So, a slightly embarrassing thing happened to me last week. I saw a review for a book on a blog I follow and commented that it sounded good and that I’d have to check the series out. The blog owner then offered to loan me the book (got to love blog friends!). I accepted the offer. When I clicked through the email to Amazon to download the loaned Kindle edition, Amazon told me I already had the book in my Kindle content. Apparently I had come across the book last summer and found it available for free and downloaded it.
This tells me that my TBR list has gotten out of control. I download books when I find them for free or at a reduced cost (mostly free) and then forget about them. So my question to all of you is how do you track your books you own?
I thought about starting a spreadsheet (got to love those) to track the books I download. I figured I could make notes next to the books about who recommended them or where I saw a review and could even highlight the ones that I really, really, really, really want to read.
But then I’ve also thought I could probably make additional Goodreads shelves to track my books. Maybe a shelf based on when I downloaded the book or on recommendations or blog reviews.
I’m lucky that I don’t receive many books that I’m obligated to do reviews for. So I don’t have the additional pressure of getting owed reviews out. Most of my books are books that I’ve downloaded all on my own.
I do have some books that I’ve received from signing up for newsletters or that I’ve won from various contests. What is your opinion on these type of books? Do you feel obligated to review them? Do you keep them separate from the books you’ve picked up on your own? I usually move the email where I received the books into a “To Review” folder. But to tell you the truth I don’t really check that too often (if ever). Maybe I need to make a point to choose at least one of those a month to read and review.
