NEW: Reading Status Report
I’ve seen many other book bloggers post weekly and/or monthly recaps of their reading, blogging, and other book-related activity, and have kicked around doing the same. Time to quit dribbling and shoot for the goal! This will be a weekly/biweekly feature, depending on what else is happening.
Currently reading: The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff, for an upcoming TLC Book Tour
Next in line: The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks, received via LibraryThing Early Reviewers
After that: I don’t know yet, but it will probably NOT be a review book!
Reviews posted this week: The Senator’s Wife, by Sue Miller
Next review: Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl, by Susan Campbell
Newest additions to my LibraryThing “to be read” section:
Three by Jen Lancaster, all purchased during a book binge at Target:
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office
Number of books currently tagged “to be read” in LT: 195
Tuesday Thingers, hosted at Wendi’s Book Corner: “Go Mobile with Library Thing!”
Wendi says:
Today I discovered that you can browse Library Thing on a mobile device (phone, PDA, smart phone, etc). All you have to do is add /m/ at the end of the LT address: www.librarything.com/m/ !!
What can you see when you get there? You can find out all about it here, but for starters: You can search your catalog’s title, author, tag and ISBN fields, browse your catalog (as sorted by title, author, or date entered), and see your recommendations.
My Answer: As soon as I read about this, I tried using my phone’s browser to access LT Mobile – success! I have the page bookmarked on my phone now.
I have a web-enabled Sony Ericsson cell phone, but I don’t use it for web access all that often because of the small screen. (My husband’s beloved iPhone is better for that sort of thing. He’d be glad to tell you a hundred other things it’s ALSO better for…) When I’m otherwise offline, I do use my phone to access my e-mail, read blogs through Google Reader’s mobile interface, and sometimes to Twitter.
LT Mobile can only be used for lookup and search; you can’t add books to your collection or edit them via cell phone. Still, having mobile access to my LT collection could be very helpful in bookstores when I can’t remember whether or not I already have a particular book, so I think this is a mobile app I’ll use pretty often. I don’t list books in LT unless I actually possess them, but if I used a “wish list” tag to catalog books I want to read but don’t own yet, LT Mobile could be even more helpful in bookstores – as a shopping list!
Booking Through Thursday: “A Second First Time?”
This is a GOOD question. My initial response to it was “none.” I’ve mentioned before (just last week, actually) that I rarely re-read books anymore, and haven’t done it for awhile. That’s a choice I’ve made mostly due to time, but part of it is that I do think you can’t go home again – and I know that sometimes my reaction to a book is amplified because I’m reading it in the right place, at the right time. Even if I could read the book itself again for the first time, I might not be reading it under the same circumstances, so I wouldn’t experience it the same way.
But wait a minute…I was missing the point! The question’s really about going back to a time as if you’d never read the book before (sort of like becoming a virgin again, I guess). There would be no prior experience to compare it with.
Then I gave the question some more thought, and considered keeping my answer as “none,” since I knew I couldn’t pick just one. Then I decided I was over-thinking the whole thing, and chose to approach the question based on when I’d first read the book (which is still over-thinking it, but anyway…). I ended up with the following sampling for what could be a much longer list:
First read during college (but not for college): East of Eden, John Steinbeck
First read post-college, by age 30: The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
First read by age 35: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott
First read in the current decade: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
Your turn – name a book that you’d like to be able to re-experience for the first time.
Friday Fill-ins #125
1. Moving isn’t so bad; it’s the packing and unpacking that suck.
2. When I leave work on Friday, I feel like I’ve been set free.
3. My best quality is my memory…wait, I forgot, what was the question?
4. Sometimes it all falls apart in the details.
5. In nearly 10 years, I’ve gotten almost ten years older 🙂.
6. A clone to split my to-do list with is what I need right now!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to nothing in particular, tomorrow my plans include errands in the morning and hopefully some fun later and Sunday, I want to not be a social disaster at the party we’re going to (at my boss’ house – oh boy)!
OOOH I HATE Parties with Bosses!! YUCK
Best of luck in that department.
Marie
Great responses! Have fun with Lancaster’s books. I loved “Bitter is the New Black”!
I’m with you on #2!!! Have a great weekend 🙂
Marie B – I don’t think it’ll be all that bad. It’s actually a Hawaiian-themed post-wedding reception, and they’ve invited a LOT of people. I don’t socialize much with my co-workers, but won’t really know anyone else there except for my family – we’ll see how it goes.
Amy – I’m not sure how soon I’ll get to them, but I think I’ll have a good time with them when I do!
Janet – It’s been another crazy week; the long weekend is here just in time :-)!
Oh, those parties at the boss’ house can be interesting. Good luck! Maybe your boss will get loaded and be the life of the party and dance like Elaine from Seinfeld? No?
Can you send your clone my way when you are done? Thanks! 🙂
Mike – It’s possible, but since his boss will be there too, I doubt it :-). I’m more worried about people getting thrown into the pool.
I don’t think clones are transferable – you’ll need to get your own, sorry!
Boy, packing and unpacking sure does suck. I think we still have a box or two stuffed in the garage somewhere that never were totally unpacked. We moved 15 years ago so apparently we don’t need the stuff too bad.
The bosses party could be nerve racking but it sounds like a fun theme. I hope it turns out to be a fun time. If not, you get an extra day on Monday to make up for it. Have a wonderful weekend!
(I won Boys in Trucks too. I really look forward to reading it, or adding it to the pile at least!)
Wrighty – We only moved last fall, but there are still LOTS of boxes hanging around in the garage. But I’d agree that anything you haven’t unpacked in 15 years is probably not essential :-).
Congrats on your book win! You’ll probably get to it before I will :-).
Wow – you are a much more advanced cellphone user than I am! Mine can do a lot, but I don’t WANT to pay for it!! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and participating in Thingers last week! I’ve got the post up for this week. ~ Wendi
Wendi – My husband has an iPhone, so we had to buy a data plan for him – figured I might as well have one too :-). (And mine costs less than his does.)