I'm starting to think I spend more time on Goodreads than any other social media site.
There are just...so many endless things to discuss, book-wise, and the Angry Feminists and Equality Warriors are really only visible on the outskirts, instead of center stage like they are in fandom. I fiddle with my book parameters a bit, and they disappear.
And I don't even have to discuss! I can and have spent hours just playing with the data on my bookshelves, sorting my hundreds of books by author or publication year and getting lost in memories, rereading old reviews, reading other peoples' reviews, finding random user names to try the "compare books" feature, and endlessly browsing my finely tailored recommendations. To awkwardly use some outdated slang, I have mad respect for the coders/programmers who created that system, because combining that with my library request systems, it is like I have an army of highly trained personal assistants to go book-shopping for me.
Speaking of, I just went on a requesting spree from my To-Read list and between my hometown system, the next-door system, and the state-wide system I've got 8 on their (eventual) way, including the one where I counted down the days to publication. I'm in that giddy "getting a pile of awesome new books!" zone that can only be accomplished by ordering library requests.
To help me keep track of which ones I actually requested, since I hit a lot of dead ends too:
- The Dogs of Winter, Bobbi Pyron.
- The Boy on the Bridge, Natalie Standiford
- Edgewater, Courtney Sheinmel (this is the one I counted down, and was disappointed when I didn't win an ARC)
- Valley of Secrets, Charmian Hussey.
- These Girls, Sarah Pekkanen.
- The Horse Lover: A Cowboy's Quest to Save the Mustangs, H. Alan Day (he is apparently Sandra Day O'Connor's brother)
- The Shelf: From LEQ to LES, Adventures in Extreme Reading, Phillys Rose (this sounds like a really cool reading project that I will never personally have time for)
- Howard's End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading From Home, Susan Hill (my other dream reading project!)
Edit: holy crap I forgot I already had books on request. Here are some more! I am REALLY not sure I'll read all of these, but I like having options.
- the newest Nikki Heat mystery
- Hippolyte's Island: An Illustrated Novel, Barbara Hodgson
Twilightshut up I might still try it
Last but far from least: I finally took the plunge and ordered a copy of Movies in Fifteen Minutes from Amazon for $4 (the cost of shipping). It arrived today and I am SO THRILLED. I have been waiting seven years to own this magnificent never-published-in-the-U.S. book, but it's FINALLY MINE. It's got a dust jacket and everything, and it's in like-new condition, with only slight shelf wear/wrinkling near the spine to the jacket.
...suddenly vaguely regretting my impulse to tell boyfriend about the chapters he should read. Man, now I gotta write up an authoritative manual on how to handle my book so as not to damage it. (rule 1, it is not allowed in the car)
