World Book Day
March 5, 2009 at 8:00 am
is today…if you’re in Ireland or UK. The rest of the world celebrates it in April, but that’s OK because we get a head start on the others, and it means that kiddies are in term time for it.
It’s a big day where publishers, booksellers and readers get together to say ‘yay aren’t books great’.
In honour of the big occasion, I’d like to share with you one of my favourite sites.
Social Networking Sites Where I’m Active
- Facebook - despite earlier attempts to resist, I succumbed last year and I must say I love it for the random friends from my past it brings back into my radar.
- Tripadvisor – because one of my greatest loves is travelling, this is where I go to plan trips. Because I also believe in giving back, I regularly visit the Dublin forums and answer questions from other travellers planning trips to this city. I get a kick out of sending the link to the Fringe Festival website to the lady from Chicago who’s coming in September… or devising my own list of favourite vegetarian restaurants for the couple from Munich…
- Good Reads – my other great love is reading, this is where I store all the books I’ve read and all the recommendations I’ve received. Catching up with friends in Paris the other week, they recommended the Stieg Larson “Millenium” series. Rather than forget that, I have added those books to my ‘to read’ shelf and they will get read! Sometimes when really great reviews in the Sunday newspapers speak to me, they’ll get added too.
But most of all, Good Reads intervenes where time and distance doesn’t allow us to discuss books.
I have friends living in Australia who I keep in touch with. When we’re on the phone, our conversations cover all the juicy ground – love, life, living… but not literature. It’s a pity but it’s true. Somehow an update on a mutual friend’s latest exploits wins out over the latest paperback read. And that’s how it should be. Real life is richer and more important to me than any I’ve ever read. So, on Good Reads, I have friended my friends who are good readers. When browsing, I can dip in to their profiles and see what they’re reading, what their reviews were, etc. The site also recommends books – so if you like lots of one writer, it will recommend other writers that the site members tend to like as well.
When I was a kid I used to keep a notebook on the books I had read, and I’d assign them stars. Early Web 2.0 style reviews! It amazed me to find that book years later and see the kind of books I was reading at an early age. If you have kids or are into reading, Good Reads would be a good idea to introduce them to.
The only annoying thing about Good Reads is its invitation system. Not as bad as some others that spam your contacts, it still nearly tricks me into inviting all my contacts and I don’t like that!
Happy World Book Day!
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