As some of you know I decided to organize my books by entering them in a database I have setup. It felt really good to get a handle on what I have and have to look forward to reading. I took advise from Katherine T and Penn and several others on how to set it up. I started with the TBR and that was going fine. Next I started taking the books from one of my oldest bookcases in the upstairs hallway. The publishing dates go back from 2006 to 1991 and before. Now I am hitting the wall. Some I have read and remember reading, some I have marked so know they are read but don't remember reading, some I have never read. These bookcases date back to 1993 when I moved back to LI from CA. I have only taken the top two shelves (note that they are 3 deep and 2 high) and am drowning in books and in some cases don't remember them at all. Some I have bought, some have been given to me, some I inherited when a friend moved. This is an enlightening nightmare. It does not mean I will not buy new books, because there are the books in series that are coming out that I have been anticipating for many months, but I do foresee my buying proclivities been adjusted in a major way. Just wanted to vent a little before going back the the input.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
I've sorta started doing
I've sorta started doing that through Shelfari but that's not totally working since a lot of books aren't in the catalog there.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies
Hi Kelly
I started with the downstairs TBR and then the oldest bookcase upstairs.. not completed yet.....and I'm up to 776 in the database and 637 unread.... at least as far as I can figure out. I don't even know where some of the books came from because I know I didn't buy them. I think many of them were from a friend who moved and left them to me.
Access is working OK... the only problem is the Anthologies and I figure I have to put each story in as a separate sub title so the title is the Anthology title and the sub title will be the stories and authors. It is very satisfying and a lot of work... I am also separating read and unread and putting them in alphabetical order in trays as I go so I can reload the bookshelf in some order and reorganize it later.... lots of work.
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
I hear you on the lots of
I hear you on the lots of work thing. Mine are organized but I workhard to keep it that way. And my hard covers and trade sized aren't as nicely set up as the paperbacks.
Mom did most of the work for it when I moved here. I had them alphabetized for the most part in the boxes for moving them but I was already at work and she was staying here for a week to get me all unpacked. She had the pleasure (though if you ask her it was torture) of setting up the book cases. I've since gotten a couple more book cases since my book pile rows exponentially. LOL But the start she gave m made it asier to keep up.
I have a system to tell me when its time to go through the books again. When i start that, it takes me a good month or more to go through all the shelves, sort out the "will never reads" from the "Will maybe reads" to the "I've already reads."
The D2K Paranormal Junkies
I understand
I had them all in order and alphabetized twice and then moved the bookshelves and forget it after that. It went a few years and slid fully out of control. I really feel good about what I am doing. I know I will be getting rid of some just because they are not anything I want to read. But have to get thru it first.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
cataloging
I have them on my plan to read shelf at Shelfari and yeah Kelley I couldn't find them all but on my personal list(which I update and print new) every month or so I have my read books in red and TBR books in black
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
TBR vs Read
I am up to 1600 books now and found so many that I never even
bought. I am giving the duplicates to a girl at the post office that
has been reading only Nora Roberts for the last year. I figured it
would spice up her life. Of the books in the database so far I
have found many I have been looking for and quite a few I didn't know I
had. It has been very rewarding, if time consuming and I have to
get at least one or two more bookcases ....
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
Jeannie ....
glad to hear it's going well .... I agree it's so time consuming, but very rewarding once you have your list done ....
I was shocked at how many duplicates I had (some simply because I bought it again!
) .... but it's finding and being reminded of some of those gems we meant to read ages and ages ago, that is a real treat
I told myself, that this year I was going to only keep buying my autobuy authors and the books in mini-series or author series that I was already collecting ..... ya, right! ... with the promo's who can resist! LOL .... plus some of the reviews make a book so darn irresistible that they get put in my cart before I even realize that I'm messing with my promise to myself LOL
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
I agree
Katherine.... finding books I never knew I had from authors I have always wanted to read and finding books by favorite authors that I haven't read yet..... I am up to almost 1700 and you are right about the duplicates. Some of which I can thankfully say were purchased by a friend who gave me most of her books when she moved. Still have a lot to go.
I am now separating out the read from not yet read and want to fill up some bookcases.... which I have to buy a couple of new ones.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
Hi Jeannie!
I've been cataloguing my books and am only 1/2 way thru the TBRs. I shouldn't have started it when I did because now I'm tied up until the middle of March with a course. I don't need another excuse to wander away from the homework!
I purchased a bar code scanner to help me and does it ever work well! I'm very pleased.
Good luck with your logging!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
a bar code scanner
Hmmmmmm.... what program accepts information from a bar code scanner? That is an interesting concept. I use Access and it is a full database. I put in title/ sub title or series / author first / author last / pulisher / eharl # / Pub year / Y-N if read or not and a field open for a comment but I am putting many in the Not Read because I don't have time enough to go thru and figure out if I read it or not. Some I thought I had not read and found my initials which I used to put in when I swapped with a friend so then changed to read. It really is a big undertaking but I am feeling very rewarded by it. So I guess I will keep going.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
I am using BookCat...
Hi Jeannie - after much shopping around, I decided on BookCat. I chose it mostly because it was a database that I have control of. Some are just websites you put your books on but you have nothing if the site went poof! The bar code scanner is CueCat and I just scan in bar code of a batch of books (you can also type them in), then download the information from a website listed on BookCat. I always use Amazon.ca site first because I want the Canadian price. If the book is not there then I'll use the other sites and then manually override the price.
Tons of info comes back from the site, name, title, price, publisher, year, picture if one is available, etc. Then there is lots of space to add your own info. I haven't got into that - I just want to get the TBR's logged asap.
What I like about BookCat is that you can have as many databases as you want. I have 3 databases: one for TBRs, one for Keepers and one for Non-Keepers. So when I read one from the TBR pile I go in - add my thoughts, rating etc and then transfer the book to the appropriate database, Keepers or Non-Keepers. I love it as I can instantly see how many books I have in each and with the Non-keeper list, hopefully it will help me not re-buy duplicates.
BookCat has a 30-day free trial where you can add up to 40 books and play with it. It was only about $42 to purchase so I was pleased with that.
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Book Cat
Someone last year recommended this program. I already had Access on the computer so didn't think twice about it. I may have to look into it again but don't look forward to adding all the records I already have. I'm up to about 1700 and have another 20-30 trays to go but they are smaller than the ones I have already done. Oh.... and 2 other bookcases mostly full. Soooooo many books.... soooo little time. I have found some delightful books I didn't even know I had.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!