LibraryThing

Late to the party on yet another one. Yep, I've known about LibraryThing for a long time. Yep, people I know and respect, including my library co-workers, use it enthusiastically. Yep, it was yet another thing I never got around to trying, until now (Thing 11).

Well, now I've tried it. I added 10 books in a matter of seconds. Slick!

If I can add a few books from our extensive personal library a little at a time, perhaps we can stop buying duplicates. I'm going to need the paid lifetime subscription to LibraryThing.

You see, my husband and I are addicts....to books. The only way I can avoid overindulgence is staying away from bookstores, cold turkey. One might think that Amazon would be online crack for me, but Amazon is my utilitarian version of a bookstore; I am less likely to overindulge because I usually am seeking something in particular. But in a brick-and-mortar bookstore, I am swept away by the entire sensory experience of browsing: gazing upon tall shelves of beautiful and colorful covers, floating on the scent of new paper and coffee, feeling the smoothness of the pages and hearing them crackle ever so gently as a book is opened for the first time. I love the aesthetics of books as much as (sometimes more than, if it is a truly beautiful book) the content. Put me in the classics section of Borders and I will walk out with a big bag of books and a huge dent in my credit card.

My husband is more likely to fall off the wagon in Half Price Books, as he always entertains the notion that he'll find an overlooked first edition by a hailed author buried among the cast-offs of others. In that store, my strategy for virtuousness is restricting myself to the children's section, where I figure my inevitable purchases are, at least, benefitting our household youth. (Truth be told, the kids' books I buy are really for me. My latest overindulgence: The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I read the kids one of the stories. Really.)

I'm going to mull over using LibraryThing professionally. It certainly is cool for personal use.


Technorati tags: learning 2.0, 23 things, book addiction