How LibraryThing Changed My Life!
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I love love love books. If it has a cover and text, I'll read it. I no longer belong to the Book-of-the-Month, or any other club that sends books I didn't order and didn't even know I wanted until they arrived. But I have other, less expensive ways to feed this addiction.
For just something new to read, I'd visit the local Goodwill store - paperbacks 50 cents, hardbacks $1. But that was before our public library's gift shop began selling used hardbacks (mostly former best-sellers) for a song. Four books for a dollar! Bestill my heart!
For specific titles, I go to Amazon.com and look for a used copy. The price may be as little as a few pennies, but shipping adds several dollars, so this is only for books I have to have right now (allowing for shipping time, of course). Otherwise, they go on my Wish List.
But one way or another, books find a way into my little abode. And pile up. Until a few days ago, that meant on any flat surface. On the nightstand, on chairs, even on the floor. Anywhere but in the one and only bookcase I possessed, because they wouldn't all fit. Never mind a month ago I'd been gifted with a second (smaller) bookcase, which for no good reason other than laziness - is laziness ever a good reason? - sat upside down and empty in the foyer where it landed after I'd hauled it up three flights from the car.
Then I came across a site called LibraryThing.com which allows a person to catalogue - free - up to 200 books (more for a fee) in his/her personal library, and also to connect with others who own the same titles. After registering, you go to "Add Book", type in a title (in quotes) or author (in quotes), or the ISBN number (usually found above the barcode on the back). LT then searches the Library of Congress or Amazon.com (your choice, but naturally Amazon works best for me). In seconds, the title and a thumbnail of the cover appears, then you simply click on the title to add it to "My Library". It couldn't be easier!
You can add a personal comment (different from a review) for each book, such as how you came by it, what you think of it, or if you found it to be less that the title promised, whatever might deter others from spending hard-earned cash or precious reading time on it. But you can also write formal reviews on your books, or on books listed by others. There's also an option to review books not yet released.
I'd been wanting to compile a list of the tomes I call my "British Library", so those were the ones I entered. (Click here to peruse JamaGenie's British Library.)
After adding each stack of books to LT, I put them in the new bookcase...in the living room where it belongs! For the first time ever, my British library is in one place. What a concept! If not for having to gather them up to enter in LibraryThing, they'd still be stacked, willy-nilly, all over the place. LT was the kick-in-the-pants I needed to take control of my books.
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Hi Jama-- I don't know if Library Thing will ever be my thing, but I love the way you describe it. I love books too, but they seem to float in and out of my life--people give them to me--I give mine to other people and they seem to flow in and out like a river. I have one friend with whom I exchange mysteries and another who lends me self help books and of course I belong to a book club and even my gym has a great lending library. What passes for my library is always in flux--don't think I could catalog it even if I wanted to. I admire your perserverance and organizational ability:-)
Anything that motivates organization sounds good to me. I will have to check this site out.
Great hub! How interesting, I checked it out and will have to think seriously about it.
I'll give it a look for i am starting to feel that I;m being disrespectful to my books! I used to love to hunt for them in BookSale - a chain of stores that sell pre-owned books and i cant even begin to describe the wonder of finding finds! Thanks for sharing - i'll check it out the first chance i get :D
I have been a member of LibraryThing for more than a year and also love it! Maybe we should connect there? My moniker there is the same as on HubPages.
Thanks for the great Hub.
Love and peace,
Tony
Tony, thanks for the kudo! Can't imagine how I missed such a wonderful site until now. I'll be checking out your library, but if you look at mine, please remember it's only books with a Brit connection. I haven't added the non-Brit biographies, mysteries and such.
JamaGenee, thanks for this very informative hub. Does it work for books in languages with non-latin scripts?
I have a lot of books in Hebrew and some in Chinese. From my grandfather's library, I also inherited books that I can't read: in Persian and Greek. Can LibraryThing help to identify some of those books?
Aya Katz, I checked LT's Help pages and could only find International LibraryThing is available to non-English-speaking members. Meaning your page would come up in whatever language you speak, which is not the solution to your dilemma. However, there are translators available, but I couldn't quite determine how this works. I suggest you go to LT's main page at http://www.librarything.com/, scroll to the bottom and click on "CONTACT US". Of the several email addresses shown, Anna (at the top of the list) and Tim Spalding (at the bottom) would be the ones who can answer your questions. Sorry I couldn't be more help. Good luck!
