Okay, folks, usually I try to blog about recommendations or solutions to things, but today I need your help with something because I haven't figured out a good answer. If you're here, that probably means that you love books like I do, which also probably means that you have a big to-be-read pile.
Mine is ginormous both in print and even more so in ebook. Hundreds and hundreds of unread books. It's both a blessing (yay, my own library!) and a curse (so many books, so little time.) And yesterday I mentioned on Twitter that lately I've found myself obsessed with hardcover books (which I've typically hated all my life) and have leaned more toward reading print this year than ebook. And I wasn't sure why.
Now, that's not to say I have problems with reading ebooks. Obviously I don't because many of my books that I put out there are ebook only. I love the convenience of ebooks and the sales. However, after thinking on it, I realized that the reason I'm reading more print lately is because I can SEE my print TBR pile. I can grab books off my shelves, flip them over, remind myself what it's about and choose one. With ebooks, that is really hard. Scrolling through hundreds of books on my Kindle with tiny black and white covers (because I prefer e-ink) isn't overly inspiring. And then it's not a quick process to read the back cover. So unless I just bought the book and remember what it's about, it languishes there.
Part of this, I think, goes back to how my brain works. Y'all know about my love for paper planners. They have saved me because electronic calendars don't work for me. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind for me. I need hard copies of things in front of me to remind me. So when my ebooks go off the first page of my Kindle, it's like they're dead to me. And that's frustrating because I know there are amazing books on there that I wanted to read.
So, I need a solution. How do I organize my ebooks in a visual way that works? I've tried separating into folders based on genre. That made it worse because then they were two steps away from being visible. I've tried Calibre, but it's not automatic and I'm not good at keeping stuff like that up. And a spreadsheet won't work because I need to see the covers, not just the titles.
I'm not even sure that there IS a solution, but I figured I would ask if any of you have any ideas that have worked for you? I'd love to hear them!
Thanks!
And anyone else having this same issue?