Book Tag – The Finished Books Tag

Inspired by the ever-inspiring Womble from runalongtheshelves.net, I’ve picked up the book tag that was created by Headless Books and it seemed a fun topic – what happens when you finish a book?

Do you keep a list of the books you have read?

Yes. They’re all up on Goodreads (here’s my read-2020 tagged books). I tag them by year, which makes end-of-year lists a lot easier to do, and I can see at a glance how many books I’ve read so far.

If you record statistics, what statistics do you record?

I used to keep track of fiction vs non fiction, tag them as favourites and other things. But that’s gone by the by – now I just tag them by year. Goodreads spits out an end-of-year report which is kind of interesting.

I’ve been thinking of other things I could tag as I’ve been trying to read more diverse books over the past couple of years. Gender split would be interesting – I’ve certainly read more by women authors and non-cishet male authors, but could certainly do better.

Do you give star ratings for books, and if so, what do you score books out of and how do you cone about this score?

Only on Goodreads, and often after much deliberation. I’ve also gone back and revisited the star ratings after a month or three, as I realised that the book perhaps wasn’t all that. I’ve talked about star ratings here, and how I rate books here

Do you review books?

Yes. Next question.

Where do you put your finished books?

Now that does rather depend on the book.

ARCs [link] will usually go on the shelf or to friends/family. Finshed hardbacks/paperbacks will either go on the shelves or to the charity shop. Books I’ve really enjoyed may get pressed in the hands of someone I think will like them.

How do you pick your next book?

Depends what I’ve just read, and what I’m in the mood for. I’ve usually got a few blog tour reads on the go, so need to keep an eye on dates so that I’ve read them nice and early and not in a panic the day before my spot on the blog tour. I’d never do that, no sir, not me. guilty look

I’m hugely fortunate to be on the list for some brilliant publishers and publicists, so often a new book will turn up and jump immediately to the top of the pile, with a muttered apology to the long-suffering, much neglected TBR pile.

Do you have any other rituals for when you have finished a book?

Other than the ritual sacrifice to the book gods to ensure an ever-growing TBR pile?

I’ll mark it as read in Goodreads, fill in the dates read, ponder a star rating and think ‘ooh, I should really write up the review for that immediately’, then fall about laughing and pick up another book.

Let me know in the comments what you do, I’d love to know.