Managing my Reading Life

I read a lot of books.  You know that if you've been around here for awhile.  It's one of the topics I feel fairly confident talking and writing about because I do so much of it.

(Others: organizing, adoption, and mom guilt)

A large part of the reason I can read so many books is that I almost always know what I am going to read next (or at least have it VERY narrowed down to a couple options) and I always have at least another book in my possession ready to go. 

I've gotten pretty good at managing my reading life.  It's a process but one that generally doesn't take a lot of thought although, when I started writing about it, there are a lot of steps.  I use a couple apps, multiple websites, and then I can get to reading.

This is staged reading, a picture we took for an adoption profile book where they wanted visual proof that we did the hobbies we said we did.  So we staged a bunch of pictures even though we do do all the hobbies we said we do, just didn't have photo evidence of it.

1) Adding Books to my TBR
I'm on Goodreads at least once a day, the days we are home, either to update what I am reading/want to read or just seeing what others are reading.   I keep track of everything I read there, both what I am reading personally and what I have read to the boys.

But to keep track of my TBR (to be read) I have to know what I want to read.  I find these from a variety of places:
-Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy and her podcast What Should I Read Next?
-Janssen at Everyday Reading (probably the one on this list my own tastes most line up with)

-Jessica at Cocoon of Books
-Annie on From the Front Porch podcast and her Instagram
-I get an e-mail from Goodreads at the end of each month with new books from author's I've previous read.  Sometimes I know an author has a new book coming out, sometimes not.  A decent amount of what I read is the newest book from an author I've previously enjoyed.  And the more I read the more this list grows.
-The occasional magazine review or mention on another podcasts (a lot of the shows I listen to frequently ask guests what they are currently reading or for something they've recently enjoyed)

2) Picking What to Reread
My library's app has a place for lists and I have multiple going for myself and our older son.  One of mine is to keep track of books I want to reread.  I don't want to add these to my "to-read" shelf on Goodreads since I have already read them and I don't want to write them down because the list is constantly changing.  And since they are all older books, the library has them all in the system already.  When I get an urge to reread something I add it to my library app "to reread" list.  I consult this later.


Now I know what I want to read, either on my TBR ("To Read" on Goodreads) or my reread list on the library app.  Now it's picking what I want to read next immediately.

3) Make a monthly list
I've been doing this for almost a year and wrote a post about it at the beginning of 2018.  I go through my TBR and my reread lists, checking for new releases and books that just seem appropriate for the season and pick 10 books I want to read in the upcoming month.  Some are just a given - I've read this over Memorial Day weekend for 4 years running and this around New Years for 3 years. 

I aim for about two planned rereads a month and the rest off my TBR.  Since I buy VERY few books without reading them first, I take into account release dates and the likelihood I will get it from the library by the end of the month.  I've planned over 100 books this way and have only over estimated the library once (looking at you). 

I first make these monthly lists in the library app, making a new list for each month.  I'll make changes to this many times until I get to a solid 10, then write those in my bullet journal.

Photo by Luke, when we needed to go to the grocery but I was trying to finish a book first.

4) Get the Books
I really feel like I've mastered the art of making the most of my 5 library holds.  Some books I know I have to reserve months in advance (like this, and this) if I want to read anywhere near release date.  Other books I can see are on the shelf at another library location so I'll get those within a week.  It's deciding how many holds I want to give up for long wait lists or far off release dates and how many I want "liquid".  I realize I put a lot more thought into this than most people.

We usually make one trip to the main branch of our library a month.  This is usually at the end of the month and when I plan to get all the books from my list of 10 that are on the shelf there.  Ideally I'll get at least half my list and sometimes I get lucky and our local branch has some on the shelf too (this is rare, we have a small branch and frequently the only ones I want to read that they even own are ones I have to go on the hold list for).

I also try to have the library e-book of as many of my planned books as I can.  I spend a lot of time each day feeding Sam bottles and reading is my preferred way to past that time.  But I also prefer to read paper books when I can.  So if I have a book both ways, I can get through it a lot faster.

Often my rereads are books I own and that helps too.  I don't own a lot of books (I mean, do we call 100+ books a lot?) but the ones I do are generally among my favorites so thus ones I'll want to reread.

5) Decide What to Actually Read Next
I try to have one fiction and one non-fiction going at any given time.  I'd like at least one of these to be an e-book (so I'm always managing that hold list too).  Besides whatever e-book I read during feedings, I try to read non-fiction during the day and fiction in the evenings.  This isn't a perfect system.

Library availability and due dates largely determine what I am actually reading next.  It's a combination of what is due next, what I currently have in the house, and a little bit of what I actually feel like reading next.  If a book has made my list for the month I already know it feels appropriate for the season (the literal season - spring, summer, fall, winter) and something I am excited to read.  So between mixing it between fiction and non-fiction, there isn't much thought put into what book I pick up next when I finish one.  All my earlier steps have pretty much determined this for me.

6) Tracking What I've Read
Besides occasion bad cell signals at the lake, my Goodreads is usually very current on what I am currently reading and I've been tracking my books there for 7+ years so many years of back reading history is there.

I also have a 5 year memory book that I use to keep track what I am reading each day (post here).  I also record movies or tv shows watched, miles run, and days we are out of town.  While Goodreads tracks my start and end dates on books, that doesn't necessarily mean I've read a certain book on every day inbetween.  And I like looking back and seeing what I was reading on this day last year, two years ago, etc.  When I finish a book I write in that book what number finished book it was for the year so I can also easily see how many books I'm reading compared to the same time previous years.

I also write down completed dates on my monthly bullet journal list and delete a book from the same list in my library app.  If you weren't counting, that's 4 different places I track finished books.  Do you think that's enough? ;-)

Oh wait, there is more.  Here I also write monthly Quick Lit posts with short(ish) reviews of everything I've read in the past 30ish days.

I like reading and I like talking about reading.  And I like talking about managing my reading.

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Writing this all down feels like a lot but it's mostly second nature at this point.  For many years I felt like I was floundering in figuring out what to read next and what kinds of books I even liked to read, but now, with the 100+ books I read a year, I've figured out a pretty good system that works for me.  Yes, I may put more time into managing my reading life than a lot of people spend reading.  But I'm ok with that.  I'd rather put in the time and enjoy the majority of what I read than have too many sub-par reading experiences!

How about you?  How do you decide what to read next?  How many lists do you keep to track your reading?  Do you think my multiple lists make this seem a little crazy?  Tell me!  I love hearing how others do this!

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