Do you keep track of the books you read?

When I was in grade 7 our librarian gave us a sheet of paper and told us to keep track of the books we read. The columns were listed as title and date finished. I continued to do that long after grade school. I'm 47 now and am still doing it. I have a spreadsheet on excel. One page is #, Title, Author, Date Completed. On another tab I have books read by author (authors that I read more than one of their books) in alphabetical order by author, another page lists the number of books I've read of certain authors (for example I have read 43 books written by Ed McBain under that name), and the last tab is a page where I keep track of the number of books I've read in a year. My year end is February 18th. At that date I went and typed in 2009/10 and the number of books read, which I think was something like 15. I have read over 800 books since I started keeping track, which goes back to my Nancy Drew days. I have heard of these websites where you can keep track of your books but I think this is more personal. I print out the pages and keep them in a duotang. I usually have it with me when I am at the library so I can refer to it and see if I have read a book that grabs my attention. I don't like reading the same book twice. There are too many books to read to waste my time reading others more than once. I also go to the websites of my favourite authors and print out the list of their books and keep those in the back of the duotang. I check off the books as I read them. Honest, I'm not OCD.

I love reading and I used to keep a record on my computer of all the books I had read in the past but I quickly realised that this was quite a laborious task so I gave up on the idea. I have lost count now on how many books I have read! As long as I am reading then I am happy and content. I've heard of goodreads too and I have subscribed to that site but again, I don't use this much anymore. I will always have a place in my heart for reading and it's a great form of escapism I think. Andrew

I use goodreads. I joined a group on there last year to help me keep track of the books I read each year. I read a lot, and don't go on the site more than once or twice a week, so I write down the books I read, and add them to the list later. Right now, I haven't posted mine in several weeks, and I have about eighty or so to list. Sometimes, I don't get a chance to write them down, and I forget the titles.

In the middle of last year I started using a large post-it as a book mark. I decided when I finished that book that I would write the name of the book and the author on the post-it and use it for the next book. There are 9 books on the list now and I think that the ever growing list spurs me on to keep reading. I might check out goodreads.com though. I like the idea of keeping the list online too.

No I do not keep track of the books I have read, and there is a very good reason for this. I love to read, and I read quite quickly, and for this reason I don't always remember the books I read. If I kept track of the books as I read them, in the future I probably wouldn't read them again, which would keep me from enjoying those books once more.

I wish that I had kept track of the books that I read, Im looking for a new book to buy now, and my fave author right now is James Patterson, problem is I dont know which ones Ive actually read, so right this moment I am on the website trying to figure out which ones I have read, I used to keep all the books that I read but I only ever read them once so they took up a lot of space, so gave them all to a charity shop. So now Im trying to work out what I have read, and what I havent. Hmmm Goodreads.com - might check that out!

The books I have read so far are only good ones, and stored very well in my memory, hence keeping track of them is out of question. But I am yet to count the total number of books I have ready so far, though I can remember the authors, language and significance of the book.

Hi allyoftherain! I used to keep track... I had a list with Title, Author, and year I had read the book. But then I stopped counting, I don't know why. never heard of the site goodreads.com, I'm signing up right now, as it seems quite interesting for people who like books as much as I do.

Hi ally! It's kind of funny that you asked this question because I finished a book last night and I went into my "new book" collection to pick out a new book to start. And I was having trouble deciding which one to pick! I knew one would be serious, the other was about a blind cat that would make me cry and then there was one that would make me laugh! I picked the funny one! I was trying to make a quick count of how many of the books in that pile that I read and how many I have left to read! I realized that I had read quite a bit more books than I had realized! I read about six books over the Summer and that was alot considering I hadn't been doing much reading in a very long time! Now I try to read every night for awhile until my eyes start to close! It's great to have gotten back into my reading routine!

I do not track the books that I have read. I am not much of a reader and I haven't read that many books. I am trying to bring out the bookworm in me and I think tracking books that I've read would be wonderful! I think I'll try this.

Hi, I dont keep track by writing down and making a list of the titles and authors name.I remember most of the books that I have read and sometimes I do get confused if the books are by the same author or the subject matter is the same.I must have read many books at least a thousand and more in my life time and to make a list would be impossible....I am able to remember parts of a book sometimes when the situation demands it or there is some similar situation in my life...All the best and Have a great Sunday

There is absolutely no way I could keep track of all the books I've read in my lifetime! They must run into the thousands, maybe even millions!

I've tried on several occasions to record the titles of books I've read. But in the end I usually give up because I read so much I lose track. Not to mention I've read so many books in my lifetime that I'd never remember them all. There are times when I'll get into reading a particular authors works and I'll record the titles I've read so I can remember not to repeat one. Especially in the case of an author with so many books it's possible to repeat reading one.

I am not tracking all the book I have read, I not really pay attention to number of book I have read. I put all my book in book self in my room and there are so many until I need new book self. I can remember the story every book that I have read and I can retell the big story if someone ask. The site you tell me its good idea to store every title of book I have read, I will try it!

I keep track in a spreadsheet, I have bought some duplicates over the years, so now have a copy in my Mobile phone, which means I just check that before buying, so save me some money. Information I use is author's surname, book title, (series if part of one), and author's first name. I sort on surname, first name and title to make it easier to read the information.

wow you definitely are an avid reader to have read so many books. and i bet it's actually even more than that, just that you can't remember, that's all. for me, i'm not really interested in keeping track of books that i've read for counting. i keep track of those that i like. unlike you, i don't really write about books that i'm not interested in and also partly because, i am too lazy that i don't even write about those that i liked sometimes. but i don't do it in a site like yours, goodread. i just blog mine. i have a blog, book haven, on all the books that i've liked so far. it's not just the title and author, the synopsis is there too so that i can try and remember roughly what the story is about and if i am interested enough to buy it or read it again. but i don't write all the books that i like because i'm too lazy to write about them ehehhe i'm only recently trying to discipline myself on writing about them. ^_^ here's my blog http://sminut13.blogspot.com/

I like to read quite a lot of books, so yes, I do like to keep track of them. I also like to take notes and quotes down from the books, so I have a notebook soley dedicated to my own personal book notes. ^o^

Well yes, I do it however I am not sure why. Maybe I want to be reminded when I get older of what I was interested in and what I cared about when I was younger and track my progress so far and if I am getting where I want to be. I write my progress in a notebook but also have the visual bookshelf in facebook. :)

yes, i do keep track of the books that i have read. if given the chance i would like to have a copy of the books that i have read. some books that i have, i already had read them before buying a copy for myself.

Yes, I keep track of all I read. And I enjoy it so much to add another title on my list. I wrote down only books I finished, and this are mostly literature. But I also read a lot for college or related to some curiosities I have philosophy, history, political science. I don't read them from the first until the last page, just a chapter that makes me interested or a few pages. But I usually write the main ideas to acces them easier when I need, so I have a track also about them.