Once I discovered how awesome- not the mention freakin' addictive- romances are, my collection has grown pretty rapidly thanks to PBS, my local UBS's and both my libraries selling them from 10-25 cents. It's grown so fast, in fact, I decided to start keeping a record of what I own just so I can check out my collection easily and avoid buying doubles. It's basically just a simple word document where I record the author, the books I own under that author, a key describing the genre (such as (P) for paranormal, (H) for historicals and so on), mark it when's it been read and what my grade for it is. I also have a seperate document for my AAR top 100 '07 list, so I know what I have and what I need. I also include a grade and a short review under each book for that list, for my own nerdy sake and also because I may post it on my blog sometime in the future.

I know it makes me sound liek a huge dork, but keeping a record like this is actually a lot of fun and adds to the reading experience to me. So, does anyone else keep a list(s) anything like mine, beyond the bookshelves on this site? How do you set yours up? Do I just seem insane for doing this? :)

i don't have a system like yours, but a few years back i started keeping a book journal for the books i read, so i can go back and look up what i thought about a book and a little bit to remind me about what happened.  (good for when you get a new book in a series a year later.)

plus i keep a 'try to find used' book list in my purse so i know what i'm looking for when i go to the UBS or find used books elsewhere.  since joining PBS, i've been able to knock several things off that list that had been on it for years!

and i have about 6 wishlists on amazon to help me keep track of books - normal WL (things i want and will probably buy new), borrow from library, try to find used, TBR (so it stops recommending things i already have), wait for paperback, and 'far off releases'.  around the beginning of each month, i go through the 'far off releases' and move the ones coming out in two months to the appropriate lists, then check the new things on the library list to see if they're in the library system yet - and keep checking about once a week.  i go through the 'wait for paperback' list every so often, and if the paperback is scheduled i'll get that on the 'far off releases' list and remove the HB (or trade size) from that list.  i also rate everything i read on amazon, about once a month i update from my book journal.  so i can generally check there to see if i've read something.

I've had afew duplicates on TBR,but since I'm fairly new to reading again (I just didn'thave time for about 10 years), most everything I read is new to me... but I have kept track of TBR, books read, and WL books on Library Thing.  It's been great, cause I can tag them and search by author if I find an author I like and see what else she has :)

I'm too lazy to keep my own separate list, so I just update and download the BIR and TBR lists from the PBS site.  That seems to work o.k.  If a book is particularly good or bad, I also write a review. 

OMG you found a bookstore with books for 10-25 cents?  My house would be bursting at the seams with books!  I'm in trouble with DH regarding my books as it is. 

No, but that's a really good idea.  I'm always sending myself text messages of books I see on pbs so I can remember when I'm in the library or book store.

I bought Byron years ago and have kept my update subscription current so I get automatic updates monthly (or so).  I can keep my inventory, shopping, to be read, recycled, even my ebook stuff in order.  I also provides genre info, series info, related book info, back blurbs, etc. already preloaded.  It has fill-in areas for my comments, rating, status, etc.  It really is pretty flexible and to me, well worth the money. 

I do too, because it's too hard for me to remember what I've already read.  I like the features here on PBS, but if I'm out shopping I'm lost without my list.

I take a list with me when I'm shopping for books, usually limited to 5-6 authors at a time so I don't go overboard and spend $50.  (DId that last time at the flea market bookstore - J about had a heart attack when I went to pay.)  My collection isn't so huge I can't remember what books I have by what author, though if there is a absolute certain book/series I'm looking for, I include it on the list.

I think that is what is so great about Shelfari. I keep my shelves seperate so I know what books I've read, my tbr pile, keepers, wl'd books. Yesterday I just had to go to the bookstore (lol) and printed out a copy of my WL, I used the one from Shelfari because it comes with pictures and I'm a simple girl. I told myself that whatever I bought had to be on that list. I basically stayed to that but might have slipped up a bit. :p

I'd love to be able to do this but I have so many that I'd get writer's cramp trying to write or type them all :-( and yes I've bought duplicates and even triplicates of stuff several times or I end up 'losing' what I 'm wanting to read and get it again just to have the other one show up...

I keep a list in excel for all of the books that I own.  I do this so that I don't buy duplicates.  I list them by author and the list has almost 500 books.  I also take my WL along for books that I want.   I don’t keep a list for books that I have read, because I can pretty much remember all of them. 

I'd love to be able to do this but I have so many that I'd get writer's cramp trying to write or type them all :-( and yes I've bought duplicates and even triplicates of stuff several times or I end up 'losing' what I 'm wanting to read and get it again just to have the other one show up...

You could always download all the lists here on PBS (books I've read, TBR, Shelf, etc) into excel, merge them, delete any duplicates, and just add anything else.  That's essentially what I did - saved a lot of time that way and now I don't accidently order or buy anything I already have or have already read.

oookkkayy Amy! that sounds difficult to me..I think I just lost a few brain cells! I'm not very good at dowloading and the like...I should be but I just haven't kept up with technology :-(

I don't organize very well and I wish someone would do it for me.  I'm always buying duplicate books.  I have even started reading books that have a different cover and realize a couple of chapters into it that I have already read it.  That always makes me mad.

I can barely keep the rest of my life organized, I don't know how I could get all of my books organized as well.

I do have a couple of authors organized, mainly Georgette Heyer, Linda Howard and Suzanne Brockmann because I have most of their books and plan to keep them.  I also have tons of Lindsay McKenna because I enjoy reading her books once in awhile when I get bored with the historicals I am reading.

Sorry Susanna, lol!  It's actually really easy if you know Excel, but if not then yeah, it would be a big hassle.

For some strange reason, I wasn't sure you were talking about books when I read the thread title.  I don't keep track of those either!

I've kept a record of the books I read for around 30 years.  Now I also use PBS to avoid getting duplicates - I rate every copy, after I read a book, so I know I read it.  I don't bring anything with me when I shop and I probably should - I bought a duplicate Lorraine Heath the other day. I have a good memory but the TBR pile I have is too ginormous for anyone to keep track of.

LOL @ Sharon!!! That was a good laugh for the morning. Ta!

Before I joined PBS I was logging them into a Word document just to keep me rebuying the same book on Ebay. But then I didn't have many in the TBR pile.  I would only buy a few at a time and then sell them to Half-Price books about every other month or so-where I would restock. 

Once I joined PBS and the TBR mountain got so out of control-I logged them into the TBR pile and now I put them into the BIR list.  I should really update the list I have on Word though. 

Sharon-books weren't the first thing I though about either.  I was going to say I've had only one romance for the past 20 yrs not hard to keep track of that.

I used to keep track of the books I'd read in a journal but I was never consistent in writing them down so I gave it up. I can usually remember if I've read a book when I read the description so I don't often end up with duplicates.

I do print out a copy of my PBS WL to take shopping with me. I also keep a notebook by the computer to keep track of books I need to complete a series or books I'd like to get when I can find a deal on them.

I don't keep a list.  But I'm pretty good at remembering what I've read, especially if I can read the back of the book to get a blurb.

Sherri

Haha, sorry about the lack of clarification :) My past "romances", even the ones I wish I could forget, are just lodged in my  brain forever... *sigh* The other day I was channel surfing and a video for Jared Leto's band came on- I just cringed (not only for the music!) since my ex looks so much like him I literally got kinda angry at the TV, ugh.

Nope, I've never kept a list of what I've read or own.  Just don't have the time to keep up with it.  I can pretty much remember what I've read if I read the blurb on the back of the book.  Rarely do I buy a duplicate not knowing it's a duplicate.

I don't use the BIR list on here and only recently started using the TBR list but that's only to make posting the books easier after I've read them and see what's on someone else's WL so I can read that stuff first.

Since I'm trying to thin out my books, I'd never be able to keep up with an inventory of what I've got.  Actually, a good criteria for me when I'm going thru books to find more to post is, if I read the back of the book and really can't remember anything about it it didn't make an impression so it gets posted here for swap.

I try to track, but don't do as well as I should.  I ended up with an extra copy of Wicked by Susan Johnson because I forgot I had a freebie coming with a Book Bazaar deal and ordered it.  By the time I figured this out, of course, both copies were on the way.  I do things like that occasionally, but it's usually because I sometimes forget to double check bonus books or BOBs before I order something.  I was grabbing up a bunch of Susan Johnson in this case, and didn't keep track as well as I should have.  Mostly I know what I have, because I keep them well organized, and if I'm not sure, it takes me less than a minute to check.  I did all of that fairly recently because I have so many books, and I didn't want to waste credits ordering duplicates.