Fun question. I wouldn’t say I’ve solved it, but I’m doing okay. My actual lists are on-hold OF projects (but I could use anything, really)
- List for my next ILL items
- List for my next ebook borrows
Plus an Apple Note, so I can share it with a few people, of books I wouldn’t mind receiving as gifts (or buying myself, if I get to it)
None of these are terribly long, though. For me, 1,000 unread items is too many because either I’m doing to die or change my tastes before I get through 10% of it.
I also rely on external places for my next books, where I don’t mind what I read so much as it’s a certain calibre or category of book. Places like:
- Certain shelves in a local used bookstore. I know I can visit every few months and come away with a great new book.
- Findings on lists from sites like https://shepherd.com and https://fivebooks.com
- Bibliographies in books I’m currently reading
- Knowledge of books I’ve never forgotten I want to read, years/decades later…
Plus I know I’ll receive random book recommendations from friends and family over the years or suddenly want to read up on a subject due to the news, job change, etc.
For cataloging owned and read books, this topic helped me a lot. I was really pleased with the suggestions, corrections and commentary from you all.