Content warning: If you’re not a book lover with an overly long TBR and are not interested in ways to tackle it methodically, skip that one and come back in a few days. I promise, normal program will resume shortly.
How many times I have complained here (and also IRL) that I don’t know where I’ve first heard about a book that I have finally read and loved? I was preparing a post about a novel by Alan Furst. Goodreads tells me that I added to my TBR in 2018, but what prompted this decision back on precisely October 21st, 2018? I have no *bleep* idea (sorry, I’m annoyed, you can probably tell).
Well, chances are that I was reading a book blog (yes, despite the opinion of many, I still love blogs. Indeed, I still write one), and I was reading a lot of them in 2018. I was reading them through an RSS aggregator, which was no longer Google Reader (RIP to this wonderful tool, retired in 2013), but I’d switched to Feedly, which I’m still using today, although less and less. So my strategy was to dutifully tagging interesting blog posts about books I was hoping to read. But, but… how does one search in this *bleep* tool? Apparently, one does not. Maybe I’ve been mistaken about the functionalities about an aggregator, or maybe you’re supposed to peruse articles there and save them elsewhere… I don’t know.
I’ve seen the error on my ways a while back but only decided to tackle it this year. I no longer tag blog posts in Feedly, I try to go directly to Goodreads and add the book. Then I use an Excel spreadsheet that is the mirror of the Goodreads list, but with annotation on where does it come from and if my library has it or if I’m planning to buy it. (I don’t like the double step here, but my Excel sheet sits in my computer and not in the cloud). If Feedly can’t search, it means that I probably need to migrate those tagged information from a while back and do a sort of virtual culling operation. Culling yes, but probably also a massive addition to my TBR list.
Is there a better way? Should I just let go of all this? Tbh I’ve thought of closing my account in Feedly altogether as this lacking feature annoyed me a lot (can you tell?), but some blogs I’m following are not on WordPress and posting infrequently: I fear I’ll miss new posts (and I have enough emails as it is already). I’m bracing for the onslaught of books I wanted to read back around 2015-2018 and still find all of sudden very, very tempting. Tell me quick if I’m making a huge mistake.
Smithereens 
I don’t think you’re making a huge mistake. First, do you even remember the books you tagged back then? So revisiting them will be good. You might discover you’ve read some of them so you can just press delete and move on. And, if your TBR lists are anything like mine, you might find that there are a large number of books you just aren’t interested in any longer. So, while it will take some time and work, I think you’ve got a good idea that you are not likely to regret 🙂
I started to clean it up, there are 330 of them! 😲
I stick books on my Amazon wishlist, which allows you to add a comment where I put a reminder of where I saw the book. It’s works well for searching, and of course doesn’t commit me to buying the book on Amazon. Once bought or otherwise acquired, the book moves to my ridiculously over-complicated TBR spreadsheet. Record-keeping is half the fun! 😉
I didn’t know Amazon wishlists had comment fields! Over-complicated TBR spreadsheet indeed… It seems that many booklovers have them… either that or notebooks filled of illegible scribbled notes from years ago
If I’ve added a book to my TBR list because of a blog review, I have a shelf on Goodreads for the blogger, for example “fictionfan-recommended.” That way I know where I heard of it. But I think your system is good. I agree with Stefanie. Maybe this process will help you winnow down your list.
It’s a good idea, but the number of shelves would be overwhelming for me, and I find a little clunky to navigate. I’ll report back on what the process brings, either less or much, much books…
I have a wishlist shelf on Goodreads and make notes with links to the blog or review where I read about it. If you then click on the wishlist tag, you can change the display settings to show your notes. You can also show date originally published and sort by that. I find it a really useful way to skim through any of my tags, with the added bonus that I can see the cover. It saves any double bookkeeping, plus I can always consult Goodreads on my phone (using the desktop view), wherever I am.
OMG Integrated Reader, this is genius !!!! I had not noticed that you can play with the display setting and show notes ! You are changing my reading life !! If you ever come to Paris area I’ll buy you a drink, or a croissant 🥐🥐🥐
I’m glad I could help. If you take part in Kathy and Simon’s ‘book clubs’ based on a specific year, you can also sort your to-read shelf by year of publication which is a great help.