Last week’s installment of The Finicky Reader discussed one of the oddities of book nerdom: my tendency to put undue pressure on myself to finish books I do not enjoy. I happened to mention that readers can be an odd lot, and for this week’s column I have to add anal and fanatical to the list of my own bookish inclinations. Not only am I a perfectionist, apparently I am also the teensiest bit obsessive-compulsive.

“Bookish accounting,” as I call it, is a tendency to make lists, keep archives, and generally toil over details in regards to books. In my case, I keep a ledger of sorts, an Excel spreadsheet to track all of the books I read. If I knew how to take a screen shot I might even share because it has taken a few years of trial and error to get it just right. With space for author name, book title, date finished, rating, genre, author’s country of origin and location (a book I own, a review copy, or a library copy), I can successfully track my reading for years on end in one tidy document. It makes me ridiculously happy to look back over the years and survey the damage—errr, successes—in my reading. Oh, and just in case you are interested in an extra dose of compulsiveness, I highlight in yellow those titles in the running for my top ten favorites of the year. Titles in blue are those that made the final cut. As a testament to the joy inherent in my accounting, my heart is beating a little fast just describing it to you. It’s the pitter-patter of true love, my friends.

A true bookish accountant could never leave things at a book journal, since that is what my Excel spreadsheet amounts to. No, no. A true bookish account feeds the fever by keeping multiple book journals. Ever heard of the tasty websites LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Goodreads? Oh no? Oh yesss. Essentially the three sites are online catalogs. One can input a book title, author, or ISBN and come up with a picture of the book’s cover and edition details, along with room to comment, rate, and recommend the book. It then goes on a tidy virtual shelf to be pondered and fondled by fellow book lovers who also have it, or are at least interested in it. As a result, LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Goodreads also serve as social networking sites for book lovers. In my case, it is a trusty way to expend thrice the energy I used to keeping track of my reading. And the virtual shelves are exceedingly pretty and satisfying to look over.

Shelfari and Goodreads serve a greater purpose for me, and that is as a backup to my very functional and convenient Excel book journal. Around Christmas last year I had what I bitterly and snidely call “The Great Motherboard Crash of 2007.” You guessed it; I lost everything, having not backed up my Excel spreadsheet. Six years of reading history down the proverbial toilet in a matter of seconds. Shame on me for not backing up my work! But then I realized that I had backed up my journal by keeping records at Shelfari and Goodreads. So why wouldn’t I just do one or the other? Far too easy. Not nearly obsessive enough, that is the only irrational rationale I can provide.

Finally, the third piece in a trifecta of book obsession lies in my tendency to overpopulate and spread out my wishlists. Amazon, Powells, my spreadsheet, Goodreads, and Shelfari all hold pieces of a much larger, much more embarrassing, wishlist of books. In fact, just last week I went through my ages-old Amazon list and cleared out well over twenty titles that I had either read from the library, bought for myself, or lost interest in completely. I should do the same at Powell’s, Goodreads, and Shelfari, but I have yet to work up the strength. I should also clean out my shelves at home, but we’ll pretend I never said that. Shhh!

In all honesty, I never have a clear and decisive answer to explain why I behave the way I do in regards to reading. The best I can do on any given day is to shout that books are my haven, a thing of great happiness. I am, by nature, a list maker and something of an accountant—thanks, Mom—so organizing my stacks and wishlists are ways to further bask in the joys of reading. If you have never committed your reading to paper (or computer screen), give it a try. Maybe you’ll become just as hooked as I have.


Andi is a recovering university academic employed by the North Carolina community college system as an English instructor. While she decided to forego a Ph.D. and career as a professor, she fills in all the free time her current position affords her with editing literary publications, reviewing, freelancing, and blogging at Tripping Toward Lucidity: Estella’s Revenge. Her work can be found in the journal, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS), and Altar magazine as well as online in various venues such as PopMatters.com. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), and writes fiction. Her turn-ons include new books and gelato, while her turn-offs are reality television and washing dishes. Contact Andi.