Take a long walk off a short bookjetty...

This week I had a look around Bookjetty and catalogued a few books (that's what librarians do in their spare time - we catalogue books for fun!) It's a good way to keep track of the books you've read and the ones you want to read. I found Bookjetty to be a bit user-unfriendly, and no one seems to be reading the same books as me! This is a kind of online bookclub where people can share their ideas about books, and it is far better than Litlovers for commenting and doing other Web 2.0 things. Bookjetty may appeal to younger readers, rather than seniors, but I would be reluctant to recommend it. Try Library Thing instead, I reckon. Nevertheless, there is my widget on the left.

Book clubbing

This week I've had a look around the website Litlovers - a sort of online book club and a great resource for book lovers in general. The website has lots of tips for starting up and running a book club - everything from themed recipe ideas to author backgrounds, information about various book adaptations, and ideas to get your literary discussion underway. Some entries have added user comments.

A book I recently read and enjoyed was 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay' by Michael Chabon. The resources about this book on Litlovers include the publisher's information, a couple of reviews, information about the author (a bit about his life and his other works, and so on) and some key questions to help kick start discussion about the central ideas and themes in the book.

Authors on the Web does what it says on the box - it's a resource for publishers and authors, and it lets readers keep up to date with their favourite authors. There are lots of similar sites, such as Author Yellow Pages and the Book Report Network. Most of these sites are for authors and publishers and some are more geared to readers than others.

For New Zealanders I would recommend the New Zealand Book Council for finding book clubs in your area, and then I would suggest you use the many online resources.