Can I Catalog My Book Sites? (MToaS 35)

Okay, first off, I love Library Thing. It's so cool, and I've discovered some great reads there by following the keyword links into other collections. It's one of my favorite Things from the first 23 Things session.

And now, I discover all these new ones! Just as cool. And, as always, it's just nice to realize that there are oodles of us who get so excited about books. About stories. Such things inspire me.

I love the idea of Reading Trails, but was disappointed to find none of my last four favorite books read. Not one. Not sure if this says more about Reading Trails (its number of users of just the type) or me! In contrast, Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan has 118 other readers on Library Thing. So, while I like the idea of Reading Trails, I think I'll stick with Library Thing for now. (BTW: Phenomenal book!)

It is great fun to discover new books by finding out what folks who loved the book you read have also read. That's what makes Library Thing so useful (aside from the cataloging function) and Reading Trails seems to do that same thing in a slightly different way. I finally did find a trail to follow, through Gaiman's Graveyard Book (loved that one, too). That led me to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which only had 6 intersections. That makes me wonder just how much the site is used.

I am most pleased with the Readers Advisory sites. RA is a challenge for me. I have had some great RA days, making parents and kids very happy with my knowledge of juvenile and YA fantasy ("What? You haven't tried The Last Apprentice series yet? What are you waiting for? Oh, you must, it is SO GOOD!!") I'm good at international fiction as well ("Finding Nouf, by Zoe Ferraris, is a stunning work with great insights into Saudi Arabian gender, class, and tribal distinctions. Brilliant!")

But when a patron tells me she's read all the books by Nora Roberts and wants to know where to look next, I have to rely on what I see my other patrons reading. I've checked out, checked in, shelved and relocated numerous books by Nora Roberts (as NR or as JD Robb), but I've yet to read a single word she's written. I appreciate any site that helps me find new authors for patrons to try.

I've been using What's Next for a few years. In fact, when an update to our staff website resulted in a broken link to What's Next, I must admit to sending a semi-hysterical e-mail to our IT staff. They fixed it quickly, as always. But this site is so good and useful for figuring out what book is next in a series. It's especially useful with authors like WEB Griffin who are simultaneously writing two or three series, so you can't rely on publication dates to figure out which books go with which series.

I will be bookmarking What Should I Read Next and BookStumpers. These look like really great and useful sites. BookStumpers was very fun to browse, if only for the queries by readers: they show such passion, nostalgia and general fondness for the written word. Really fun to get to share that.

Thanks MToaS team!

***

Pic Credits: "Graffiti Bridge" at www.flickr.com/photos/49503087439@N01/105087819