August 21, 2019

Dilemmas of a Book Nerd Tag

How do you store and organize your books? Oh boy. Here we go. I have one bookcase that is books I own but haven't read. Those books are stored horizontally now, so there is more room. They are still double stacked, because I have so many. I have one bookcase dedicated to my YA book award books. Those books are stored vertically and are becoming double stacked. I have one book case for classics and favorites. Most of my Jane Austen books are on that shelf. I have more books on the bookshelf under the TV. There are 2 more bookcases for my husband's books. I took a couple of shelves from those bookcases to keep the books I've read and want to keep.

How do you keep track of what you've read and what you own? - Goodreads. I have lots of shelves on my Goodreads account to divvy the books up by genre, etc. I have the basic Read, Currently Reading, and Want to Read lists. I also have a shelf for Couldn't Even Finish. I have another shelf for On-My-Bookshelf that is books I haven't read, but I own. This way I can check my account and maybe not re-buy a book I already own. It doesn't always work that way, as evidenced by the number of duplicates on my shelves.

Do you lend books out? - Most of them, sure. Especially when I have a book a dancer wants to read, or has to read for school. There are certain ones that are precious to me that I won't lend out, but mostly I don't mind. I loan them knowing I might not ever get it back.

How do you buy or acquire books? Right now I'm lucky enough to have publishers sending all the YA books I could ever want, and then some. Other books I buy at bookoutlet.com mostly. Sometimes a trip to the bookstore will yield a coupld of books. When go on vacation and visit a bookstore I go hog wild. I buy more books than I can read, but I feel safe that way.

How do respond to the question, "How do you read so much?" - There are a lot of things I DON'T do because I read so much. Like, watch TV, play video games, go out with friends, clean my house, yard work, sleep enough. Basically, I make reading a priority. Maybe over other, more important things, but hey, I'm not doing drugs.

How do you pick your next book? - I actually have a very intricate process for this. I have files in Google Docs with potential TBRs through the end of the year. I add to it as we get closer to that month based on what I feel like reading, what I need to read for the Read Harder Challenge, what I need to read for my personal challenges, and what I need to read for my award reading. I break the month down by week and assign each book to a week (or weeks) based on how many pages are in the book. I try not to read more than 5 books at a time.

Every Sunday I make a stack of books based on the monthly TBR and read from that stack all week.

Yes, I do realize how crazy this sounds. Especially from the person who used to know she was stressed when she was reading more than one book at once.

How do you pick which book to bring on vacation? - Whatever I'm reading that week is what I take on vacation.

Do you mark up your books in any way? - Sometimes. I really hate stopping reading to make a note or whatever. I tried to do it in some of the books for my award reading, but it really breaks my stride. It makes the reading choppy and I can't focus.

Do you prefer new or backlist? - Yes. All backlist books were new once. I just like to read books that are interesting to me. I don't care when they were published. I find it interesting to see what's changed since an older book was published. What we wouldn't say anymore, or what tech is out dated.

Do you read books in series as they're released or wait until the whole series is published? - The only series I read as it is published is the Stephanie Plum series. I get on the waiting list at the library months before it is out. I refuse to buy those because I read them in 3 hours and never read them again. The return on investment is too low.

Tell me your answers in the comments! Also tell me how weird I am.

Also please enjoy this picture of my goal library:

private library