Inspired by my recent organizational acquisitions (and posts by Hannah), I wanted to share some information about how I keep myself organized – primarily for blogging and reading, but also a little about my personal organization, too.
Part Six: Organizing My Goodreads Shelves (II)
Yeah. My most recent organizational post was about Goodreads too. I’m already ready for a little update because I’ve made some GREAT changes to help me further organize my TBR. I talked on Friday about how many problems I have with actually creating and sticking with a TBR, so today will show a couple ways I’ve worked towards fixing that issue. It’s not a perfect system because I’ll never have a strict TBR, but it helps a lot. In the previous Goodreads organization post I also shared links for more Goodreads organization posts by some other bloggers, so I’ll do that here for your reference again: Brittany’s, Bekka’s, Hannah’s. This one is specifically about two new shelves I recently created that help me manage my TBR and keep track of books I’m excited to read.
TBR-Next | an exclusive shelf
Do you want to hear something really stupid? When I first saw people like Danielle creating exclusive shelves on Goodreads to mark what books they’re planning to read next, I thought it was a great idea to keep your TBR ideas in one place. I made a shelf and it lasted like a day or to. The reason? I hated having to scroll down on my Goodreads app to click to access other shelves. It created too long of an exclusive shelf list so I had to scroll. Now that I have a bigger screen on my iPhone, I added the shelf. AND IT’S GREAT! I try to keep 10 titles on there, but allow myself up to 15 when I really need to. These are the books that need to be a priority for any number of reasons:
- Library books due soonish
- Books I really want to read and don’t want to forget about
- Newly released books that I should have read the ARC for already
- Upcoming releases I plan to read the ARC for in time
- Book Club and Book Buddies upcoming selections
- Audiobooks I plan to start after finishing my current one
It’s been really helpful so far! I don’t use the numbering/positioning/sorting feature on any of my other shelves, but it’s awesome for this one. I like having the ability to shift the books around so I know what needs to be read first.
Jazzed-Up-For-This | a non-exclusive shelf
Aside from tracking the books I’m excited to read soon on my up-next shelf, I wanted to remember all the books that got me REALLY excited when I saw them. Sometimes I read a plot synopsis and think HOLY SHIT I need this book immediately… and then lose it somewhere in my never-ending TBR list. This shelf includes upcoming books, reaaaally far in the future books, and current books that I want to read soon. As you can see below, some books don’t even have covers yet. There are also some older ones I was really excited for and just haven’t read yet. It’s one of those things where I can’t believe I haven’t read the book yet.
I have a Monthly-TBR bookshelves and added library books, ARC, etc to that. I also recently added books that I wanted that will be released in 2016, sort of like a wishlist. 🙂
Love that! Super organized 🙂
Similar to your TBR-Next shelf, I keep a list in Trello of the books I plan to read in upcoming months (usually only the next 2 months), so I have a place to go when I need to make library holds and write my “Books I plan to read in [month]” posts. It’s been really helpful to have it in one place and to help in planning a variety of books, so I have some leeway to mood read.
Smart! I need to do that with library books too. I have a shelf on GR for books I currently have checked our or on hold, but not one that list ones I’m thinking of GETTING from the library at some point.
The TBR posts are some of my favorites to read on blogs! I’ve started to try to make something like that in my monthly wrap-ups. It’s fun to have some guidelines and get opinions from others on the books 🙂
I wanted to do this with my TBR but then I get the pressure-feels! I ended up just making shelves per month for releases and then I have notes in my Google Calendar for the books that I need to read next. Plus I’m always checking my email so I constantly see those emails about my blog tours & promised to-reads. I mean that may be more stressful but I felt like more of a failure when I did achieve my GR list for some reason haha!
I also have an “omg can’t wait” shelf haha! Like you, I still have some older titles on there. Guess I could wait afterall ;D
I know what you mean! That’s a smart way of doing that. I have a running list in my book tracking Excel sheet with books and their “due dates” just to keep them in mind. I haven’t felt TOO pressured by my up-next shelf yet, so I’m glad. We’ll see though, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up abandoning it haha.
I have a “to read – next” sehlf on Goodreads too… I just don’t use it. I really need to work on it. I hate having a TBR though, and even though I should I struggle. It’s hard, but something I need to work on, and this is a great reminder that I should work out a way to organise my immediate TBR better.
P.S. I can see Kinsella’s Twenties Girl on your TBR and can I just say that I only read it recently and it was amazing. Definitely recommend if you love light-hearted, funny chicklits novels.
Haha I know, I have issues with that too. I’ve experimented a lot with making TBR lists and this is working for now!
Oooh good, I plan to read it soon!
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Oh, I like the idea of a TBR next shelf! I might have to incorporate that into my shelves on Goodreads. I actually keep a ton of exclusive shelves on there, just so it’s easier for my brain to sort out the sources for all of my reads. My TBR generally happens to be in list form in my bullet journal, but maybe I’ll try it this way!
I need to find a better way to use my bullet journal for my TBR! I just use it for basic daily tasks lately. It’s VERY helpful to have it on Goodreads. I don’t follow it 100% of the time, which is okay, but it at least reminds me of what books I was thinking of reading soon. It’s actually training me to be less of a mood reader too!
[…] Lauren @ Bookmark Lite shared part two of her Goodreads shelves organisation methods. […]
[…] onto my new Goodreads shelves! I’ve added an up-next category to track my TBR and a jazzed-up-for-this (my recent favorite […]
A couple of days ago I went through and really weeded down my to-read shelf on goodreads and I feel so much better! I was originally at 470 books and I got it down to 250! I can now actually look through books easier when I go to the library. I love your shelf names! Thanks for sharing.