Reading...it's a social thing

What's the first thing you do when you finish a great book? Do you pass it along to a friend, bring it back to the library or place it on your overcrowded book shelf at home? Now there is a new way to share your enthusiasm for your most recent read. Similar to Facebook is a site called Goodreads (www.goodreads.com) a social network for bibliophiles. You can write a review, create a book shelf with titles you want to read or see what's new in the publishing world. You can rate books you have read with a star system from 1 to 5. You can get lists of books by genre and topic. You can look at the shelves of others and find what they suggest reading. At the end of 2011, the Goodreads website had 6,700,000 members, by the end of 2012 that number had jumped to 10 million!

If you are a Facebook user you will love the easy to use format of Goodreads. If you are a blogger or have your own website you can use a widget to show your readers what's on your book shelves at Goodreads. You can join groups of other readers who have your same interests in every genre and niche imaginable, from manga to werewolves there's a spot for every type of reader.

Goodreads is free! They even have an app for that and it's free too. So you can use your smartphone or tablet to scan barcodes from the books you are interested in next time you visit the library or bookstore and they will be saved on your Goodreads bookshelf.

One thing to note is that like Facebook, you have to be at least 13 or older to join. If you are a social media user you can let Goodreads check for friends that are also using Goodreads.

Michele Schumann
Children's Librarian

American Sniper

New today at the library and currently #5 on the New York Times Best Seller List, here is a review of American Sniper from GoodReads.Com http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11887020-american-sniper


American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

byChris Kyle, Scott Mcewen, Jim DeFelice

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History3.84

 

Gripping, eye-opening, and powerful, American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon. Kyle shares the true story of his ext...moreGripping, eye-opening, and powerful, American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon. Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade-long career, including his multiple combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and elsewhere from 1999-2009. Kyle's riveting first-person account of how he went from Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin offers a fascinating view of modern-day warfare and one of the most in-depth and illuminating looks into the secret world of Special Ops ever written.

Personal Library Accounts

I know we've touched on this before, but how many library patrons are taking advantage of the ability to have access to their library account at home? You wonder what fun is that or what good will it do you. The thing I love, is the ability to add books to a wish list. I just don't have time to read all the books I want to. I can't put them all on hold when I see one I like, because they'll all come in just when I'm not ready. With your account, you can make any type of list you want - a "to read list" or a list of ones you've already read so you can remember and not get them again. All you have to do to get access to your account, is to ask the next time you are in at the library and we'll set you up. Come prepared with a user name and password.

You can also sign up for another site called LibraryThing any time you want from home. This site lets you keep track of what you have read, want to read, or invite friends to join and see what they are reading too. It will even help you catalog your own book collection! You can find that function on our homepage -then the library catalog and under "find a book" and then "Brigham City Reads - Online book discussion". I also use "GoodReads" which is the same type of site.

Is anyone out there reading our blog? How about commenting with the name of a book you are reading right now or one you thought was good? I'm reading "The Shack" by William P. Young and I'm not sure about it but I know lots of people who loved it - what about you?

Susan