Book Crossing

Book Crossing is a catch and release community for books around the world. Books are tagged with a Book Crossing ID, and are registered on the site. Then they are released into the wild - sometimes with clues to their location. The next person who finds the book can log in to the site and review the book before releasing it again! The book might have traveled around the world, and it's progress can be followed.

On Tuesday I came across a Book Crossing book in a phone booth. It was a cold and stormy night and the label on the front said 'Take me home!' so I could hardly refuse. It's chicklit, which I'm not really into, but I'm going to give it a go.

To hunt for active book releases in New South Wales check this page.

- Anne

Romantic links

Romance fiction counts for about 26.4% of all books sold in the US. And there are about 150 new titles published each week! If you’ve ever wanted a romance book without all the ‘graphic’ bits (or alternatively with lots of graphic bits) this site http://www.theromancereader.com/ features reviews with ratings (i.e. PG, R, NC-17). And not for the faint hearted is this site with very colourful language: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ featuring reviews and articles.

BookTagger

BookTagger is a new Australian based book tagging community. From what I can gather it's a little bit like LibraryThing, but with more functionality and more of a community feel. Best of all, it's free! From the site:

Each BookTagger profile is a graphical representation of your physical bookshelf on the internet. The bookshelf can then be shared with friends, family and others searching for the next good read. We hope you'll congregate into book clubs and share reading experiences. Or maybe you'll catalogue all your books and track to whom they've been lent.

http://www.booktagger.com/

Young adult book reviews

If you're looking for young adult books a great place to start is cool-reads. The site features hundreds of reviews written by 10-15 year olds. An Australian site to try is Inside a Dog. There are reviews, interviews and competitions. You can also download the first chapter of selected books to listen to. They're even starting a teen choice book award: The Inkys.

Looking for a quick read?

http://www.lazyreaders.com/

This site is for those who want to read but are perhaps time poor – so short books are the answer – you can even sort them by pages so you can read the shortest first.

Looking for a long read?

Then this list of the longest novels might help you! The longest Australian novel is Xavier Herbert's Poor Fellow My Country at over 850 000 words. It can be found at F /HERB.

Overbooked

Overbooked is a website for 'ravenous readers'. From the site:

"Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about literary & genre fiction as well as readable nonfiction. Overbooked originals include annotated lists of nonfiction, fiction and mystery books which received starred reviews, themed booklists, featured titles lists and hot lists of hard cover US fiction releases. "

It's a US site though and lists only new releases available there, but you might get some good ideas about what to read next.

Google Maps Australia

Google has finally launched Google Maps Australia. You type in a location and a detailed map appears. You can choose from a street map version or a satellite image! Check out the roof of Manly Library here (we're the building with the rounded front).

One for the horror readers

If you're a horror reader looking for your next book, maybe the Monster Librarian can help you. I also like the monster librarian's philosophy on reading:

"My philosophy on reading is that not every book is everyone's cup of tea. If after the first few chapters of the book you aren't interested in the story then it might be time to put the book down and find another. You shouldn't feel guilty about putting a book down or not finishing it. It doesn't matter if that book is on the New York Times bestsellers list or if everyone you know raves about it and thinks it is the best thing on the planet. Your taste in reading is personal."

Nancy Pearl in Australia

Nancy Pearl is in Australia at the moment, traveling around doing talks for library professionals as well as the general public. She has also been a guest speaker on a number of radio programs including Radio National's Late Night Live. You can find an MP3 of her interview here.

Literature map

If you type in an author's name at this site it produces a 'map' with other authors names surrounding it. Apparently the closer an author's name is to another the more likely that a person who likes one will like the other. The system runs on an Artificial Intelligence called Gnod, which creates and strengthens links between authors through the interactions it has with visitors to the site. I typed in Peter Carey and the closest name to his was Beryl Bainbridge, an author I have never heard of. We have some of her books in our collection, and I think I'm going to read According to Queeney. It looks like the site can make some interesting suggestions - give it a go!

- Anne

Best first lines

I was just reading about this website in a professional library journal – for all of you out there who like those top 100 lists – try this one – it’s a list of the best 100 first lines in novels – just for fun go through it and tick off those books you have actually read.

- Louise

First Tuesday book club

The ABC has started a show called The first Tuesday book club where they talk about a different book once a month, on the first Tuesday of the month. October's show was on this week and they talked about Bill Bryson's memoir The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid. A transcript of the show can be found here.

A day in the life of a library

St Joseph's County Public library in the U.S. has put a video on YouTube of a day in their life. Complete with bloopers!

Nancy Pearl online

Nancy Pearl, the famous librarian who has her own action figure and is the author of Book Lust and More Book Lust has a personal website and she has also started an online community.

The Book Lust site has book discussion groups and you can find out what Nancy is reading right now, get recommendations and check out some reading itineraries. The itineraries describe a path that a reader followed when 'one book led to another' e.g. see Nancy's map of what she was inspired to read after reading The Kite Runner here.

Books Alive 2006

The Books Alive campaign is on again and you can get your free copy of the 'Great Read Guide' at the library. You can also view the guide online here. The campaign aims to promote the joys of reading, and is funded by the Australian Government. You can check the availability of books advertised in the guide on our online catalogue.