The Finished Books Tag

August 27, 2020

Happy Tag Thursday, friends!

I grabbed this tag from Grey! If you’re not following Grey, you should fix that ASAP, because WOW — amazing aesthetic, amazing blog content, amazing human being… Grey’s the works. ♥


1. Do you keep a list of the books you have read?

Yes! I use a mix of Goodreads, StoryGraph, and spreadsheets. I have a yearly spreadsheet where I track every single book I read and/or DNF (among other bookish things), and at the end of each year, I tuck that spreadsheet into a folder in my Google Drive so I can look back on previous years’ spreadsheets if I ever want to.

2. If you record statistics, what statistics do you record?

This is where the spreadsheets come in handy! I track so many stats: genders of authors, genders of protagonists, author locations, diverse representation, formats, purchase locations, purchased books vs. free books… the list goes on.

I’ve tried using spreadsheets created by other people and have loved them, but ultimately realized the stats & info I like to track are so specific and catered to my tastes that it was easier to just take Brock’s spreadsheet and edit the hell out of it to make it my own. ?

3. Do you give star ratings for books, and if so, what do you score books out of? How do you come about this score?

I do! I rate books out of 5 stars — I use full star ratings on Goodreads (because Goodreads hates its users and refuses to give us literally anything we ever ask for), but love a good half-star on my blog/channel/etc., StoryGraph, and in my trackers.

As for how I come to my scores, let me just show you all what my Goodreads bio has said for years:

★★★★★ – MY BABY, YAS @_@
★★★★☆ – I really enjoyed this, but it was missing something.
★★★☆☆ – Meh.
★★☆☆☆ – I disliked this a lot, but it wasn’t the WORST EVER.
★☆☆☆☆ – DISHONOR ON YOU, DISHONOR ON YOUR COW

4. Do you review books?

I try to. ?

5. Where do you put your finished books?

If I don’t review it right away, it generally sits on my desk until I do. Once it’s reviewed and ready to be put away, it just goes back to its home on my shelf. ??‍♀️ I don’t separate read books from unread books on my shelves.

6. Do you have any other rituals for when you have finished a book?

When I finish a book, I add it to my trackers, Goodreads, etc., write either a review or a sentence or two of quick thoughts with an “RTC” tag on Goodreads, and that’s about it! If I really loved it, I’ll also sometimes tweet about it.


? Ellyn
? Maggie
? Laura
? Meaghan
… and YOU!

destiny

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

17 Comments
    1. Hi Destiny!

      Fun Tag! Will see if I can manage it.

      If you like Book Tags, have a look on my blog, The Tudor Queens Book Tag is currently on there and it was great fun to draft it.

      Elza Reads

    1. Oh I love this tag!! I just started a spreadsheet and find that it’s a great way to keep track instead of trying to log everything on an app! I can’t wait to start a new one next year and track everything from beginning to end (: Loved reading your answers! ♥

      1. Yessss, spreadsheets are SO helpful! I have ADHD and struggle with keeping track of things, and I’ve learned in the last few years that spreadsheets are THE best way I can help myself keep up with things. I have so many! ? I even have a spreadsheet for household cleaning! And thank you ♥

    1. Ooh you’re on StoryGraph too! Thanks for reminding me to update it – I knew I was forgetting something…

      “Do you review books?” “I try to.” Oh, the eternal mood.

      1. I haven’t had the chance to use StoryGraph too much yet – well, that’s not right, I should just say I keep FORGETTING to check it out much… but I did import my Goodreads data over and now I try to go through my GR logs and update my StoryGraph to match it once a week or so! I’d love to eventually make the switch and have SG be my primary logging site, but I can’t see myself ever abandoning Goodreads for the social aspects, tbh. ??‍♀️

        HA! Why are we like this.

        1. Yeah, I also imported my GR data, but I don’t want to completely leave GR, so now I use both at the same time… plus my spreadsheet for tracking books… and now I started using my blog and NetGalley again… that is A LOT of places to update when I finish a book, so I’m afraid I’ll keep forgetting some of them for a while 😀

          It’s nice to say we should all abandon GR because it’s owned by Amaz*n but also I like its features and StoryGraph doesn’t even have custom shelves (yet) so I just caan’t :((

          1. Lmao I feel this so much! And same, I would love in theory to ditch GR buuuut… :/ And sadly, I don’t foresee StoryGraph *ever* being quite what I want it to be because their owners have already said they don’t like the idea of review sites being social platforms (like being able to comment on reviews, msg people, etc.), and that’s honestly what sets goodreads apart for me! Sigh. Maybe someday, someone will finally give me a good reason to leave GR lol.

      1. Hahahaha thank you ? I’ve had that in my GR bio for YEARS and about once a week, I’ll get a message or friend request commenting on it, and I still grin every single time lmao.

    1. This is such a fun tag! I use a mix of Goodreads and spreadsheets too to track my reading; I created my own sheets since each year I tend to track different things based on what I think was working in the previous year. I’ve been wanting to utilize more Storygraph but haven’t find the time to migrate all my data.

      1. It was really fun, feel free to grab it! 😀 I’d love to see your answers! Honestly, nothing beats making your own spreadsheets. I was lazy this year and used Brock’s as a template to start mine off from, but I’ve decided that, next year, I’m making my reading tracker from scratch instead of editing someone else’s! and I hope you’re able to migrate your things over soon! Just in case you haven’t heard, I’m hearing that the Goodreads import option they offer works MUCH faster now than it did when they first started it! I know my import took over a week but someone recently told me theirs was done within a day! ??

    1. I am HERE for the Mulan reference! I love seeing how similar and yet differently readers go about reading and organising books! I keep telling myself that one of these days I’ll learn how to modify Brock’s spreadsheet to my specific tastes but today is not that day ahaha.

    1. I love stats. I just use goodreads but feel like I need to start collecting more in a spreadsheet because there is more I’m interested in.

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