Up Close and (un)Conventional #7 – Organization

Posted 11 September, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Discussion Posts / 23 Comments

Up Close and (un)Conventional

Up Close and (un)Conventional #7 – Organization

Welcome to this week’s Up Close and (un)Conventional, I’m going to talk about organization and reading. I got the idea from the lovely Charlotte of Thougths and Pens who is hosting Thursdays with Luxa, and I’m signing up this discussion post there so that more people might see it. Charlotte gave me the idea when she commented on my COYER wrap-up post, where she said that she was sure that my kindle was 95% cleared out because I read and reviewed 40 books during the vacation challenge, and I just had to check how many books I still had on my TBR shelf. I still own 489 books that are on my kindle and that I haven’t read yet… *shifty eyes* and I don’t really know how that happened.

However, this got me to thinking about how I organize my kindle, because I don’t really like to plan in advance what I’m going to read. And I’m also very interested in how other bloggers organize their TBR shelves and other shelves, because I might get some good ideas on how to improve my own organization, you know? I have one collection for ARCs I need to read, and another for ARCs I still have to review. These two are the most important collections, because I want to make sure my feedback/approval ratio stays good. However, I always add new purchases (and yes, only purchases, freebies or giveaway wins) to my TBR collection, just so that I know what I still have on my kindle but haven’t read yet.

I also enjoy having collections by genres so that it’s easy for me to find something to read when I’m in the mood for let’s say PNR, or a nice historical romance. As you can see, those collections don’t even fit on the first screen on my kindle for iPad screen, but that’s OK, it’s still quite easy for me to navigate.

Organization - (un)Conventional Bookviews

How do you organize your TBR shelf? Do you use the collections on your reading device? Or aren’t you as crazy as me when it comes to buying too many books and not having the time to read them – so you have a manageable amount of books making it unnecessary to have all these collections? Please let me know because I’m not sure yet if the way I’m doing it is the best way for me. Even if it is working OK for the time being – classes start again in a week, and I know I will have to be on top of everything to make sure I’ll be able to both read for fun and for class.

Thanks for stopping by today! Don’t forget to sign up on the discussion linky if you’ve posted a discussion post this week.

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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23 responses to “Up Close and (un)Conventional #7 – Organization

  1. Collections has to be my FAVORITE thing on the Kindle! It kind of keeps me very organized and I just recently started adding more collections to it because I think for me, since I seem to only use my kindle for reading, that it makes it so much easier to keep track of what I have and where they are from. I also have a read collection (books I am done with) so I don’t get confused. But I might have to make genre collections also that is a great idea. If I have other books on the nook or on my Bluefire Reader I find harder to keep track of. I have yet to come up with or find someone that has a perfect way to keep track of their TBR Books.

    Michelle@Because Reading recently posted: #Review ~ Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan
    • I agree, Michelle, to be able to have those collections is so awesome, and it makes it a lot easier when I don’t really know what to read next 🙂 I also use my kindle 95% for my reading.
      I’m glad you think genre collections is a good idea 🙂 I need something like that because sometimes, I’m in the mood for historical romance, and I don’t want to have to slide through pages and pages of titles in my TBR collection 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by, Michelle. Have a terrific Thursday.

  2. You know what is crazy is that I haven’t even looked at the collections option there for organizing things. I am SOOOO going to have to do this. I’ve been relying on a shelf on Goodreads that I have called ‘next few up’ and then taking things out of my ‘to-read’ shelf and moving them to read or ‘next few up’ if I’ve gotten to them. I like this idea much better. I’ll probably keep the shelves on Goodreads though. Thanks so much for sharing!

    • I totally rely on Goodreads as well, Jaclyn. But I don’t always have access to Goodreads, and I have a ton of books on my kindle, so I figured having collections is a good thing.
      I don’t have a ‘next few up’ shelf on GR, but my TBR only has books I either already own, have or pre-order, or that I know I will order as soon as I can. Then I have a ‘might-read-one-day’ shelf, for all the books I add based on recommendations, reviews etc. And wow… it’s humongous.
      I am glad if I could help you organize your kindle a little – be warned, though, it does take quite a while 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by Jaclyn. Have a terrific Thursday.

