To continue my tracking of books read for the year, here is February 2009′s list:
I’ve decided I’m going to keep track of the books I read for one year just to see how many I go through. I know I go through a lot. I can keep my list in a monthly draft on this blog and post it at the end. So here’s my list for January 2009:
Most of the books listed as bought, I’ve owned for a while. I just accumulate books faster than I can read them, which is why I’m trying to stop buying more books until I catch up. Reading borrowed books all the time doesn’t help either.
I’ve really been enjoying HBO’s new True Blood series. I wasn’t sure I would from the initial previews but I’ve liked Anna Paquin in other movies and I love Louisiana so I decided to check it out any way. I told my mom about it after seeing it since she likes vampire books and movies, and it turns out she already has the complete series of books by Charlaine Harris that the show is based on and says they’re great, really funny. Now I’m a big proponent of always reading the book before seeing the movie (or tv show) but at this point I’m already into the show. Apparently it’s following the plot of the first book fairly well so I don’t want to ruin what’s happening next in it by reading the book. But I always read the books first! They’re usually the better story. It’s a dilemma. I think maybe I’ll watch the first season, then read all the books. I’m sure the show will start to deviate more and more from the books as it goes on so it won’t matter much any more.
I really like the opening credits too. The song is “Bad Things” by Jace Everett:
On second thought, I probably will just borrow the books from my mom now. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Well I went back and redid the original bookpile to include the missing title. The additional book, Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction, I got a few years ago at a used bookshop in West Philly. I had lost my mind as usual when walking into a bookstore and, conveniently forgetting I was broke, filled my arms with books. I managed to snap out of it before going up to pay and was trying to decide what to put back when I leaned against a shelf and a book fell out on my head. It was that one. I had to laugh. And I had to buy it.
Since that bookpile is more random books that I felt like putting together than what they asked for though, I also did another one with titles that I feel describe LT itself, its users, employees, or features.
Now I need to reshelve all the books that are strewn all over my apartment from this.
I’m still just as obsessed with LibraryThing as when I discovered it two years ago. If you haven’t checked out the site before, you really should, because it’s fantastic. I get so much pleasure out of cataloging and tagging and talking about my books, I really should be a librarian. They recently hit 30 million books cataloged so are having a bookpile contest to celebrate. I’ve never entered before but decided to go for it this time. What I came up with is below. All the entries can be seen on flickr.
Books in the pile, top to bottom:
The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker
To Hell and Back
The Iliad
Rory O’More
A Death on Crooked Lake
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
Breaking the Limit
The American Quilt
The Complete Walker IV
Little Big Man
Whores and Thieves of the Worst Kind
At Home with Books
The Tender Bar
Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
Everything is Miscellaneous
Trinity
Ye Yaille Chere
One book which I meant to put in the pile but completely forgot about until just now is Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction. Damn. Might be worth a redo just for that title. (Yes, I am that anal. Let’s call it “pays attention to detail.”)