About a month ago, I created an account on LibraryThing.com, a “social cataloging web application for storing and sharing personal library catalogs and book lists” [Wikipedia]. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I put some time into using the application and I have to say, it’s pretty cool and then some.

The idea of a virtual bookshelf to me is strongly appealing since my own physical bookshelf is a poor representation of the literature I’ve read and enjoyed. No longer can I skim over my IKEA Billy in medium-brown, and be reminder of what I’ve read in the past.

Although “Billy” does still house a few shelves work of books, more and more of what I’m reading comes from the library, or I’ve find myself feeling increasingly less inclined to hold on to a book once I’ve finished reading it. This is not always the case, the exceptions being: if the book is truly outstanding, deeply sentimental, or rare and difficult to locate. Yet for the majority of my reading I have little desire to hold on to the title once it is completed, and so without the physical mnemonic to recall my reading history, I tend to forget what I’ve read. I can vaguely say that I haven’t ready much Space Opera in the last few years, I can’t give you a comprehensive reading history. Lucky this is the age of plethoric information, so there must be something to help me catalog my reading history and make it fun in the process. Let me introdue you to LibraryThing. And it does a lot more then just reading history. Lots more.

So, what’s on my bookshelf? Here’s just a few of the titles:

On a cold winter night, like the one last Tuesday, a single shot decaf mocha from Caffe Beano will get you as the Ship & Anchor Pub. That’s 0.9 km according to Google Maps, so: 1 Mocha Will Get You This Far