kids to read? I have a booklist binder with compiled booklists from random sites and sources, but right now my system for individual books I find or hear about is to write them down on a scrap of paper, lose it, then find it two years later. Any brilliant, easy, ideas? That keeps random scraps or sheets of notebook paper out of my life? I would like to be able to organize it easily for different people/interests. No online suggestions or bullet journaling, please! Anyone who comes up with a solution that works for me will be my hero forever. I kid you not.😁

I used to just have a big Word file that I'd update.  

I know you didn't want an online solution, but for my own personal booklists post-homeschooling, Goodreads has been a total game-changer. It of course didn't exist back when I was homeschooling my younger kids with huge booklists.   I actually still use both systems together - I put to-read books in Goodreads as soon as I hear about them (and you can add 'shelves' to sort them, and sort them all sorts of other ways as well) - that has finally put an end to the 'scrap of paper' problem, which I used to also have.  But I still find Word, especially with tables, to be the best way to organize them when I have more focused goals - like I'm currently doing a 'read around the world' challenge for myself.  I have a Word doc for that.

[PrincessMommy]

have you tried doing it in excel?

 

[marbel]

I used Word or Excel (or similar, LibreOffice or Google Docs). 

Now I use Goodreads.

Of if you want a physical place, a notebook of some sort with sections for people or subjects. A cheap spiral or composition notebook with tape flags or other dividers for each section would be cheap and simple, though not sortable as an electronic file would be.  (Unless this is what you mean by bullet journaling? Not sure I understood that part of  your OP.)

[Ema]

2 hours ago, PrincessMommy said:

have you tried doing it in excel?

 

I have not done excel. I have an irrational fear/dislike of spread sheets. I have thought about just getting over it, however, and making a log there. Just trying to see if there is any other option first! 🙂

 

14 minutes ago, marbel said:

I used Word or Excel (or similar, LibreOffice or Google Docs). 

Now I use Goodreads.

Of if you want a physical place, a notebook of some sort with sections for people or subjects. A cheap spiral or composition notebook with tape flags or other dividers for each section would be cheap and simple, though not sortable as an electronic file would be.  (Unless this is what you mean by bullet journaling? Not sure I understood that part of  your OP.)

Two votes for Goodreads. Maybe I will have to check it out. I have logged most of the books in our house into bookbuddy, which I love. But as I don’t have a smart phone, I can’t enter things into apps or websites on the go. 

A notebook with sticky divider tabs would be good. I would be able to mark if I had purchased the book, and any other information I might want to add. When I looked bullet journaling up last year (to see what on earth it was) I discovered notebook pages filled with elaborate pictures and lists and things that looked like they took way to long to do. Very cute and inspiring but not very practical for me or my artistic ability.

[Matryoshka]

26 minutes ago, marbel said:

I used Word or Excel (or similar, LibreOffice or Google Docs). 

Now I use Goodreads.

Of if you want a physical place, a notebook of some sort with sections for people or subjects. A cheap spiral or composition notebook with tape flags or other dividers for each section would be cheap and simple, though not sortable as an electronic file would be.  (Unless this is what you mean by bullet journaling? Not sure I understood that part of  your OP.)

Yeah, the problem I had with a paper system was the inability to sort or add things to the beginning or middle of a list. But I could still print out the doc in it's most current form whenever I wanted to get physical with it - like marking it up.

[PrincessMommy]

5 minutes ago, Ema said:

I have not done excel. I have an irrational fear/dislike of spread sheets. I have thought about just getting over it, however, and making a log there. Just trying to see if there is any other option first! 🙂

 

Two votes for Goodreads. Maybe I will have to check it out. I have logged most of the books in our house into bookbuddy, which I love. But as I don’t have a smart phone, I can’t enter things into apps or websites on the go. 

A notebook with sticky divider tabs would be good. I would be able to mark if I had purchased the book, and any other information I might want to add. When I looked bullet journaling up last year (to see what on earth it was) I discovered notebook pages filled with elaborate pictures and lists and things that looked like they took way to long to do. Very cute and inspiring but not very practical for me or my artistic ability.

Make that 3 votes for Goodreads! LOL  I just didn't mention it because you specifically said no online suggestions.  

After having my to-read lists written down on random slips of paper or in random places in a notebook I switched to Goodreads.  I really do love have all my reading organized there.  I can make my own folders besides just fiction, non-fictions, read-alouds... etc.  It's great.  But, the main thing is to find what works for YOU.  

[Matryoshka]

3 minutes ago, Ema said:

I have not done excel. I have an irrational fear/dislike of spread sheets. I have thought about just getting over it, however, and making a log there. Just trying to see if there is any other option first! 🙂

 

Excel is good for when you need the calculating ability of the program,  but I've never understood why people use it for text files that need tables. Not realizing that Word has tables? The table feature in Word is super-easy to use, and so much cleaner to read, and so much easier to get in the format you want.  Just the number of rows/columns you want (though you can also add and delete at will)

Two votes for Goodreads. Maybe I will have to check it out. I have logged most of the books in our house into bookbuddy, which I love. But as I don’t have a smart phone, I can’t enter things into apps or websites on the go.

Heavens, and I thought I held out for a long time before getting a smartphone!  😉 While I do love the ability to add books on the go, or also check my lists while out at the library or bookstore,  the website database alone is also really, really great.

[marbel]

57 minutes ago, Ema said:

A notebook with sticky divider tabs would be good. I would be able to mark if I had purchased the book, and any other information I might want to add. When I looked bullet journaling up last year (to see what on earth it was) I discovered notebook pages filled with elaborate pictures and lists and things that looked like they took way to long to do. Very cute and inspiring but not very practical for me or my artistic ability.

Just a note on bullet journals - the original intent was to create a simple method for people to keep track of whatever they wanted to keep track of.  Artwork and color-coding came later - and I agree that they are very inspiring but impractical for me. 

Not trying to sell you on it, but if you are interested, here is the original video; your book lists would be "collections."  It's really very simple, artistic ability and time to be creative not required!  

 

ETA I just to put in a link, not embed the video!  Sorry for taking up all the space.

Edited February 14, 2020 by marbel

[mmasc]

Another vote for Goodreads! I love using this to keep up with what I’ve already read and what I want to read. 

[Emba]

I do bullet journal, and that’s my preferred way of keeping track of did read/to read (and my bullet journal is very basic and not artistic).

before that, I would keep booklists in the binder with my grade records and lesson plans. Just three ring punch them and slip them in. Some were printed out from the internet and some were compiled on notebook paper. Sometimes when o hear about a book I’m interested in I write myself  a note on my phone. Sometimes I even remember to pull it out at the library and look for the book.  Sometimes not. 😞

[VaKim]

Another vote for Goodreads. You can make separate accounts for everyone you want to keep track of. Would have been neat to have while I was homeschooling mine. They could have continued using it themselves once they were grown and had a record of all that they read while they were kids, as well as what they thought about the books if they had done reviews. 

[LuvToRead]

Another vote for Goodreads but, as other have stated,  you may want to rethink a bullet journal.  It really is just a notebook.  I don't do any art in mine, but it is a nice way to keep lists of things.  The most helpful thing for me is using the first page as an index and numbering your pages.

[Robin M]

How about a Reading Log ?