Reading Lists

Occasionally someone will ask us if we keep track of what books they have checked out over the years. Not to make sure we are not sharing the information, but because they wish to know if they have read a particular book before. I used to only recommend the library sponsored website called Reader's Club. You can create a reading log and keep track of what you have read. The only drawback to the Reader's Club reading log is that it's not really set up to help you add books you have read in the past. You can add those books but since it doesn't have a searchable database finding what you have read and adding those books to your log is time consuming. If you don't mind starting from scratch, Readers Club is the way to go.

Just recently I have started an account at a site called Good Reads. It's the latest in a long line of social networking websites and the first I have joined that is built around reading. Like the other social websites you and your friends share contacts and content. This time the content is your reading history. If you are interested you can see my reading history in the right sidebar of this blog. I am adding books that I have remembered that I have read everyday. You can enter dates also but here I am going more for just as complete a list of what I have read as I can. I want something I can refer to when I have thinking of what to use in a book talk. Before I just referred to my Reader's Club reading list, now I have a database that is searchable and that will be even more helpful.

Another book down

I am proud to announce that I am five books away from reading 30 books this year. I think back when I was in high school thirty books a year would not seem like a lot. I have more distractions these days, I think. And a career.

I finished Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. It showed up on hold for me and I had no idea where why I had placed it on hold. I saw on the cover of the book a blurb by Christopher Moore so maybe I read about it on his website. Probably not since I haven't been to his website in a while. Sometime during all the book review reading I do I must have come across a positive review somewhere.

It's the story of a woman who is being interviewed by a shrink in a jail in Las Vegas. We are told that she has killed someone she was supposed to. Turns out she is in a secret society that "takes out" people they consider evil. They don't try and change the world but if you kidnap people and torture them in your van alongside interstates, they will find you and kill you.

The story was just a tad convoluted with a few major twists at the end and the book was definitely a page turner but I went away feeling a little unfulfilled. Like a couple of Christopher Moore books I read the ending did not live to the buildup. Like Moore, I will probably give the next book by Ruff a chance. Surely someday someone will write a humorous novel that satisfies.

A good book review

It turns out the reason our country's name resonates so strongly is because the person the continents were named after has almost no historical standing.