My New Addiction: The Marvels and Joys of LibraryThing

Hello~

You want to see what I read, don't you? Of course you do!

And you want to know basically every book in my personal library, and see them categorized and alphabetized by title and by author?

And you want to know what books are on my Wish List, so you can plan ahead for birthdays and Christmas?

And you want to know what books I don't have via the Search option, so you can surprise me with a book you think I'd like?

And you want to share the same with me?

Wait no longer, but go straight to LibraryThing! Or, to my account directly.

I have waited for YEARS for something like Librarything. I don't know about you, but sometimes I buy books that I don't intend to read again anytime soon, just for reference. If the book isn't on my shelf, I will have completely MADDENING times where I try to recall exactly where I came across X piece of vital or fascinating information. If I want to completely remember a book, I need to buy it.

And how do I remember which books I own, when I come across a nice second-hand copy of a book I want? Perhaps other people can remember easily if the copy they read last was theirs or from the public library--but not me.

Also, I have always been afraid of losing my books in a fire or through some other catastrophe and not being able to remember titles or authors so I can find them again. When I left for college I had exhaustively typed up and printed a list of all my books, which of course took hours of typing and walking back and forth between the bookshelf and the computer, only to find that not only was the list quickly out of date, but the technology was as well--who uses floppy disks anymore? Who can find their old ones? Are they still readable? Can you find a computer that can read the program you used? Also, where was I going to store this disk so it wasn't damaged in said catastrophe, a safe deposit box? And reorganizing it, whether by author or title or category, was a total pain.

Now, too, I can easily add a note to a book I own whenever I lend it out--if I wonder where it is, I can go check the tags I have assigned to it, such as "Lent To Marisa".

So I have a lifetime Librarything account. The first 200 books are free, and a lifetime membership is only $25. Or you can try it out yearly for $10.

Books are incredibly easy to add--it's like a Google search: you just put in a few keywords and titles pop right up. If you like it simple and direct, it's that easy. If you enjoy tinkering around, or pottering, or whatever, you can make the book cover they show match the cover of the copy you own, or add complicated overlapping categories, or look at other people's book reviews or collections.

If you read, and you know me, you should start a Librarything account, too. I want to be inspired by what you are reading. I want to know what books I can get you for Christmas. I want you to be able to replace your library after a flood or monsoon.

Or go look at MY library. Look at my book categories, or the authors in my collection, or my overall collection. Laugh at my nostalgic kick, the biggest category in my library. Based on my favorite books, see which books I'd be least likely to own--or most likely, if you are not of a contrarian state of mind. Or look at the collections of other people who share a lot of books in common with me.

You know, this probably sounds incredibly pretentious, or nauseatingly whimsical--but one of my favorite things about Librarything is that I can add in books that I plan to read [I always mark them as 'Not Read' until I get to them], or that I love and don't yet own: I think of it as my 'spiritual library', though I suppose 'virtual library' might be more accurate--certainly more pragmatic.

So take a look, and tell me what you think.