N S Ford

This book seems familiar! Have I read it before? Let me check the spreadsheet…

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I have an Excel spreadsheet detailing 16 years of reading! Nerdy, right? But also very useful indeed. For example, I can see when I last read a particular book, or which books I’ve read from a series. There are over 1500 books recorded, although some of them are re-reads. Here are the latest books on my list:

If you studied my database, you’d notice some trends. I started off reading a lot of children’s and YA books, which over time gave way to YA and adult fiction. Non-fiction wasn’t on my radar at all but over the last few years I have really taken to it. At one point I read mostly sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Around the time that I went to college, I was discovering the classics. Then I went back to children’s books again while actually studying them! Here are the very earliest books recorded on my list:

The number of books I read in a month has changed too. Depending on the length of a book, I could get through one a day when I had nothing else going on. In the early days I was using my diary to record the books, so any gaps in the diary = gaps in the record. This means there are quite a few books missing from the list. At university I read a huge number of books, because I both needed to and wanted to! Since then, the volume has dropped because of other commitments.

How do you record your reading? Have your tastes changed over time? And do you read more or less than you used to?!

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Comments

9 responses to “This book seems familiar! Have I read it before? Let me check the spreadsheet…”

  1. Fictionophile avatar
    Fictionophile

    Very impressive! I wish I had done this years ago as I’ve lost track of my earlier reads. Unless they stood out in my mind, I’ve likely forgotten the titles. Only over the last couple of years have I really kept track – on Goodreads.

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      Thanks! I’m quite pleased with it. I wish I had a complete list though, right from when I first started to read!!

      Reply
  2. Michelle - lazydayproject.com avatar
    Michelle – lazydayproject.com

    I’m impressed as well! Up until recently I didn’t keep track of my reading. I would buy a book, read it, and stick it on the shelf. So if I wanted to know if I read something – I would look there.

    Now I’m downsizing and get my books from the library, so I keep track with the goodreads app. But now you have me wishing I kept better track! I sometimes don’t remember reading a book until I’m already 30 pages in, and by then I’m invested in the story, lol.

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      It’s OK to realise you’ve already read a book before – because then you can form a 2nd opinion of it! I hear a lot about Goodreads but I don’t feel that it’s for me at the moment. Thanks for your comment 🙂

      Reply
  3. Norrie avatar
    Norrie

    Nice!
    I just use Goodreads. Started doing that maybe 5-6 years ago. Added there books i read in the past, but i don’t remember all of them.

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      Thanks for your comment! I thought probably most people use Goodreads. I kind of wish I’d done the same thing for films I’ve watched! Because sometimes I’m not sure if I’ve seen an older one before. There’d be just too many to remember though.

      Reply
  4. FictionFan avatar
    FictionFan

    How great to have a record going so far back! I only started recording my reading when I started reviewing – seven years maybe? I hope you keep it going through your lifetime – it will be great to be able to see how your tastes change and evolve over time. 😀

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      I think my reading habits will make a good subject for someone’s thesis 😉 If you think my list goes back a long way, check out Art Garfunkel’s! From 1968 to 2017! http://www.artgarfunkel.com/library.html

      Reply
  5. TBR Book Tag: Find out what’s on my ‘To Be Read’ shelf! – N S Ford

    […] I don’t! You’d think that because I’m so organised with keeping records of what I’ve read, that what I’m going to read would be a similar case. But no. It’s either in my head, […]

    Reply

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