Book Addicts Get Help at LibraryThing
My name is JamaGenie and I'm a book addict. There. I've said it out loud. I'm on the way to recovery, right? Wrong. Unlike alcohol and drugs, recovery by abstention is not the goal for a book addict. The goal is to find a way to organize the "drugs" that feed the addiction. A site called LibraryThing helped me attain that goal.
I'd quit Book-of-the-Month years ago and successfully avoided joining similar book-by-mail clubs that send books I didn't order (or didn't know I wanted until they arrived).
But I have other, less expensive ways to feed my addiction to books.
For simply something new to read, I'd visit the local Goodwill. Paperbacks, 50 cents; hardbacks, $1. Then the public library's gift shop began selling used hardbacks (mostly former best-sellers) for a song.
Four hardbound books - former best-sellers to boot! - for a dollar!
Be still my heart!
For specific titles, I go to Amazon.com for used copies. The seller's price may be only a few pennies, but shipping adds almost $4.00. Meaning I only go this route for books I have to own right now...allowing for shipping time, of course. Other books I'd like to own, but not right now, go on my Wish List.
No surprise then that one way or another, books find their way into my little abode.
And pile up.
Berlin's sculpture of a stack of books by German authors.
That used to mean "piled on any flat surface". On the nightstand...on chairs...even on the floor. Anywhere but in the one and only bookcase I possessed because it was too small to hold them all.
Never mind 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 LibraryThing, 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 bar code on the back of the book). 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.
In the name of fairness, I should mention LibraryThing is only one of several sites for cataloging one's personal library. Safari is another.
UPDATE:
I'm no longer in that 3rd-floor flat, but in an even tinier abode in another state. And I'm back to one (medium-size) bookcase. Two 6-ft-tall bookcases I bought after I first wrote this hub were lost in the moving.
And how does one "lose" two taller-than-I-am bookcases, you ask?
Well, it's not rocket science that it won't take long for 6-ft-tall bookcases to disintegrate if they're unsecured and standing upright on an open, flatbed trailer going down the interstate at 70 mph. Mine were pretty much matchsticks before my otherwise-intelligent son and his helper had even gone 20 miles.
The cell call from my son advising me of that event went like this:
Ring...
Me: "Hello"
Otherwise-Intelligent Son: "Mom, we lost the bookcases".
Me: "What do you mean 'we lost the bookcases'?".
OIS: "I mean...they...disintegrated...in the wind. The pieces just flew out of the trailer".
(See Mom hit "End call" button...)
Ring, ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...
I pick up but say nothing.
OIS: "Did you just hang up on me?".
ME: "I did. You lost the bookcases." Click.
I can think of any number of items, that because of their size or weight, had a far likelier chance of sailing out of that trailer. But 6-ft-tall bookcases? NO.
It takes a special talent...or a total lack of common sense...to load them in such a way that they could fly apart on the open road! I'm only thankful the pieces didn't hit another vehicle. Son wasn't kidding when he said they disintegrated... I never saw a single piece of bookcase along the side of the road when I went the same route an hour later.
But enough whining already.
Although my new abode has a tiny alcove where The Bookcases would've fit "like a glove", Necessity, the Mother of Thinking Outside The Box, introduced an alternative to stacking books on the floor. The large wicker baskets I've been collecting for years will hold a couple dozen paperback books or a dozen hardbacks! Two baskets hide under the end tables next to the sofa, and three look quite attractive in an out-of-the-way corner.
That's what I call "thinking outside the box"...uh, the bookcase.
Comments
So sorry about your bookcases being smashed to pieces. Hopefully like mulch they will nourish the earth so that it is not a total loss. We used to have books stashed everywhere...in closets, under our beds, in cabinets. and of course bookcases.
Years ago I decided that my collection was getting out of hand and I started rereading some of them and then giving them away to friends, libraries, charity gift shops, etc. I had books from family members several generations old. I have kept some obviously but along with other items have started culling things.
I have also developed allergies late in life and figure that less items to collect dust is probably a good thing.
Up votes and sharing.
Loved this hub! You have given me an excellent idea for acquiring more books. Your opening lines are wonderful. It not only gave me a chuckle, but "connected me" to your article right away. Fantastic writing and I can hardly wait to read more by you. Thanks, JamaGenee.
I'd *never* give up my bio of Samuel Johnson. (;-)
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?
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!
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.
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.)
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!
Thanks for this - I'm going to check this out. I used to be pretty active on Shelfari - till hubpages came along :)
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
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.
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?
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
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
Great hub! How interesting, I checked it out and will have to think seriously about it.
Anything that motivates organization sounds good to me. I will have to check this site out.
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:-)
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!
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