Well, after seven months of fannying about with real life (to no avail,) here I am back in cyberspace, confronting LibraryThing. My first impression is that it shares many qualities with recreational substance abuse -- I could happily wallow in it all the livelong day, but that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.
I mean, it is TRULY gratifying to discover that there are at least fifty-seven other people in the world who have some sort feeling for Frontier Wolf. I am the only Rosemary Sutcliff fan I know in real life -- now I have a way to communicate with my cyberpeers. It could easily become my drug of choice.
And the collective stats are fascinating too. If I am reading the Zeitgeist section correctly, the third most popular author is Terry Pratchett, who follows only Ms. Rowling and Mr. King. But Pratchett is not nearly as well known, at least in the circles in which I travel (though I am doing my best to ameliorate that situation.) Does that meant that there are more Pratchett fans than Tolkien fans (J.R.R. came in fourth) or Austen fans (Jane was way down the line)? Or are Pratchett fans for some reason just more likely to use LibraryThing? Maybe Pratchett fans are just more cool? or more techy? The sociology of it all is crying out for a dissertation.
But if I take the time to really indulge in it all, my print library would be left unshelved, my dog left unfed, my children left unchauffeured. And several of my dependents think already think that I am too irresponsible already.
But now I have a spiffy "Random Books from My Library" on my blog just like Pam Burke, so I have filled out my personal cool quotient for the week. Maybe the month.
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