Too much work for me. I have well over 200 books in my library with seceret compartments and all. I must put in a few more shelves though, or make guest room into another library. Hmmm, not a bad idea. No more overnight guests. Good info though and good hub.
I love this idea! I am going to check it out. Great hub on the librarything.... I too have many books and not enough time to read them. Gee, maybe I should log off the computer a bit more often. Cheers, Steph
Thanks, C. C. I vote for the guest room becoming the Library (with a capital L)! Who needs a room for guests anyway. They should know there's a reason Motel 6 leaves the light on for 'em. :)
Hi, Steph! Glad you liked hub. You might also be glad to know that, in "Edit" for a particular book, there's a place to click "Intend to read". Haven't tried it for any of mine yet, but assume there's a way to pull up the "Intend" list. As for reading vs logging off the computer, I take a book to work and read during lunch - only because no computers are available to log onto, or I *would*. :)
Thanks for this - I'm going to check this out. I used to be pretty active on Shelfari - till hubpages came along :)
Very cool. I can't quite wrap my head around combining "real" books with internet, but that's just a sign of my age. As it is, it was a big day in my life when we finally moved the wall sized pile of books onto shelves. As stated above, books do deserve respect!
Hi, MM! I can appreciate what a Big Day it was, putting all your books on shelves! Hurray for you! I'm still working on getting mine in one place. Would probably help if I didn't keep bringing more home! lol!
This is probably the first Hub that has made me look for pen and paper! I am hoping to put aside time next week to research LibraryThing. It sounds really useful and also entertaining. Maybe I'll find you there!. Thanks for the info.
(I suspect that even when I find it I will have books piled up on my bedroom floor.)
2patricias, besides LibraryThing, be sure to check out Shelfari, which Shalini mentions above. It looks equally interesting! As far as the books piled up on the bedroom floor, don't know what to tell you. I can attest that having "enough" bookcases is some sort of trigger to bring home more...which, naturally, end up piled on the floor until you get *another* book case. lol! LibraryThing and Shelfari are simply a convenient way to catalog them (think your own online card file), and to connect with others who have the same interests and tastes in reading material.
JG, I love books too. A few months back I was horrified to find my treasured tattered hundred plus year old 'The Works of Edgar Allan Poe' almost obliterated by one of my pups. I thought I would die. I had been reading it and left it on an end table, down low. The pup found it and it was all over the floor! I saved what is left, but it has the really good stuff missing. I will keep looking for a replacement.
Oooo I had't heard of LibraryThing! Now I must look into it,! I'm already part of Shelfari and bookmooch. You should deffinately check out bookmooch.com if you have books you just don't want anymore. You list them there and when someone wants them you send them out to them and in return you get a point with which to get a book you do want from someone else. It's awesome... Anyway thanks for the interesting hub!
Thanks, Theophanes, for the tip about bookmooch. I'll definitely check it out! I tried Shelfari, but didn't like it as much as LibraryThing. Not that it isn't a good site, just less to my liking than LT.
Let me tell you one great thing about LibraryThing. When you want to send a gift to someone, if they've listed there you won't send duplicates. Neat, huh?
Never thought of it like that, but yes, it is a way to avoid dupe gifts. btw, I haven't added the bio of Samuel Johnson that I got the other day. ;D
I'd *never* give up my bio of Samuel Johnson. (;-)
Yes, I was quite thrilled to find it in the lib's used bookshop for $1!
Sally's Trove says:
12 months ago
Having come from the world of Dewey, I am still working in decimal. I had to read your Hub three times to figure out how your method might work for me. This is not a fault of your writing, it's a fault of my comprehension.
So far, no one has gifted me with an empty bookcase (woe is me), so things are going to remain piled up here for a long time.
I never thought of organizing my books in a database in my computer. Maybe I need to get with the times. (Except that I would exceed the 200 limit in about 30 seconds.) And then, what do you do about the books you've loaned to your friends? Anyway...
...going now to check out librarything.
Love your writing and your outlook!