Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Reading...it does a body good

Recently I have been acquainting myself with GoodReads.  If you are not familiar with it, this site is for people who love to read.  

When I was first introduced to it I thought, "Oh, no.  Not another networking site."  But this weekend I spent some time going through it and was pleasantly surprised.  Yes it is another networking site, but this one connects me directly with peeps who like to read the sames types of titles I do.  Plus through some fancy footwork I stumbled across some stories I now want to go back and re-read.  And it allows me to keep track of what I have read and when.

Here's my question.  Am I supposed to log in every book?  Because I've gotta tell you that could take a long, long, looooooong time.  I am a book slut.  If I were a homeless person my sign would say, "Will work for books."  Okay, I'm not proud, I would work for money, but it would all go to books.  I can't imagine a world without them.  

Of course I used to be a proponent of only the written word and not the digital one.  I clearly remember when the Kindle first came out.  I scoffed at the idea of an e-reader.  Puh-leeze.  No way was I giving up my beloved books.  The feel, the smell of the paper, the sound of a new spine when it was opened for the first time.  For me these things were almost orgasmic.  I said ALMOST.

But then something funny happened.  I got a Kindle as a gift. 

It was one of those unfortunate situations you find yourself in when you are presented with something you swore-on a stack of books no less-that you would never own.  I would not be drawn to the dark side.  Along with the kindle itself I was also presented with a prepacked amazon gift card.  Enough to get me started.  That was what the devil said, "Enough to get you started."  No, the devil didn't give me the gift, but he was the hand that orchestrated my downfall.  Of this I am sure.

So there I was, practically forced to the computer so I could register my new device and purchase the first of many, many, many, and I mean many, e-books.  It was like a drug. 

One that I now have no intention of ever giving up.  Not only does my kindle take up less space, but I can actually see the words without squinting or using my glasses.  But that wasn't the most important thing to me.  I travel a lot.  And when I did I carried books in my overnight bag.  Packed in my suitcase, even in my purse.  Inevitably I would stop in a bookstore no matter where I was because I knew I didn't have enough to get me home.  Ergo, the drug reference.  Once I got my Kindle up and running, I realized I could take books with me wherever I went and they took up less space than my day-timer.  Don't worry, I finally went digital with that too.  

I swear I had a point when I started this rambling.  Oh, yeah, I know. Do I seriously have to go back and enter every book I have ever read into this website?  It could take years.  Literally.

Are you on GoodReads?  If so come and find me so we can be friends.  I want to see what you're reading.


2 comments:

abby mumford said...

i haven't been bitten by the goodreads bug, though i do have an account. it seems like a lot of work because my perfectionist side wants to catalog EVERYTHING i've read and that's just not possible.

i have an app on my droid phone that i think is linked to goodreads, but i used it as my TBR list. that's about the extent of my online book stuff....

also, i don't have a kindle or a nook or any other type of ereader. i, like you started out, don't think i want one. i have read books on the kindle and i just can't get used to the digital format...., but then again, if santa was to give me this year, i wouldn't return it.

Jeffe Kennedy said...

I got on about a year or so ago - and I just cataloged going forward. I add books as I start reading them. And you already friended me!