I don’t have much time for leisure reading during the school year, so I try to keep track of books on the bestseller lists from the New York Times and Amazon, and lists from magazines, book reviews, and books buzzed about in the news. When the pace slows down a bit over the summer or on vacation, I like to make sure I have some ideas for new books to dive into. There’s a lot of great ways to organize books you’ve read or books you want to read. Here are just a few:
Goodreads
This social media site for readers lets you see what you’re friends are reading, what your friends want to read, and you can post updates to let others know how far you are in a book and write reviews. It’s the one tool I use to keep track of my reads and to get ideas for what to read next. You can even create or join discussion groups, like this one for Anne Arundel County Public Library.
LibraryThing
Make your own library out of your book collection using this website. It lets people post reviews, recommend books, and keep track of what they are reading.
WorldCat Lists
Langsdale Library uses WorldCat Local as a way to search for books. You can also create an account to create lists of books, like this user-created list. Langsdale creates its own lists for things like books by UB Faculty.
Pinterest
A social media site based around images, many people have created book-based pin boards to keep track of books they love, book reviews, or books they want to read. The Pinterest page for Enoch Pratt Free Library has pin boards for book reviews, special collections, and pictures of Enoch Pratt library.
Twitter
With a limit of 140 characters, #1book140 has managed to create book discussions on Twitter. The page also posts information on books and other book clubs. Maryland libraries are using the twitter tag #summerreading to talk about summer reading programs and to give book recommendations. You can easily join the conversation and share what you’re reading by using the same tag #summerreading
What do you use to organize your reads?
Well, I have stacks of library books, generally with the largest ones on the bottom, so they don't fall over. My personal books I organize by subject, as much as possible, on my bookcases, but sometimes I have to break them up because of the height of the shelves. Other than that, I have a very long mental list of what I want to read. Sometimes I'll go to the websites of my favorite authors
to see if they have anything new or if there is something I missed. I also ask people for recommendations. Browsing through bookstores can be fun, but dangerous, because there is the risk of spending money. Much safer to stay in the library.
These are the websites of two of my favorite authors:
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/
http://www.nancyspringer.info/
Also, sometimes you can find a website dedicated to a particular genre, like this one:
http://chicklitbooks.com/
Sometimes when a writer is no longer living, a dedicated fan (or fans) will keep up or create a website where you can find a list of related books and more:
http://www.raybradbury.com/