Links, Books, Madness!

At last, it's just me and my beautiful iMac by the light of a (finally) lit screen, with all of these lovely links for something to do. Now, of course, Blogger is giving me trouble -- I hope I can work around it, but the extra time and the demands of the never-ending World Outside means this may not be the extensive post I'd hoped for.

I hope you all somehow managed to amuse yourself in my absence -- I've been gratified to read your responses to my queries, especially the responses to the prompt "To me, books are..." You can read responses to the same question from Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Lemony Snicket, Susane Somers (?), and, um, yours truly in Forbes Special Report on Books. Thanks to my buddy Dave at Forbes who thought there should be a bookseller's reponse in there, I'm on a list with people I imagine my name will never be joined with again. Fun! And there's lots more in this issue of the Forbes online magazine -- I'm looking forward to reading articles about McSweeney's business model, giving away prose on the internet, book burnings, interactive books, and other topics. I think Forbes has done a great job of addressing some of the contemporary issues in the book world with open mindedness and a lack of knee-jerk despair -- that makes 'em cool in my book. Thanks to all those who sent congratulations for my moment in the sun -- it's a privilege to be able to sound off on what we love. I'm looking forward to hearing more ends of the sentence from you...

Book Expo is podcasting! The newBookExpo podcasts site features a long segment from the National Book Awards, and will include more of the educational sessions and other formerly live-only events for your iPoding pleasure. Good idea? What do you think?

Oh yes, we got some press... here's theWinter ELNO in Bookselling This Weeks. So that's two bad pictures of me on the internet this week. Sorry, I mean, it's excellent publicity for the project, and how great does Steve Colca look with that beard?


The ALP sent me this irresistable time-waster: the"What Kind of Reader Are You?" Quiz

And multiple people have sent meLibraryThing, which allows you to catalog the books in your library online. I admit I can't see the return on time investment on this one. Anyone enjoying it, or think it's lame?

Okay, that's all the time I have -- so much for the big return. I have big thoughts, though -- look for me in the next week or so with some serious thoughts on the state of the bookselling community, especially here in NYC, why it's important, and what Emerging Leaders has to do with that.

In the meantime, I want to hear more about what books are to you. I should be updated with Blogger Beta soon and I'm figuring out the world of Mac slowly but surely, so things will get ever more organized. Have a great week -- see you here soon!

Comments

Larry Portzline said…
I love LibraryThing. I think it's especially useful for people like me who have a large collection and do a lot of writing and research. I don't always remember what books I have (partly because the collection keeps growing, and partly because of AGE), so it's nice to be able to look something up on my own catalog. It saves time and hassle, and it also prevents me from buying the same book twice (which happened way too often before I could double-check on LibraryThing when in doubt). I still don't have everything cataloged, but I'll get there.

Great seeing you the other day!
zan said…
re: LibraryThing... the initial effort was a bit tedious, but now I just update it as I finish reading a book. I don't catalog every book I own, just the ones I've read. I get a secret pleasure from seeing all the books I own and have read in catalog format. Should I be admitting that?

Oh, and:
To me, books are the thrill and romance (and sometimes even the letdown) of a new crush.
Miraida said…
To me, books are a time machine. Corny, I know, but I have to admit that I am inevitably sucked into any book I'm ready to such a degree that I honestly forget the world around me--even my own self (if I'm lucky enough to be ready a GREAT book). I feel like I've lived lifetimes, through centuries, and even seen the birth of the world--all within the thin, cheap pages of a book!
Anonymous said…
Even if you don't join LibraryThing yourself, you can spend some good time exploring the social info provided by the categorizing maniacs who do populate it.
Bookride said…
What a blog!
A book is something that you always have with you, to read when waiting, travelling, relaxing, at night, during the night and all afternoon. Sometimes you have to work. One great collector (Dibdin?) said you should have 3 copies of the books you love--one to read, one to keep in good condition in your collection and one to lend to friends. Makes sense. Nigel

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