Comparing your reading lists via Library Thing

One of the great aspects of Web 2.0 is that it opens possibilities to connect with others and share experiences and compare notes.

Library Thing can put you in touch with readers who are reading the same books. If you have input your own reading list into Library Thing you can compare reviews and see what others wiht similar tastes to you, are reading. For those of us in book groups this can lead to a good source of suggested titles, best seller lists, book reviews.

I have put some of My Library on LibraryThing

I discovered that the most popular book in My Library was Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. There were 15,285 copies in other members' libraries and 391 had written reviews.

The least popular book in My Library was The Truth About my Fathers: a Memoir by Gaby Naher. There were only 3 copies of this in members' libraries. You'll find Australian titles are not as frequently input into Library Thing. But there are still many Aussies putting their collections online here.

Most popular Australian book from my library was The Book Thief by Sydney born Markus Zuzak , followed by Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang. The latter was the winner of the 2001 Man Booker Prize so bound to be well read.

Facebook has some book reading list applications too: Visual Bookshelf and others.

Praise for LibraryThing

I've become a fan of LibraryThing.

Once again LibraryThing has featured in the Web 2.0 Awards as a recommended Web 2.0 site for recording book information. It now boasts over twenty-two million books on members' bookshelves

As usual Wikpedia has the low down for those new to LibraryThing

Their book data is sourced not just from Amazon, but from the Library of Congress and other libraries worldwide, so that gives it great credibility with librarians.

You can catalogue your own collection on LibraryThing using your own tags in catalogue.

Like other Web 2.0 applications LibraryThing is very social network and various subgroups exist: Australian LibraryThingers which is a group for everyone who connects with Australia (residents, expats, lovers of Australian literature) and who are part of the LibraryThing collective.

You will see on the side bar of my blog I have a link to my LibraryThing profile. This links to “random books in my library”. You can add code into your Blogger blog to set this up.