History of 'Books I have read' List

The main purpose of putting my book list data base on my Blog was to be able to check it while, if needed, at the library. To, hopefully, prevent me from checking out a book I had already read. Unless, of course, I wanted to read it again. I will add another post with my 'books I want to read' list at some time. A little history of this list. As you can see this list was started in 1981. I have read all my life. I can still remember the first book I read- Tarzan of the Apes. I recall it being in 3rd grade or so. About 1970's I started thinking that I should keep a list of books I've read. It took me about 10 years to decide to do it. I started on paper. Decided to just write down sequence number, date, title, author, whether fiction or non fiction. Trying to write a review, or even to rate the story, would be too much effort. I wanted it to be quick and simple. After several years, and pages, I finally put it on the data base program on MSWorks. It is very easy to update and search. And make specific reports if needed. I describe it as like keeping a diary. It is very interesting to go back over it once in a while. There are 3 categories occurring in the review. Books that I cannot recall the plot at all, those that are vaguely recalled and those that are vividly recalled. Some I have decided to re-read. A couple years ago I added the comment section to write a sentence that, maybe, would help remind me of the plot. I also added a note as to whether it was an 'audio book'. To enter an audio book on my book list. I had some controversial thinking about whether this was valid. If an audio book, why not video (movies)? I decided that an audio book like a written book made you mentally visualize the story as opposed to a video (movie) which made the mental visualization for you. Therefor audio 'novels' entered, video 'novels' not entered. I encourage people who read to keep a simple log. Try it, you will like it. /IN Tom