  3. I haven’t organized my kindle at all, lol. But I have an Excel sheet (with several tabs) where I list the books I’m going to read next, all the series to read (complete series I own first, small series then big series I don’t own entirely), another tab with one-shots (most recent on top) then those series I’ve read but whose next installment is to be released (by order of release).
    The complete to-be-read list is on GR.
    The “I’m going to read next” constantly varies according to my mood 🙂

    Red Iza recently posted: Cat thursday #23 : what if ?...
    • I cannot decide too much in advance what to read next either, Red Iza, because like you, it depends on my mood.
      I used to have an excel sheet before I found Goodreads, and now, I download my GR shelves quite often, because I’m always afraid something will happen to them…
      And I think maybe I should have a series collection, too. I like the sound of thet very much 🙂

  4. Despite my organizational skills running wild with…well, everything, I haven’t organized my Kindle so diligently as you did. I tend to have just a simple READ and TO READ collection. Perhaps it’s because I read more paperbacks (you should see my bookshelves organization, those are another matter altogether!), but the more I stare at your picture, the more I think I could do something with my Kindle as well… Great job, Lexxie! 🙂

    Silvia @ Darkest Sins recently posted: "The Deep End" by A.M. Hartnett
    • I would love to see a picture of your physical bookshelves, then, Silvia. I hardly buy paperbacks anymore, except for classes. so my actual physical bookshelves are pretty badly organized.
      I enjoy having those collections on my kindle, because it’s easy to find something to read when I finish one book or series already.
      Thanks for stopping by, Silvia. Have a terrific Thursday.

      • I think you’ll see a picture (or more than one) at some point in one of my Friday posts. I’ll be sure to let you know when exactly 🙂
        Believe it or not, I’m not buying paperbacks a lot either. I just happen to receive lots of printed books from Publishers I work with. I don’t even ask most of the times, they just keep sending titles my way and I feel BLESSED for both the books and the fact that they want me to review for them. So, you see, I HAVE to organize those bookshelves better than anything else and, of course, guard them with my life! 😉
        Have a terrific Thursday yourself! x

        Silvia @ Darkest Sins recently posted: "The Deep End" by A.M. Hartnett
        • LOL, that’s how I feel about my eARCs, Silvia. I feel blessed to get books before they are released, and that someone actually wants my opinion of those. So I keep very careful track of my ARCs, when they are released, and which ones I haven’t read yet, which ones I have read but not yet reviewed etc 🙂
          I look forward to seeing your pictures, Silvia 🙂

  5. I have a kindle fire and maybe it’s just me but I have never found a way to put my books into sections, so they are just there is a big mess. My older Kindle that I had which was just the old cheap one had it to where you could put things into different categories and I really liked that. It was a lot easier to keep my review books separate from my bought books.

    If there is a way to do that on the Kindle fire..someone let me know..lol.

    My books are so disorganized…*hangs head* 🙁

    • Stormi, I don’t know about the kindle fire, but since amz has had all their other kindles and the kindle app for iPad with the possibility to make collections, there is probably the possibility to do it on the kindle fire as well. I’ll e-mail you some pictures of my kindle app and you can see if there is anything at all that looks the same on your fire 🙂
      It’s important to more bloggers than me to keep review books separate from bought books, I see 🙂

      Thanks for stopping by.

  6. I mainly use Goodreads to keep track of what I am going to read, I have different shelves, but they focus more on how I got those books (review or not) and whether I already read them or not. I don’t categorize on genre or something like that. I don’t have a kindle and I am not even sure if my e-reader has such a categorization option, if it has one, I haven’t find it yet. I usually use my review shelf to decide what to read next or stand in front of ym bookshelf.

