#54 Social Networking Through Books

I was delighted when I found out that my local library had started a book club. Opportunities to share my love of reading with other adults were rare. I still remember the first book I read after joining; it was "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon.

There are many online social networking sites where people can share their love of books, such as LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Facebook has added an application called Visual Bookshelf to their interest-based online community as well. I prefer face-to-face interaction with my fellow book club participants, but I also enjoy using web resources. LibraryThing has dozens of groups in which one can participate. I looked at a few of them and had to stop, because some of the posts are hilarious. (Try reading "The Person Below Me" thread on the LT group called "Off Topic". And no sniggering in the workroom.)

I like our library book club. We try to vary our reading "diet" by selecting books from many genres, and selection is driven by input from members. Once we read "My Life in France" by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme. I just found out that a movie, based on the book, is in production, and it stars Meryl Streep. I think it would be fun to invite the book club to take a field trip to [France or] go see the movie when it comes out in August. Taking the time to do something a little different, once in awhile, can spice up any bookclub; however, I won't be encouraging field trips abroad or suggesting a "Read it and eat it" based on next month's selection, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

I'm not very comfortable using live book club resources to recommend books to others. Many of the sites have lists of recommended reading, or most popular books, or top books by star ratings, etc. I found a few titles that intrigued me, for example "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits", and "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" came up quite a bit, as did a graphic novel entitled "The Pride of Baghdad", but I think I'd really prefer to read the book for myself, before recommending it to others.

I searched Goodreads and LibraryThing to see how their members rated "Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship". It wasn't surprising to find that almost everyone gave this appealing book about resilience and love at least 4 stars.