Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out the May 2022 prompts!
Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:
Tracking reading
(SUGGESTED BY ARIA @ BOOK NOOK BITS)
Prompts: Do you keep track of the books you read? If so, do you use Goodreads? Storygraph? Another platform? Has the way you keep track of your reading changed since you started blogging? What are the pros and cons of tracking your reading?
TRACKING MY READING VIA GOODREADS (+STORYGRAPH, KINDA)
I do keep track of the books I read. Until now, I mostly use Goodreads but since the beginning of 2022, I’ve started to dabble with Storygraph and the 2022 Ultimate Book Blogger/Reader Spreadsheet made by Kal @ The Reader Voracious. My main platform has always been Goodreads but I’m starting to become more partial to the spreadsheet as it allows me to track more all at once!
Let’s be friends on Goodreads!
GOODREADS VS STORYGRAPH VS SPREADSHEETS
I first signed up for Goodreads in September 2012 but I didn’t start actively using it until a few years later. I started getting “serious” about using it in 2018 when I discovered the existence of the book community and of bookstagram and book bloggers! I still do the most tracking on Goodreads although I’m not always the best at marking what I’m “currently reading” as I’m reading it. I think I’ve at least gotten a little better at it because I have the Goodreads Reading Challenge to keep me motivated.
Since I started to track reads using the blogger/reader spreadsheet I’ve been using it alongside GR and it has actually motivated me to keep my GR as updated as possible. I track start/end dates on the spreadsheet and it has made it much easier to update my GR, even if I don’t mark the book as “currently reading” from the start!
Of these three platforms, I use Storygraph the least. I don’t find it as easy to navigate but I do like the way their stats are presented so I’m hoping to eventually update all my reads on there by the end of the year. So far I’m only using it to track my buddy reads (which is probs my favourite feature of the site) and that has been fantastic!
Let’s be friends on Storygraph!
CHANGES IN TRACKING HABITS AND THE PROS/CONS
I think the biggest change for me has been the inclusion of tracking my reading with the spreadsheet this year! It definitely takes more work to log everything including publication years, page numbers, etc., which you obviously don’t have to do but I find that I actually enjoy it. The biggest pro of tracking reads is that it gives a complete picture of what you read and depending on what you track, it can also give you a nice overview of your reading habits. I love seeing how many books I read, what genres I actually read the most/least, the average length of books that I choose, and other bookish stats.
A downside to tracking reads is the added pressure I think it gives to continuously keep up a certain reading pace. There have been moments when I look at what I’ve read over a period of time, I think “omg, that’s all I’ve read?” and then I feel pressured to read more. It’s definitely silly and there are certainly going to be good/bad reading days but that’s just life! I feel like a lot of us already put a lot of pressure on ourselves to always churn out content and to read all the books to stay relevant, and we don’t need to put more pressure on ourselves.
Do you track your reads? Do you use more than one platform to track or do you use spreadsheets too? Do you enjoy tracking your reads or do you think it adds pressure to your reading that you’d rather not have?
dinipandareads 
I’m always so jealous of the bloggers who have those huge chunky stats pages in their monthly wrap-ups. I could do it myself, but I don’t have the time for it. Instead, I just keep track on Goodreads! I wish Storygraph wasn’t so minimalist in their design. It makes it really hard for me to focus on the site.
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I totally get it! It definitely takes up a lot of time and I’m glad that I have it but even then, I feel like I’m still just keeping track of the “basic” stats especially compared to how everyone does it. But that’s OK too! I’m keeping track for myself so as long as it works for me it’s all good! 😊 I also wish the design of SG was better and the editions and stuff were more complete cos it’d definitely motivate me to use it more!
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I’ve been tracking on both Goodreads and Storygraph this year, too. I still feel the most comfortable with Goodreads.
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I really need to get better of tracking on SG! So far I’ve only been tracking my buddy reads on there cos I love that feature of theirs. I’m gonna have so many to update on SG 😂 Glad I’m not the only one who still feels most comfortable with GR!
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I’m always jealous of the stats pictures from Storygraph and Bookly but I’m an all or nothing type of girl and it would take far to long to accurately move all of my reading tracking into a new platform. I started moving away from Goodreads when I started creating my own spreadsheets and now I have a whole new system in Notion that i am utterly obsessed with! Transferring everything from Goodreads has been really stressful though lol
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I started off the year “fresh” by migrating all my content to SG but then I quickly fell behind again as I stopped using it and went back to GR. But I’m glad I’ve also started keeping track on a spreadsheet too cos it’s so much more complete! I’ve never tried Notion before although I see a lot of people using it but it intimidates me a bit! 😂 It does look really awesome though!
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I love the customization of having a private tracking system! It makes me so happy
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I tried stortgraph as well and I didn’t get on with it.
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Yeah, their stats graphics are fantastic but the rest of it is just a little “meh” and not so easy to use (for me). Glad I’m not the only who didn’t get on with it!
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I use mainly goodreads and spreadsheets! Goodreads is nice in providing an overview, while spreadsheets gives you a more detailed in depth review and it’s also customizeable according to our own needs 😀 I tried using Storygraph before but agree I don’t find it as easily navigateable as Goodreads and when I tried to import my updated Goodreads stats, it won’t work anymore
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I agree about the spreadsheets and I’m really keen to keep using it from now. It also complements how I use GR so it comes in handy! I do wish SG was easier to navigate cos I do think that their stats are fun! I ended up ‘deleting’ my SG account at the start of the year before importing all my GR content again (cos I think you can only do it once!) and then I ended up falling behind again anyway 🙈
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I tried Storygraph but there’s still a huge room for improvements. So yeah, I still mainly use Goodreads!
Recently posted: How “That Will Never Work” Inspired Me
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Yeah, I totally agree. I do hope that SG can work on those improvements and although GR isn’t perfect and I wished they’d also make lots of changes, I’m so used to it and it’s so much more convenient, plus the community is so well established already!
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I use GR to track my reading progress. Also i love to create shelves there, so it’s more convenient to track when a book is released and if i want to read it right away or later. GR used to be a platform i communicated with lots of people, now i mostly track books there and switched to communication on my blog.
P.S. Asked you to be friends on GR)
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I do love creating shelves on GR although I’ve been trying to get better at sorting them properly instead of having tons of shelves with only… 1 book on it 😂 I don’t engage as much in the community on GR cos I feel it’s so much harder compared to on the blog or on Twitter but it’s still easy to build a network (I accepted your request)! It’s just so much more convenient…
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It’s interesting that tracking makes you feel reading pressure. I can understand that. I have always tracked in GR, but not a terrible amount of details. My spreadsheet has more details, and it’s where I log all the ARCs I commit to, my DNFs, and all my reading challenge progress. Sometimes seeing all those ARCs listed can make me wonder how I am going to read it all, but I usually can shake it off.
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I do feel like a lot of people feel that pressure and it’s something I’ve seen discussed a few times on like Twitter/Instagram about the pressure of the GR Reading Challenge and “competing with others” for who reads the most books. I don’t feel pressured by that on GR but since I’ve started tracking on a spreadsheet and doing weekly catch up memes like WWW Wednesday, it’s always surprising to see I’ve “only” read one or two books in a week compared to four or five in other weeks. If that makes sense 😂 I love the detail of spreadsheets too and I’m definitely keen to keep using one! It does get overwhelming keeping track of it all (esp when there’s *so many* lol) but it does motivate me to tick things off the list!
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