My best tracking experience: Goodreads

In my childhood and youth I was a voracious reader. I read far and wide, from books starring horses as main character, young detectives like Five (Enid Blyton), over Mario Puzo's Godfather, Roots (Alex Haley), Dune (Frank Herbert) to Calvin and Hobbes (no need for author name here).

There was always time in the evening in my bed for one more comic book. The library was my favorite place, and luckily it was only at the school library that there was a loan cap. For some years I worked as an errand boy and general helper in the best bookstore in the nearby city. I am eternally in love with the smell of a good wooden bookcase and its content. The smell reaches back into blessed memories and into the future with anticipation of many good hours. The experience set me on the path to be a pathological book collector - a bibliopath.

During my years of extensive mandatory reading, first as student and then as young researcher at the University, leisurely reading was a treat in holidays and less busy periods. It was impossible to read the amount of books as in my youth.

Life is full of obligations and long stretches of undisturbed time is unlikely in my everyday. Now I have found a way to access long format stories through audiobooks. Admittedly, in the beginning it felt like cheating to be pulled through the stories, instead of using determination and attention to move yourself forward. The majority of my book consumption is now audio, but in case of non-fiction it is often complemented by the the e-book version for notes and reflections.

I use a variety of sources for my audio books. The online Danish tax-paid library, e-reolen, the international arm of the digital library - Libby, where my trusted library card also gives me access. I cherish public goods like this, but their cap on reading and the waiting time for access to new books was limiting. So I ventured into audio streaming. I started with the Danish online bookstore and streaming service Saxo, which certainly and still satisfies my desire for Danish language books. Master pieces such as Modern history of Iran (Rasmus Christian Elling), 11% (Maren Uthaug, winner of the golden laurels 2022), K?re S?ster (lit Dear Sister, Naiha Khiljee).

The selection at Saxo does not cover my desire for English language books, particularly nonfiction. I needed to find a service to feed my listening desire and settled for Audible, although I resent supporting the company. I think I'm covered now.

In general tracking activity in an area of life should be easy. But in other parts of my life I have not found any services or devices that are so frictionless that I have continued my tracking.

But for books, there's Goodreads. It is fantastic, and extremely comprehensive. I have so far only read one book I could not find in their database. Amazing coverage! Tracking in Goodreads has been a game changer for my experience of tracking. Everything is smooth and easy. Finding new books and adding them to my ever expanding want to read list that keeps budding out into new subcategories. Noting start dates, progress and finish dates. Even adding books that are not listed is easy. I enjoy going over the lists, feeling pride of my accomplishment in volume, remembering the content and carefully selecting which book is next in line.

I keep my challenge manageable, and even though I surpass the ambition with several volumes every year, I only make small increases. Consuming books is supposed to be a joyful activity.

PS There's no sponsorship or any other reward for me in writing this.