Member: jeffreyholst

CollectionsBooks I have read (505), Currently reading (1), All collections (506)

ReviewsNone

Tagspre list (385), *** (219), 2011 (40), 2010 (38), 2012 (31), Audio (28), 2009 (21), prelist (16), 2013 (15), 2002 (9) — see all tags

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About meI am attempting to create a list of all the books I have ever read. This will probally take awhile. I doubt it will be of much interest to anyone other than Thegreattim.

So I started this list one year ago today. I am sure that there are many "pre list" books that I have not listed, in fact I am sure there are books I have read that I will never remember, however I find this list surprisingly useful and rewarding for me. I will definitely continue for the foreseeable future.

About my libraryI began this process on 12-14-09. Any book I finished before that date will be tagged "pre list" It may be further tagged to a specific year if I have reason to believe that I can pinpoint it to that year however all pre 2009 years should be suspect as these tags are based on my memory. I may also tag a book to a category, such as "Travel" or "Finance" These should be self explanatory. And finally I have tagged my favorite work by a particular author with "***". One side note all WSMP tags represent books read by me that are published by West Michigan Signature Publishing my personal publishing company. All titles are available on Amazon.com Check them out.

I have further determined to use thegreattim's rules as a basis for determining whether to count a book or not. See his site (thegreattimsbooklist) for more details. After some thought I have modified rule three. In summary the rules for my list are:

1. The book has to have more space dedicated to words than pictures. (Occasionally subject to debate) (If it does have a lot of pics, text alone should be in the range of 100 pages)

2. I have to remember major plot points of these books (if I am unsure, I do not list it)

3. For some books, (ie for serials, anthologies, or compilations) how to count them is essentially a judgment call on my part. In a concept I am borrowing from my law background I will attempt to discern what a "reasonable man" or in this case the "average reader" would decide when faced with the question of how to count it.

For example, "The Green Mile" by Stephen King, was published originally in serial format. The question is "is this one book or six?" I will count it as one because regardless of whether I read it in six parts or not, the average reader would in my opinion consider this as one book. In making a determination such as this I consider a number of factors such as, Is it really one story? Or is it many separate stories? Does it stand alone? If standing alone would it meet the other criteria? (for example a ten page story would not meet rule four) If I had no prior exposure to it would I consider it a book?

As I am sure you can imagine this list is neither exclusive nor does every question apply equally to each work, as I said it is essentially a judgment call. In sum, I use the "reasonable man" or "average reader" standard to determine whether and how to count a given work.

4. Short stories don't count unless published in a collection. Then they count as one. For a novella to count in should be in the neighborhood of 100 pages.

5. As long as they are unabridged, audio books will count as well. This includes books podcasted serially, but not short-form podcasts; only complete novels. Well, pretty much the same rules as above, but for audio (3+ hours for shorter works would qualify)

In the end all above rules are just guidelines and the "average reader" standard as applied by me determines how to count a particular work.

GroupsKing's Dear Constant Readers

Favorite authorsPeter Jenkins, Stephen King (Shared favorites)

Real nameJeffrey Holst

LocationChattanooga, TN

Account typepublic, lifetime

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/jeffreyholst (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jeffreyholst (library)

Member sinceDec 14, 2009

Currently readingChina Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford