Saturday, April 12, 2008


As of right now (10:52 am), I have entered 236 books into my library at LibraryThing. I've worked on this project for the past two days, and it has led me to some disconcerting realizations:

1. I have a freakishly large number of Cliffs Notes/ Monarch Notes/ Spark Notes. I don't recall buying most of them, and some of these books are not even for classics I had to read for school. I'm starting to think that these books multiply (like bunnies) when I'm not at home.

2. I seriously need to read more fiction. Out of the books I've entered, only 25 of them are fictional. What's more, most of these 25 are either classics or are children's literature/ young adult literature I'm reading for school.

3. Due to my rather eclectic collection of books, the recommendations I get from LibraryThing are not always the most helpful (or accurate). For instance, LibraryThing has recommended that I read more Cliffs Notes. I know that this isn't LibraryThing's fault - it only knows that I tell it. However, this makes me think I should expand my horizons. (My BookMooch recommendations are similarly screwy - since I mooched a Gossip Girl book [it was for a research project - stop making fun of me!], it now suggests that I need every Gossip Girl book ever published).

I'm not done entering books, so it is possible (if not probable) that my reading situation will not be so bleak after all. Unfortunately, I think I have another stash of Cliffs Notes to enter.


Roger Stevens said...

yes, you do need to read more fiction.

I wonder how many of your books are poetry?

Anonymous said...

Good question Roger! I actually have quite a bit of poetry. Although they are labeled using different tags (since some are single poet collections and others are anthologies), I have over 50 books of poetry.

The other things I realized as I was reviewing my books is that I didn't label things like poetry, plays, or folklore as fiction. Since I used to work at a bookstore, I tend to inadvertently default to their system of categorizing things.