Keeping track of what I read is something I have been doing for a number of years. It is the ONLY New Year's Resolution I have ever kept! At the beginning of each year I start a journal with each book I have read along with a description. I am brutally honest as I am the only one reading it. Sometimes I get all fancy and use brightly coloured pens and write neatly and succinctly, other times I have the name and author quickly jotted down with one sentence and "meh" noted at the end. At the end of each year I know exactly how many books I have read and a note about them and how I felt at the time when I read it. This helps me to remember the book, give accurate recommendations to friends and patrons, and realize that I can actually stick to something for a whole year. I have successfully kept track of my reading history for four years now.
I have an account with Good Reads and have had it for a number of years. I hadn't been on it for a long time, but when I just checked for this week's exercise (NB23), I was quickly directed to the site and they even remembered my password for me! Thank goodness! I have 380 books listed in Good Reads and I know I am very behind on adding what I have read and grading them, but I really like the way I keep track of the books I read. I do fully embrace technology, but I think there is still something to be said about writing something down, recording your thoughts, and keeping journals that you can view many years later. You can choose to share, or dream that someone a long time from now might read the journal and be able to see what books I liked and why. This reminds me of the way I feel about yarn and the projects I knit.
Patterns in my writing as well as in my knitting are skills that I have to keep regimented and strive to continually perfect. I am not only just left handed, but I am also dyslexic. Facing dyslexia, and left handedness head on is something I have always done. Writing was difficult to learn and so was knitting. Reading books was difficult for me and so were knitting patterns. So, I know that these qualities need to be sharp, especially in a library environment where order, reading and writing are keys to success.
I should be embracing technology that makes things easier for me - Good Reads can help me keep track of the books I have read and easily permit me to rate them without having to lift a pen! Automatic knitting machines, or even purchasing knitted projects would make it far easier for me to be a successful knitter, especially where patterns are concerned. Guess what though? I don't. It may take me hours and hours to understand how to develop a way for me to read a pattern, learn what they mean and change the wording so it makes sense to me and shows me how to make a dishcloth, a pair of mittens, a pair of slippers or an afghan, but once I do you can guarantee I will do it well and make at least ten of them in a row! I can look back over the years and see people I care about with their mittens (oh, that was my 2008 phase), their felted purses (so 2011), their slippers (2013), or their afghans (2009) and of course the dishcloths (2012) that I made especially for them and know that once I was able to get a pattern, I wouldn't stop until either I ran out of people to give them to or I genuinely got bored with what I was making.
I think that is what is also great about Social Reading. I can look back and see what types of books I was interested in at any given time, see how my taste has changed, and share with people my love of reading! This is also true about knitting!
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