1) I have never been a member of a Book Club. I think I would prefer to be a member of an on-line book club so I could remain anonymous. Reading Children's books is one thing...what I read for fun on my own time is just for me. I do believe the reasoning behind an in-person book club would be the face to face interaction which really social people would enjoy...but that is not for me.
2) The staff here at Freeman have started their own book club. It meets once a month and any staff member is welcome to attend. Staff members meet and discuss something they have recently read and anything goes from a book, to an article in a journal, to an interesting website they discovered. Each participant can talk for just a minute or up to about 5 minutes about what they brought with them (they are asked to bring the item or information for finding it with them). After the club ends, one staff member writes up a summary of the items discussed so others can see what they missed for whatever reason. Some staff attend every month, some attend occasionally and others do not attend at all. It is totally optional...no pressure what-so-ever. I like that.
Using ReadingGroupGuides I looked for a book that I have read and think others might enjoy...if I shared it with them. The book was called Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. I liked this site because it had great thought provoking (or discussion starters) about the book. Some were questions I asked myself and tried to figure out as I read along such as "What were your theories about what happened to Lexi? I tried several scenarios in my mind as I read along. I kept changing them as the story progressed and then, in the end, enough information had been shared to let me "see" just what had happened. I was able to laugh at the situation, and I enjoyed the book. Others may enjoy it as well and find their first idea about what happened are way off from what actually did happen. This book would most likely be fun for a Romance Lovers Book Club.
3) I searched for Twenty Wishes on Shelfari. After I signed on a new account for this site, I found that 642 people had read the book and it had a four out of five star rating. Not bad for a romance novel by a tried and true romance author, Debbie Macomber. Next I looked it up on LibraryThing (LT) and found that it also had a four star rating out of five. I guess most people liked the book while a mere few were not quite as impressed. I will reserve judgement on it until I have read it for myself.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Posting #53: Books, Readers and Beyond: Finding Books Online" Exercise #2 and #3
2) I searched for Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber. This is what I found: Half Price Books does not have a searchable web-site so I didn't check for it at their site. I went to Borders.com (My personal favorite "go-to" bookstore) and found it for $24.99. It is also available as an Audio CD or Audio Cassette. You could also pre-order the paperback edition for $7.99. From Barnes and Noble the list price was @24.95 but the on-line price was only $16.21. It was also available on Audio CD it was available. I check the HCPL site and found it was available as a regular book, an Electronic Audiobook, a Large Type book and an Audio CD.
3) I downloaded the book Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella. I liked reading the book because it kept my interest but I did not like reading it on my computer screen. Sometimes the glare was impossible and the stiff neck I encountered was uncomfortable. You just can't curl up with a computer screen and enjoy a book. There's something about holding it in your hand, being comfortable, and the book being portable from room-to-room or location-to-location. For some this may be a good thing but not or me when I am reading for fun/pleasure/myself. I have since found the book available at several HCPL Libraries so I will enjoy reading it (book format) in the near future.
Overdrive is a favorite of mine as I can download books on my MP3 player then play them in the car on long (or short stuck-in-traffic) trips. I guess titles on overdrive might help if you need a book or manual of some sort in a hurry and the library is closed or far away at the time it is needed. I got discouraged a while back because I looked up a craft book and found lots of instructions but no pictures...I knew that would happen but what was the point of putting a craft book up on a page where no pictures of the craft (either in progress or completed) can be seen? Anyway, as I stated before, I much prefer a physical book in hand as my first choice and audio books as a close second.
3) I downloaded the book Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella. I liked reading the book because it kept my interest but I did not like reading it on my computer screen. Sometimes the glare was impossible and the stiff neck I encountered was uncomfortable. You just can't curl up with a computer screen and enjoy a book. There's something about holding it in your hand, being comfortable, and the book being portable from room-to-room or location-to-location. For some this may be a good thing but not or me when I am reading for fun/pleasure/myself. I have since found the book available at several HCPL Libraries so I will enjoy reading it (book format) in the near future.
Overdrive is a favorite of mine as I can download books on my MP3 player then play them in the car on long (or short stuck-in-traffic) trips. I guess titles on overdrive might help if you need a book or manual of some sort in a hurry and the library is closed or far away at the time it is needed. I got discouraged a while back because I looked up a craft book and found lots of instructions but no pictures...I knew that would happen but what was the point of putting a craft book up on a page where no pictures of the craft (either in progress or completed) can be seen? Anyway, as I stated before, I much prefer a physical book in hand as my first choice and audio books as a close second.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Posting #53: "Books, Readers and Beyond: Finding Books Online" Exercise # 1
1) In order to quickly find bookstores near the library, I typed the library address in on Mapquest then typed in "bookstores" and immediately the nearby ones came on the screen with a nifty little map detailing their locations. As I suspected, Half-Price Books was the closest destination followed by Barnes and Noble and Borders (which happen to be across from one another...just a major blvd. separating them).
Each of the bookstores has a website but each are a bit different. On the Half-Price Books site, you cannot search for books as their books are generally used and the stock constantly rotates. There is a search box which will take you to Amazon.com. The Half-Price site is fun to click around on and the main pages informer readers that the is a 10% discount card for educators ... and LIBRARIANS!! The Barnes and Noble site as well as the Borders site are similar with searching capabilites. They are: http://www.bn.com/ and http://www.borders.com/) Both are easy to navaigate and full of information on the latest books, DVD's and more.
Each of the bookstores has a website but each are a bit different. On the Half-Price Books site, you cannot search for books as their books are generally used and the stock constantly rotates. There is a search box which will take you to Amazon.com. The Half-Price site is fun to click around on and the main pages informer readers that the is a 10% discount card for educators ... and LIBRARIANS!! The Barnes and Noble site as well as the Borders site are similar with searching capabilites. They are: http://www.bn.com/ and http://www.borders.com/) Both are easy to navaigate and full of information on the latest books, DVD's and more.
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