Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Thing That Is Library


So what did Chris find in the mail today? I found my CueCat that I ordered from Library Thing and I love it! It's this cool little ISBN scanner that puts all of the information for your books into your Library Thing. It's $15, and well worth it if you ask me. Now I can be a librarian wanna-be at home whenever I want.

I've finally updated my LibraryThing and put all of my books onto it. This was exciting for me, but very sad at the same time. I realized that Katrina ate a big chunk of my books. I knew that I lost a bunch of books, but didn't realize how many until I pulled the ones left out of storage once I got the new bookshelves. After taking a census of my books via LibraryThing, I have 180 books left, though I bought many of those (prob. about 80) since Katrina. Among the missing books are all 3 Lord of the Rings books, Ender's Game, Children of the Mind (one of my favs in the Ender series by Orson Scott Card), Seventh Son (first in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series) some C.S. Lewis books (though I still have most of his), my original copy of A Wrinkle in Time with my favorite cover, all of my cheesy Anne Rice books that I used to love and will probably buy again, and countless others that I can't think of right now. Kind of a bummer, but it's all good. It will be fun to build up the library again from scratch.

P.S. I've added a LibraryThing thing to the sidebar

20 comments:

Marina said...

I cannot imagine losing anything to a disaster, but what I'd miss most (after pets and heirloom photos) would my books.

Since I'm on a mac, I use del.icio.us library, and I like it a lot (I use the built-in camera to scan mine).

chrisa511 said...

Hey Marina, thanks for stopping by! Luckily, I didn't lose any pets are photos. I took those with me. I just had too many books to take with me, and didn't imagine it would be as bad as it was. It's almost been a cleansing ritual for me though (Katrina that is). I've learned to do without, and I'm probably better for it ;)

chittavrtti said...

What a great tool. I'm almost tempted to actually do Libray thing now. So far I've been dreading typing in all those entries***CV

chrisa511 said...

Chittavrtti, it's actually alot of fun :) You can put up to 200 books up for free and they give you recommendations based on what others who own the same books as you like. Great site!

Literacy-chic said...

Hmmm... I'm on a mac, and I use LibraryThing...

It's sad about the books. :( You need to come up & visit Half Price Books!! On the other hand, when is your birthday? ;) Christmas buying will be easier now, too!

chrisa511 said...

N, I've been craving Half Priced Books! Why they won't open one here is beyond me. They'd have the business. I can never find a parking spot at Barnes and Noble. I was just thinking of HPB today. I think a Texas trip is overdue. I'm trying to come over the summer depending on the job situation.

Anonymous said...

Yay for LibraryThing! :) I could use one of the cuecat scanners...I entered all my books so far by hand...

Carl V. Anderson said...

Sorry to hear that, I hate the idea of losing books. Since my wife bought me the very lovely hardback Alan Lee versions this past Christmas, my boxed set of LOTR paperbacks (with Alan Lee covers) is an extravagance that I don't need if you would like them. They are in really good shape. If not, or if you have another set in mind, don't feel obligated to take them.

That scanner thing is a great idea!

Marina said...

Hmmm--that will teach me to write shorthand...

I chose del.icio.us library over Library Thing because I didn't feel that I needed another web-based spot for my books (I've partial lists on BookCrossing and allconsuming).

The downside, of course, is that I can't include the cool widget on my blog. Or can I? Off to investigate...

Stephanie said...

Oh man. I just realized you were in New Orleans! That had to be hard. I visited there back over New Year's in 2002! Lots of fun that trip was!!

Yeah...I'd miss my books ALOT! Congrats on winning the print over at the Once Upon a Time Challenge. Which one are you going to take?

chrisa511 said...

Hey Quix, I had an old account that I had entered all by hand, but stopped keeping track of it. So I went ahead and bought a lifetime account and I'm keeping up with this one! You should get a cuecat. It's oh so fun :)

Carl, I was bummed, but I got an ultra cool box of books in from Subterranean that I'm posting about in a sec. Thanks for the offer for the LOTR books, but you really don't have to do that. They have them for cheap in the bargain section of B&N. But thanks a bunch...you rock!

Marina, the widget is such a cool tool! ;)

Stephanie, Ooh wow! I hadn't checked Carl's site yet...how cool! Being in New Orleans sucked for a while, but I could never leave this city...love it too much.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I sure don't mind, I'm gonna be sending you stuff anyway, but no worries if you don't want 'em.

chrisa511 said...

Well if you're gonna pull my arm....LOL. That would be great Carl, I just feel bad taking your books! But if you have an extra set, I'd love it :)

Carl V. Anderson said...

They're yours!

Bookfool said...

I know the feeling; I've lost books to flooding and it was awful. Neato library thing!

chrisa511 said...

Thanks Carl :D

Isn't it a horrible thing Nancy. Floods suck!

Carl V. Anderson said...

Hey...new picture!

chrisa511 said...

Yeah...I got bored with the other one, lol

Bookfool said...

Floods suck, but I can relate to your comment about a clean slate. It feels good getting rid of things and living on less. Sometimes a disaster helps us to really appreciate what's truly important and it's definitely not stuff. :)

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, I've definitely learned that stuff is just stuff....books are just such cool stuff ;)