Worlds Unlike Our Own

Hello readers! I’m doing another book tag today. Thank you to Grey @ Use Your Words for tagging me earlier this month. Lockdown has been very good for both my TBR and blogging, and I’ve never been this close to staying on track with this year’s new releases before. Of course, this means I’ve also been refining the way I track my books and reading statistics, so this is a perfect tag for me right now.

---

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

I’ve been actively using Goodreads since about 2012 to track all the books on my TBR, along with multiple spreadsheets to track the current year’s TBR, pending ARCs, scheduling reviews, blog tours etc. I also maintain a reading journal in which I record when I read a book and its rating. Apart from that, there is also a page on my blog which tracks my TBR for the current year.

---

If you record statistics, what statistics do you record?

I mostly track genre and rating, but I also like to check the ratio of new vs backlist vs reread titles I read every year. This data is is all automatically pulled together from the spreadsheets that I update regularly. I also record number of books read and page counts every month, and at the end of the year, I like to put together a couple of graphs for a better visual.

---

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

Yes, I use a five star scale, but with half-star increments for when I can’t decide. I rate a book mostly based on how I felt about the book with regards to plot, characters, pacing, world-building, writing style and of course, overall enjoyment, but there’s no breakdown or complicated math involved. 5 star ratings are extremely rare on my shelf and I think the maximum number I’ve ever given in a year is about a dozen. These are the basic ratings I use:

1 star
Personally did not like or enjoy it.

2 stars
Not particularly interesting.
There may have been a few things I liked, but
something about the book just didn’t click.
May have struggled to finish it.

3 stars
Liked it for the most part.
Nice for a fun read, but probably not a re-read. Plot line may have
been slightly predictable/cliched or writing style did not appeal to me.

4 stars
Really enjoyed it.
Engaging story, possibly some minor points I didn’t
like, but would definitely recommend and keep
an eye out for more books from the same author.

5 stars
Amazing, absolutely loved it!
Would highly recommend.

Best of Year Shelf
I choose a select number of books from my 4 or 5 star list
to add to this shelf yearly. These are those books that I thoroughly
enjoyed and found very little, if anything to criticize.

---

Do you review books?

Of course! I review most of the books I read here on my blog and cross-post all my reviews to Goodreads as well. It’s pretty rare that I choose not to review a book I read, since I build my TBR for the year very carefully to make sure of it.

---

Where do you put your finished books?

If they’re my own books, it remains on my bedside table or desk until I’m done reviewing it, then back to the shelf. For library books, I flip through again to note down any final thoughts and favourite quotes before returning them, because although my library is literally down the road, I get incredibly lazy about walking the two minutes to drop them off sometimes, so the sooner, the better.

---

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

Once I’m done with a book, I try to note down any first thoughts about it for my review before updating my reading status on Goodreads, my tracking spreadsheets, reading journal, and the monthly wrap-up post on my blog (which is basically pieced together throughout the month so it’s less work than rounding up everything later). I also decide on a rating immediately – though between finishing the book and reviewing it, the rating sometimes changes slightly – and also think about whether I want to put the book on my Best of Year shelf.

---

I had a lot of fun doing this tag! What would be your answers for these questions? Consider yourself tagged! Make sure to link back so I can read your answers!

---