Monday, January 25, 2010

Tracking What You Read?


How do you track what you read? Do you keep a book journal? Scribble titles or authors on bits of scrap paper? I've had patrons approach the reader's advisory desk at the library where I work with book titles written on a myriad of different things, here are a few examples of what they write on:

Envelopes
Receipts
Newspaper
A body part (usually a hand)
Bookmarks
Notebooks
Textbook pages
Tissue
Airline ticket

Personally I've jotted down book titles and author names on most of those but for the past couple of years I've preferred the website Goodreads. Goodreads is a free social/sharing book focused website that allows a user to rate, review, share and discuss books. I use it to track what I'm reading and I've reviewed most of the books I've read over the past 2 years. For me, it's a terrific tool.

If you are looking for other sites try Goodreads or these similar sites:

Blippr: microblogging for books and media

Bookjetty: track your books, search Amazon and your local library catalog

LibraryThing: beloved my bibliophiles, catalog your personal library

Shelfari: a social networking site for book lovers, you can even create a virtual bookshelf

2 comments:

Jobs said...

I think i will keep a book journal to track what i read....
Thanks for the post...

Rebecca said...

I'm a big fan of Shelfari. I have accounts with LibraryThing and Goodreads, as well, but don't update them on a regular basis. I just like the look and "feel" of Shelfari best. Before the wonders of such technology, I used to keep an Access database!