For the Love of Books: Social Networking for Bookworms
Up until age 25 I always thought I wasn’t really into books. I read the books I was required to read for school and that was about it. At 25, things changed, perhaps it was a quarterlife crisis or becoming single again but for some reason I discovered that I really am a book person.
Now, I’m not a typical girl when it comes to my book interests. I am a non-fiction, business and development book kinda reader. To give you an idea, the last few books I’ve read were Trust Agents, Outliers, and Tipping Point. I think in the past 2 years I’ve only read one stereotypical "girl" book, which was Eat, Pray, Love (highly recommend it!). I have read a few books written for women, one was about women and money and the other about business.
Because my book interests are so different than my Twilight reading friends I’ve never really taken recommendations from my friends. I’ve usually chosen the next read from the latest buzz on Twitter or from blogs I follow.
Lately, I’ve started to take an interest in the world of social networking for books and various online resources for finding book recommendations.
Here are some of the fun book related sites I’ve found:
Good Reads: a way to bring book lovers together. I first joined Good Reads by seeing a sidebar on my friend’s Facebook page showing the current book she was reading. I love this quote on the Press page:
"My geeky little Generation Y heart burst with joy when I found out about the social networking slash armchair critic book reviews site: Good Reads. More unaccredited, unsubstantiated, unfiltered streams of parboiled user-generated content! And you can meet others like you. Yes! The democracy of the web spreads yet further. Check out my profile, make your own and be my friend. I just listed the past 5 books I’ve read, the ones I’m on now and what I’ll be moving on to. Haven’t quite finished all of my reviews, so stay tuned." — misus spine
Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have over 2,500,000 members who have added over 60,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in December 2006.
Shelfari: a visual representation of the books on your virtual shelf.
Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). Shelfari is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Our mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word.
LibraryThing: Catalog your books online.
LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.
Readernaut: newest to the scene of books and social networking, Readernaut is still in Beta.
Share your reading experience by writing notes, tracking progress, and meeting fellow readers.
BookMooch: Give books away. Get books you want.
Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.
No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.
IndieBound: a resource to find independently owned bookstores near you. For those of you who are all about Buying Local here’s another resource for ya.
IndieBound is a community-oriented movement. It brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive. Supporting local, indie businesses means that dollars, jobs, diversity, choice, and taxes stay local, creating strong, unique communities and happy citizens.
It’s a powerful tool for booksellers to communicate their part in a national movement supporting independents–and lets everyone know just how many independent bookstores there are.
BookCrossing: Where books take on a life of their own. They call it "The World’s Biggest Free Book Club".
BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure. Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym — anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book’s journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.
Book Trailers YouTube Channel: think movie trailers meets books. Most of the trailers are for books I would not read but, hey it’s a fun idea.
I’ve created profiles on GoodReads and Shelfari. If you’re on either of these sites feel free to add me as a friend. I’ve added a few of my past reads and some of my wish lists. I’ll be playing around with both of these sites in the near future. My favorite thing that both of these social sites has is the quotes section. You can add your favorite quotes directly on a book’s page. I got my book underlining obsession from my mom, so it will be fun to share my underline-worthy parts with the booknerds of the world. [Update: I just discovered Goodreads can post updates to twitter and Facebook. I'm all about bringing everything together!]
Do you use any of these social book sites? How do you get book recommendations? If you happen to be one of the many twenty-something ladies who like the girly books I mentioned before – you should join the Chick Lit group on 20sb.
I’ve been having a debate for a while about personal vs professional internet presence. The question has been whether to combine my professional internet self with my personal or to create a two separate “worlds” if you will. 
People are talkin’