Yeah, like writer Anne Fadiman, I am a confessed bibliophile. But I'm also a word-nerd, a bookshop loiterer, and a page prowler. And I'm a peeping-tom of others' libraries. At cocktail parties I can be found near the bookshelves half-listening to a conversation that apparently involves me while I nod occasionally and scan the titles before me.
So leave it to the internet to create something just up my alley. Library Thing is just that thing. An online book catalogue for my books. I list all my books and compare libraries with other users and find, weirdly enough, libraries that match my own in spooky detail. But there is a lot of other cool stuff (read: distractions from real work) on this site you should check out.
Because all my books are boxed up and waiting for our move in 48 hours, I could only catalogue a teeny percentage of my library (from memory), but what I have is there: 200 books (which are free to catalogue, and after that, ten bucks for a lifetime membership).
Added bonus: because I have never arranged my books alphabetically (I, know, not very bibliphilic of me), but thematically or by genre (e.g. environmental literature/memoir/literary fiction/history/western american literature/anthologies, etc), this will enable to unbox my library, and arrange them in an intelligible manner once and for all.
I'm excited.
Because I'm that much of a geek.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
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4 comments:
No way! This seems right up my alley as well, for the same reasons as you mention.
(And I'm all those things, too. Most days I prefer the company of a good book to anything or anybody else.)
Now if you'll pardon me, I've got a library to catalogue.
C'mon, Mateo, this kind of time killer is right up your alley.
(And mine, of course.)
You win. :)
You should check this out, too:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/
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