I mentioned last week that I keep an Excel spreadsheet to track my reading year (though I have been lazy about keeping it up this year and had to do a lot of filling in). I was asked to share a screen shot of it and am happy to let you have a peek at it.
The nice thing is you can create a mini reading log with whatever information that you like and best, since it is Excel, at the end of the year you can easily sort the columns. I can manipulate so all the information is alphabetized and then easily count things up at the end. I don't recommend leaving it until the end, like I did, though it was sort of fun to go back and refresh my reading year in my mind. 'Oh yeah, I told myself I was going to read more Anita Brookner, or Barbara Pym, or . . . (well, now I know where to start next year, right?).
As for the information I like to keep track of? Basic bibliographic things--author, title, publication year, when I finished the book. But I also like to see how many books by women versus men, what the genre is, if I own it or borrowed it, if it was translated and from what language and then some other little bit that is particular to my reading--if it was a NYRB subscription book or my monthly prompt, etc.
Had I traced my reading in a more timely manner it would have been obvious how few books in translation I was reading or I was neglecting books published in the 18th century (though that is probably pretty typical and something I vow to work on every year). I really do see this as a reading map. I like to see where I started and where I ended up. What I want to try and read more of next year. If I was really savvy I bet I could make one of those infographics which would be a really fun visual. Hmm, maybe I will investigate that. There are still, umm, thirteen days left in the year!
I will hopefully be wrapping up my reading year here on the blog in the coming week and next week will share my reading 'statistics' gleaned from my spreadsheet and am contemplating which books were favorites. Do you keep a reading log? If so, what form does it take and what information do you track? I used to keep an actual journal, which has a certain charm, too. Maybe next year.