Welcome back

I’m just finishing my summer semester, and am looking forward to some pleasure reading before I begin to read texts again for my fall classes. I’ve just brought some non-fiction books from the library, and hope to start on one of them tonight. I’ll choose from Daniel Goleman’s Ecological Intelligence, Michael Asher’s Death in the Sahara, and Temple Grandin’s Animals Make us Human. I hope to find a good mystery to fit into my reading in the next two weeks also. The choices are difficult!

I created this blog as an assignment for one of my classes at Emporia State University. I hesitated to update the blog until it had been graded, but that has occurred, so I’m back with a few additional thoughts about goodreads.

I hope you’ve had a chance to look at the site. Did you take the tour? If not, look at the upper right part of the main page for goodreads, just under the banner of books, and locate the options to register, tour, or sign in. “Register” allows you to sign up and become a member, with a name, email address and password. “Sign in” is where you’ll enter your sign in name and password if you're already a member. But “tour” is a good way to read about the options of this site if you're not sure whether you want to join.

As a member, you can find people with similar reading interests, and start or join a group to talk about books…an online book club. You can list books on your bookshelves, starting with the existing choices of "read", "currently reading" or "to read", or you can create your own categories of books (a good way to keep track of books you’ve considered reading or have already discussed in a live book club). You can see what others are reading, and how they’ve rated the books, which can give you ideas for books you’d like to read. You can even learn about specific books, including a nearby library or bookstore that has the one you'd like to borrow or buy.

I’m still learning about goodreads and hope you are, too.

My next blog post will include some information about book club kits at the Pikes Peak Library District. These are a great way to provide books to an entire book club (up to 12 copies for your members). The books in this special collection are varied, and the collection continues to increase, so you'll have lots to choose from. Happy reading!