I haven't had time to write recently because I have been (and still am!) obsessed with this new LibraryThing. I noticed that lots of my favourite blogs have links to their libraries and decided that I would try it, just for fun. The problem is that once you start adding your books , you just can't stop! There should be a health warning. I started on Friday and have spent every spare minute since then, plus some minutes that were definitely not spare, entering details of the books on my shelves.
I started with the books on my bedside table and the bookcase outside on the landing; being my bedtime reading this was all fiction. I couldn't have visitors thinking I was just a lightweight reader, could I? So, I had to grab a few books from the non-fiction and classics shelves to give my list a little gravitas.
When adding books to my list, I found I had the option to look at Suggestions. That was a big mistake. People who have the same books as me in their library also have ........ Well, I haven't finished yet, have I? I've only been at it for a couple of days, of course I've got all those too, you think I'm not up with the well-read?! I'll just have to spend more time punching in the ISBNs.
You are welcome to visit my library but please remember that I am new to this and I have far more books to add. This is worse than comparing visitor stats! I am a nervous wreck. I must get back to adding books to my list. Please start your own list, that will keep you busy until I've finished mine.
M - I DO sympathise 100%.
ReplyDeleteIntrigued by other people's blogside bookshelves, I started a 'library' of my own and began adding books and it took ages (especially wondering which edition of those available to add if the ACTUAL edition I own is not available as a link - wrestling with this took up many more minutes and hours) and then I realised how VERY MUCH time it was going to take to do justice to my collection and I couldn't possibly release my 'library' until it was far more complete or else, well, whatever would people think?! horrors!, and so I added some more and that took up more time . . . and a few more . . . and . . . and . . . I started hyperventilating and . . . then luckily Christmas was upon me and I was forced to stop. I haven't yet gone back to it.
In fact, as traumatic episodes in one's life sometimes do, it had gone clean out of my mind until just now! I'm probably just 'in denial'.
I can feel another attack coming on now, though, having read this post . . . I think I'd better have a lie down in a darkened room and hope it passes.
It is really VERY wrong of you to encourage others to follow you down this road to nervous wreckage. First it's drinking Bailey's before December (and in broad daylight, too), and now this. Do you have no sense of resonsibility towards your younger and more impressionable readers, M???
As you are one of those responsible for my addiction, Juliet, I feel no remorse whatsoever!
ReplyDeleteHmm, as I spent many years in my younger days working in libraries, I've rather resisted the blog library thing. This way madness lies, I thought, having whiled away hours in places like London University's periodicals book stacks (where the light of day was never permitted). I sometimes wondered . . . if I never came down, would anyone notice that I had gone?
ReplyDeleteBut, like M, I've noticed blog libraries cropping up everywhere. And have pondered.
So, what to do? Maybe a selection from all the different categories on the personal bookshelves? A taster? I can feel an inward groan coming on; even that would take forever. My life might feel as if it had come full circle and I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that just yet. But you never know . . . I might be tempted.
Will your determination hold, D? I watch with interest, nay, I feel I can afford bated breath!
ReplyDeleteThe picture of your books (and the picture of book covers on the Library Thing website) look like a patchwork quilt with all the different shapes and colors. Printing out the covers and making a collage out of them would make a great wall hanging.
ReplyDeleteDoing an inventory so you know what's on your shelves makes sense, not that I had the sense to do it, but unless the aim is to trade titles, I confess to not understanding the point of publishing it.
That's a good idea for a literary quilt to go alongside the little pigs, e!
ReplyDeleteI find other people's bookshelves fascinating. They give an insight into people's lives, interests and tastes. They can also inspire me to read books I might not otherwise consider or even know about.
My comment was that book covers all in a row "looked like" a patchwork quilt and that pictures of colorful book covers could make a nice collage for hanging on a wall.
ReplyDeleteI am in no way capable of producing the kind of patchwork quilting that would translate book covers into such a work of art.
Wishful thinking on my part, e. If you could do the design, I might be able to follow it. (Just teasing!) Mind, you have some pretty impressive quilts on your blog.
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