The things in my library

In January 2007 I had cataloged the bulk of my books on LibraryThing, and at the time I had just over 900, not counting books on tape and CD and books in my "to sell" pile. Two and a half years later, my LT count is 1067, which now includes the 17 audiobooks I own plus a few books that I somehow missed in that first pass and have since added to my list. (And I'm still finding the occasional straggler that's been here all along but somehow still isn't listed.)

So I've acquired 40 or so new books in that time. Not so much really; time was when I would routinely buy at least a book or two a week. Full bookcases and a not-so-full wallet during two layoffs totalling 15 months in the last four years have modified my book-buying habits considerably. I still read, but I'm much more likely to seek out books at the library before buying, and have saved big bucks that way on books that, once read, I know I don't want on my shelf permanently. On the other hand, if I do find a library book worthwhile, I'll happily go buy myself a copy (usually paperback and usually from Amazon), as I did with the entire Discworld series.

What I like about LibraryThing is perusing my tag and author clouds and my "collections" totals to see what my library is all about.

According to my collections, I have 279 fiction vs. 788 non-fiction items. 272 of the fiction are classified as sci fi & fantasy. Now, right there that tells me I've still missed some paperbacks, because I know I have more than seven fiction books that aren't sci fi/fantasy. I think I must have skipped a stack of books on some shelf in the bedroom.

OK, so I have 163 Star Trek books (both fiction and non), 89 tagged as "computer", 64 photography-related books, and 63 in the home improvement category. These are followed by 50 cookbooks, 48 humor, 43 stamp collecting, and 42 chemistry. With the exception of the cookbooks (I rarely cook anything more complex than tuna noodle casserole, and the majority of my dinners come from the freezer in boxes labeled Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice), these numbers are all pretty much what I would expect, reflecting my past and present vocations and avocations (well, maybe not the "humor" – that's just a weird mix of Dilbert, Bloom County, and such diverse works as "1066 and All That", "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", and "How to Shit in the Woods"). Lots of other tags for fine-tuning my searches, but a couple that stand out are Maine (30) and Canada (20). The former is where I was born and grew up; the latter, the destination of many vacations, not to mention the birthplace (Prince Edward Island, more specifically) of my maternal grandfather.

Turning to my author cloud, there are no numbers readily available, but clearly Marion Zimmer Bradley and Terry Pratchett top the list, followed closely by Robert Heinlein. After that appears to be a very rough tie among Diane Carey, Larry Niven, and Better Homes & Gardens. Make of that what you will...

If you own enough books to warrant calling it a library, you really should check out LibraryThing if you haven't already. For $10 a year or $25 a lifetime, you can catalog unlimited books (I went for the lifetime after one year). They're introducing new features all the time; the "collections" feature was a major recent addition that complements the "tags" feature nicely. And no, I don't get paid to tout LibraryThing. :-) I just think it's a nifty and very useful website.