Thing #11: LibraryThing

Okay, this exercise was kind of fun. I actually like LibraryThing a lot, but I'm a library geek like that... ^_^ It's a good idea to have a program that lets you organize and catalog your own library without having to own technical MARC software or have the cataloging skills to enter items. I've found that personally, this program helps me organize my massive library at home and prevents me from buying duplicates of books. And I like that it draws information from LOTS of OPACs and union catalogs. And I really like that it has a "manual cataloging" feature for items that won't appear in any of those databases. So, yeah- LibraryThing is very cool.

I did a search for "Saint Maybe" by Anne Tyler. I love all of her work, but particularly this one- the characters are especially endearing to me for many reasons. I retrieved the following recommendation list- I've put the ones I've read in bold and the ones I've at least heard of in italics:

1. A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
2. Father Melancholy's Daughter by Gail Godwin
3. Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen
4. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
5. Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler
6. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
7. Family Pictures : a novel by Sue Miller
8. The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
9. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
10. Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
11. Talk Before Sleep : a novel by Elizabeth Berg
12. The Good Husband by Gail Godwin
13. For Love by Sue Miller
14. Brief Lives by Anita Brookner
15. The Beet Queen : a novel by Louise Erdrich
16. Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg
17. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
18. Second Nature by Alice Hoffman
19. The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton : a novel by Jane Smiley
20. Couples by John Updike

This list didn't surprise me too much. Of the ones I've read or heard of, they mostly deal with the trials and inner workings of families, each teaching social and interpersonal lessons of sorts. Of the others, they seem to follow a similar path. Many of these books would be aimed at women, I think, especially ones who are attached to their families and/or understand how families can fall apart in an instant. It's a much more complete list of recommendations than those you get from Borders or Amazon online. And this list seems to take subjects, interests, and actual content into consideration, instead of basing recommendations on publication or sales information.

I like the abundance of information gathered on LibraryThing: editions, publication information, the opportunity to discuss books, the chance to see what other people are reading... it's actually a nice mixture between traditional academic cataloging and information organization and modern search techniques and technologies.