Social Reading

Social reading is the new equivalent of reading in public. It's a way to share what you're reading, and how good or terrible it is. The website goodreads.com has a feature that allows you to sign in via facebook or twitter, so you can start sharing book recommendations with your friends. They have lists of great books for young adults, fans of historical fiction, and all kinds of different genres.

Social reading can also be a way to start a book group without leaving the comfort of your own home. Readups.com is a type of online book club. You can sign up with twitter, and get a book group going within minutes. This can be a great tool for university students to discuss readings. You can select something to read, set a timeframe for your group, and then start discussing.

I love a book that makes the world fall away. This past year, I discovered the works of Junot Diaz. He received the Pulitizer Prize for fiction for his immigrant-family saga entitled "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao". It is complex, multi-faceted, and an in-depth rendering of the immigrant experience. He shows us what it looks like to be entwined in the motherland of the Dominican Republic, and simultaneously living out the realities of immigrant life in New Jersey. He effortlessly combines these worlds. His short story collections are fantastic, and definitely worth your time.

If you are in search of good books, Booklamp.org is a site worth checking out. It acts like Pandora.com does for music lovers. Based on what you love, you are recommended other works in a similar vein. You start with a title that you love, and based on the elements of that story, you are recommended other books. For example, I started with "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz and was recommended other works that contained the same elements. You can also play with "StoryDNA" to adjust the elements that you are interested in. For example, the book I selected has five highlighted components: pain and fear, extended family, explicit language, deviance, and elements of time. You can adjust those elements to find books that are closer to your interests.

Social reading opens up a lot of different avenues for public libraries. Social reading makes it very easy to stay informed about new books and local authors. These resources can help patrons find books that their children or family members may enjoy. It can also help them find new authors and introduce them to newly acclaimed works. Most importantly, it helps spark interest in reading. Bibliocommons now has a social reading feature. You can log into your account, and make lists and comment about your favourite books. I did a bit of exploring, and have decided to post a list of my all-time favourites:
http://vision.bibliocommons.com/list/show/124175794_rania2/230892977_great_books

If you are looking for something new and great to read, this will give you a good indication of the books people are loving: http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2013

23 things... the second thing- #twitter

Twitter is a marvelous thing. It's kind of like it's own ever-evolving monster. I love it. It's a fantastic way to keep up with local news, weather, and cultural programs. It's also a great way to get a dialogue going about a myriad of topics, from feminism to your favourite television show, you can easily find people with the same interests as you. I have been using twitter for years, and it is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of your community, both locally and globally. It is a commonly used marketing tool for companies, as well as an agent of organization for social movements such as the Arab Spring.

However, twitter can be a mixed bag when it comes to privacy concerns- as can any social media site. In the words of Jonathan Zittrain, "[...] if something online is free, you're not the customer- you're the product". Twitter is people talking- about global events, politicians, television, celebrities and the mundane. While it can be a way to reach out and learn about the community, it's also a device for marketing and self-promotion. Lots of authors use it to reach out to their fans when they are launching a book. Popular authors such as Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman and Anne Rice are all avid tweeters. It gives them a way to keep in touch with loyal fans and grow their readership along the way.  It's quite interesting to look at how the landscape of self-promotion has changed with the advent of twitter. This is a great article on twitter and literary promotion:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/12/mohsin-hamid-twitter-self-promotion

For our public libraries, there is no doubt that social media is a vital part of raising interest in programs and engaging our patrons. Twitter helps get the word out, and is very accessible for our library patrons. It's an easy way to let patrons know about updated resources, upcoming lectures, book sales, and storm-related closures. It doesn't require much time to post an update, and it can have a great impact. Twitter seems to hold a lot of potential for libraries. The more creative you are, the more useful it can be.

23 Things... the first thing

I think I was seven years old when I got my first library card. I have always loved books. I love the feeling of completely losing yourself in a story. As a child, my favourite days were library days. I remember having one hour on a Monday afternoon to pick out my library books for the week. I read everything I could get my hands on. When I read 'Little Women' for the first time, I was completely drawn in to the lives of those four young girls. I may have hated the book-burning Amy more than Jo March did.

Books have always been an important part of my life, and I think of libraries as an oasis. I feel very at home in the calming silence of a library. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be writing about here, but at the very least my love of books and the awesome ones that I am currently tearing through. I just started reading "Brain on Fire" by Susannah Cahalan. I rarely read memoirs, but I seem to be on a bit of kick lately.  Here is a review by the New York Times if you are interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/books/review/brain-on-fire-by-susannah-cahalan.html?_r=0 .

Recommendation of the day: "Orange is the New Black" by Piper Kerman. I just finished reading this book, and I thought it was fantastic.  You may have heard of the netflix series by the same name. I have to say that I really preferred the book. I feel like the portrayal of the women in prison is much more empathetic, and realistic. The book is thoughtful and raises important questions about the state of correctional facilities. The television show is a more dramatic and exaggerated re-telling of Piper Kerman's story, and while well-written and entertaining, lacks some of the emotional substance. While I enjoyed the show, I found the protagonist to be much more thoughtful and interesting in the book. CBC's Q did an interview with Piper Kerman regarding her experiences in the prison system, and it's worth a listen: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/08/the-real-piper-on-prison-and-orange-is-the-new-black.html

If you're out there, let me know what great new books have you excited about reading. We are thinking of starting a Teen Book Club at my library, and I'm trying to draw up some new and exciting young adult titles. Until next time!