I moved from Librarything to Goodreads. It's for the best, really. I just found out that if you add more than 200 books on Librarything you have to pay. I don't want to pay to add books to a virtual library. Goodreads lets you add an unlimited number of books, and you have the option of dividing books into categories (read, currently reading, to-read and more you can customize yourself). Also, they have a never ending book quiz which is dangerous for me. Because, well, it's never ending. Infinitely answering questions about an infinite number of books? I am addicted. And I never realized how much I knew about Shakespeare....did I even read The Tempest? *shrugs* Do I remember Mr. Darcy's first name? I guess so. Can I name the three Deathly Hallows? Yes. Can I make educated guesses on books I've never read? Yup.
I've already finished two books for the Summer Reading Program. I think it's time to start a non-fiction streak for a change. History of Los Angeles or...Michael Pollan's books.
The hard part for me is writing reviews. I don't feel like my opinion is doing the book any good (or bad): "This book was good," or "I liked the story but the writing was just normal," or "The author used a lot of pretty words and phrases," or "I liked his run-on sentences that go on for pages and his thousands of footnotes." My reviews say more about me than they do about the book I read. Or is that the point..? I want to make huge sweeping statements like the ones you read on the inside covers. "With this book the author has made a singular and permanent impact upon modern literature that is sure to reverberate through multiple dimensions of space and time!!"
It's the same with rating books with stars. Even on Goodreads I keep changing the amount of stars for the books I've read because my view of them changes whenever my perspective changes. If I give a children's book five stars and a study on post colonial psychology four stars will people think I liked the children's book better? Because that's not what I necessarily mean!
Well, the story wasn't that interesting, but it's a picture book and the pictures were adorable so a million stars for effort....This book is a classic but it made me want to stab my eyes with pins and run through the streets a bloody horrifying mess....one or two less stars? This book was so beautifully written that I suffered from Stendhal syndrome that lasted five days and six hours, so I give it 5.25 stars, one star for each day spent hallucinating from sheer literary beauty. How about I give this book one star but two circles? Maybe I'm over-thinking again.
Anyway, add me on Goodreads, so I can bug you with silly messages and book suggestions that you'll probably just ignore.
To come: a rant on those liquid soap dispensers that turn your liquid soap into foam when you pump them!
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4 comments:
I am on both, but I refuse to leave LibraryThing for the time being. I don't know what I'll do when I reach 200. Kill myself? Suck it up? I'm so used to LibraryThing, I almost get overwhelmed by how much there is to do on Good Reads. Do they let you sort your books like LT? Last time I tried it I think I failed miserably and just got frustrated b/c the order seemed so random. My librarian senses were not pleased.
I can't seem to find you on there to add... Help?
www.goodreads.com/anythingwithcats!
You can add your books to customized shelves. I made shelves for books on food, philosophy, 398 and myth, etc. It took a while for the custom shelves to register on the site but it worked out. Also, at the bottom of your lists there's a lot of sorting options available, that way it doesn't seem so random.
That should help ease your librarian sense of order a little :)
But I like soap that turns to foam.
I like soap that turns to foam too! But when I buy those special soap dispensers that foams for me, I feel 1) lazy that I can't lather soap by myself, and 2) cheated because the soap in those dispensers is mostly water anyway.
It's a clever gimmick though. I fall for it every time.
I'll keep those soap dispensers and just keep filling them with liquid soap that I can buy by the gallon and mix it with water! Yes, I'm cheap ;)
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