    • I do the same thing, Lola, my Goodreads account has shelves upon shelves, and my ARCs are all on one shelf. I have also added the month of release so that I know which books should be read before others. I already have some that won’t be released until 2015, so I know I have a little time before I start those – unless I really want to read them righ tnow.
      Thanks for stopping by.

    • LOL I love the image of your books playing together unread in your kindle, Braine 😀 I just had to have some kind of system on mine, because I have so many books I haven’t read yet. And as you know, I keep adding more each week…
      Thanks for stopping by.

  7. Huhuhuhuh. Why do you have to be so organized, Lexxie? I am sorry but I have not additional tips for you in improving your already stellar organization skills. If you can only see my Kobo reader, there’s really no organization at all. I just purchase books and then, that’s it. I am too lazy but seeing how you organized your books, I got so inspired. But my problem is, I don’t even know if Kobo has a “collections feature.” Hahahaha. See how lazy I am? I did not even take the time to learn the nooks and crannies of my reader. The only important thing to me is to be able to read on it. 😀

    For my ARCs, I usually tear a page from a notebook and then, just list all my ARCs on it. Whenever I’m through with an ARC, I’ll just make a strikethrough. Really frustrating because most of the time, I lose the paper and rewrite everything. After learning my mistakes, I’ve learned to make a back up by putting all my to-read and to-review ARCs on my currently reading shelf. I am asking myself why I have such an inefficient habit but the only reason that I can come up with is, I am lazy. But I plan to change that soon. 😀

    Thank your for this very helpful and inspiring post, Lexxie!

    Charlotte @ Thoughts and Pens recently posted: Reviewer’s Gender: Is It A Criteria To Pick Up A Book?
    • Thank you Charlotte 🙂 I love seeing those collections on my kindle and on my app, because it’s interesting to me to also see what kinds of genres I have on there. And hey, you inspired me to re-do my collections with your comment on my COYER wrap-up. My kindle will probably never be empty of books 😀

      I have no idea how kobo works at all, never used one. But you know, if your organization works for you, you should stick with it. Maybe keep the paper inside of the notebook instead of tearing it out to be lost? 😛

      Thanks for stopping by Charlotte.

    • This photo is from the kindle app on my iPad, and it actually now syncs across devices which I think is really awesome 🙂 heh, Most of the books on there I haven’t read yet, because I also tend to delete books after I finish reading them. But with almost 500 books I haven’t read yet, I just had to organize them somehow.

      Thanks for stopping by, Lola.

  8. I hate the kindle app for ipad. Might just be that I have an ipad that is too old for the new kindle app (I have the ipad 1) but I just want the books to be in either one collection or the other. Not in both. But then again, I do not really like to read ebook, as I prefer hard copies. It seems like a good division you have going though ;)!

    Jirrine @ Jirrine Reads Fiction recently posted: Stacking the Shelves (10)
  9. I definitely have the same problem as you Lexxie – I buy way more books than I can possibly read! I don’t organize on my device because I have books in so many different places – depending on how I got them from author or where I bought them. So I keep it organized on Goodreads – I have an exclusive shelf for “owned-but-not-read” and another exclusive shelf for “need-to-read-for-review”. And then from there I have all my genres. It something I started back in May/June and has been working really well for me. I finally have a good grasp on what I have to read and what I want to read. I also have wishlists, but that’s a different story altogether.

    Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun recently posted: Teaser Tuesdays | Austenland Teaser
  10. o_O Shifty eyes?? Well, you know I’m a lot like you when it comes to procuring books. 😉 I did, at one time, try to organize books by genre. In the last year and a half (since I got a kindle) my organizing has been non-existent. I don’t know how to organize on a kindle paperwhite but I’m going to look into it. I keep lists of books I need to read/review in my planner but I don’t have them organized that way on my ereaders. You’re inspiring me though. (as you often do) I’ll keep you posted on my progress…it’ll be s-l-o-w. LOL 🙂

    Bookworm Brandee recently posted: **Cover Reveal ~ Havoc Series ~ Autumn Grey**

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