What Have We Learned?

So joining this group has forced me, for the first time since my son was born almost 5 years ago, to take a long hard look at my book stash. What I've come away with:

1) I really can't complain about having nothing to read, because there's stacks of great material lying all over the house that I've either not gotten to, or read ages ago and mostly forgotten. I'm ashamed at how many books I've read a third of the way through before getting distracted, and how many great design and animation books I only skimmed for reference in a deadline-induced panic. This little virtual sorting excercise has reintroduced me to my library and I'm deeply thankful for that.

2) Then again, for about a quarter of that library, it's a toss-up between eBay and donating to Out of the Closet. Or a good torching.

3) MeFites have a fascinating range of interests. For instance, I never realised how little I knew of Dolly Parton. Thank you, ndcent.

4) I really need to organise this mess.
4a) Note to self: Keep Taschen imprints seperate from the kid's Suess collection.

5) Why do I have a copy of The Ox-Bow Incident? Did I really buy that just because Woody Allen used it as a punchline 30 somethin years ago??

What's this LibraryThing thang meant to you, and the way you look at your own book collections?

1) LibraryThing meant that I could finally add Dewey/Library of Congress numbers to my books! Now I'm thinking about organizing my bookshelves by LCCN number. This LibraryThing, it positively encourages book geekiness.

2) I like the way LibraryThing encourages a communal dimension to book-collecting. I've had a catalog of my library for ages, beginning with Pocket Library in my Palm III, then progressing to BookCat on my PC, then LibraryThing. So, it used to be I could only show my booklist to people who were close enough to look at my PDA or my PC. I love the fact that I can compare notes with fellow readers of (insert obscure author here), or chat with like-minded book collectors.

3) I get a few messages from other LibraryThingers saying, "Oh, so you have (obscure book)! What did you think about (insight buried midway in the book)?" I inevitably end up disappointing them, because they usually refer to books I've cataloged but never read (the ones I inherited from my brothers or my wife).

4) I can now tag books I'm willing to dispose of accordingly. Easier to simply post a link to my books for sale on the relevant forums!

LT has reminded me of all sorts of fascinating books I'd forgotten I had, gotten me to look up the histories of books and authors I hadn't known about, and made me realize that books I'd never connected in my mind were written by the same author, among many other good things. (On a practical note, it also enables people to check whether I have a book before buying it for me; it would also come in very handy for insurance purposes in the event of disaster.)

1. I didn't enter books that I own but haven't read yet and realized I own a lot of books that have gone unread. I've slowed down my buying habits over the years, but I still buy more than I borrow. I think I'll read what I own and hit the library more often.

2. I own quite a few books I really don't like. And yet, the idea of getting rid of them rubs me the wrong way. I discovered J. C. Oates' The Tattooed Girl in my garage yesterday, wet and slightly moldy. I read it a year ago or so and wasn't that crazy about it (decent book, just not her best). Instead of tossing it, I hung it on a wire to see what shape it was in after drying out. I have a sickness.

3. I need to get a few more classics under my belt. How does a former English major get to be 28 without reading To Kill a Mockingbird?

It would also come in very handy for insurance purposes in the event of disaster.

Oh god, what a thought. If my house were on fire with my kids and all my books inside, I'd run in, find the kids, then tell them to grab as many hardcovers as they can carry and get out.

Well, I like to think it's a) a memory exercise and b) therefore a form of quality control. I want to be able to remember everything I've ever read in the last 36 years, and most seem to come to mind eventually, with LT to jog my memory. But if I can't remember one or two, it means they weren't worth remembering. (Tautologies R Us.)

Tangent: I usually only buy books if I've already read them from the library and have a burning desire to reread them. I find it's a good way to keep the vast tottering stacks from getting out of hand. Does anyone else do this?

Re: Tangent - I generally only buy new if I've read it before or have an iron-plated recommedation. Used books are fair game, though.

LibraryThing's helped me dig up several books I'd forgotten, a few I'd been vaguely missing, and a couple that probably shouldn't have been living in a cardboard box in the closet.

Also learned that of fifteen books I share with languagehat's vast and polyglottal library, one is the obscure-ass seventies novel The Universal Baseball Association. That was unexpected.

I've learned not to mix beer and bourbon, no matter how tempting it might be.