E-readers versus physical books

I once wrote an opinion piece regarding the so-called "death of books".  In it, I compared book formats to music formats (vinyl, 8-track tapes, cassettes, CDs, and digital).  Just like music formats, the old ones never completely go away.  Just look at how vinyl records are making a comeback.  I feel the same can be said for books.  Despite the raging popularity of e-readers, printed books will never go out of style.  There will always be people who prefer one over the other.  For me, I'm an unofficial fence-sitter.  Actually, I play for both sides.  I prefer to read physical books except in situations where physical books are an inconvenience.  And that, I think, is the main reason for the popularity of e-readers: convenience.  I recently discovered a blog called Bookfessions.  One of them aptly conveys why I play both sides: "Those who don't travel will never understand how fabulous ereaders are. How else could I take 500 books with me on an airplane?"  This is true for me too.  During the christmas holidays this year, I will be spending a week away from home (and away from my books).  This includes two 4-hour flights.  Thankfully, it also includes a day of bookstore-hopping.  Having an e-reader means ALWAYS (and I do mean always) having reading material at hand.  That is why I say yes to e-readers.  But I will only buy physical books.  I personally will never pay for a digital version of a book regardless of how much less they cost than a physical book.  If I'm spending money on books, I want something that can sit on my bookshelf, not something I can accidentally erase.  I feel the same way about digital music.  If it is easy to accidentally make it gone, I don't want to pay for it.  Therefore I'm grateful for the plethora of free ebooks available to me.  But you can usually find me reading a physical book.  I think there should be no argument whatsoever about which format is better.  Because none are better; they are just better for your personal lifestyle.  People who would never pick up a physical book are now reading on e-readers.  And that's a good thing.  I am disheartened by bookstores that are closing due to poor sales but I have hope for the future.  I believe that people will still be buying physical books for years and decades to come, regardless of the current digital media craze.  That's my opinion anyway.

Also from Bookfessions: "A lot of people don't like ereaders, but I think they're amazing. They make it so much easier to read under the covers when I'm supposed to be asleep."  I personally discovered this ability in September with the Day/Night settings on my e-reader.

Edited to add: Here is the most eloquent, well-written article about the whole topic I have ever read.  I think I'll print a copy for safekeeping.


Read on,
Paula

Widgets

The only thing complicated about adding the Goodreads widget was finding out how to do it.  Shelfari has a Widgets link on the home page.  But I like the look of the Goodreads widget better so I'll tweak the Shelfari widget until I'm happy with it.  I'm proud of myself because this is the first time I've ever added a widget to my blog.  Hopefully they continue to work well and not take too long to load.

Nope, I just don't like the look of the Shelfari widgets.  I much prefer the Goodreads ones.  So I'll stick with them for now.

Read on,
Paula

Dropbox, Evernote, and iGoogle

A coworker introduced me to Dropbox.  She uses it personally and professionally.  One of the things we like about it is that you can share certain files with certain people.  I use it for accessing files I want to "take with me".  I use the app and the website.  I used to have the software on my home computer but I don't like that any files I put in there are no longer accessible on my home computer, only through Dropbox.  Perhaps there's a setting to fix that but for now I've uninstalled the software.  But I still use it online and on my phone.

I love Evernote.  I would love it even more if I could access the picture notes I've added.  I can preview them but not actually access them.  Evernote tech support is working on it.  Evernote is another one of those programs that are accessible at home, online, and mobile.  I love that I can access my notes anywhere.  I have the 'Clip to Evernote' function on my web browser, which is so easy to use.  All my notes are in one place and I don't have to go hunting for them.  I like that Evernote keeps improving their service.  When I first joined, I had difficulty opening the notes.  Now I don't.  I am also interested in reading the book "Evernote for Dummies".  If they can write a whole book about it, I'm obviously not using the service to its fullest potential.

I will be creating an iGoogle account for my personal account.  I just don't have enough "stuff" to add for it to be worthy work-wise.  But I can link all sorts of stuff from my personal life.  I like the idea of having it all in one spot, especially since putting in my postal code means my local weather forecast pops up too.  Since I walk to/from work, this is important info for me.

Read on,
Paula

Work email and wikis

For the last two or so years, I've used Hotmail as my work email.  A few months ago, all employees at my library got official work emails.  I think that a professional email address is, well, more professional than a Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail/whatever free email address.  Two weeks ago, for no reason that we've been able to figure out, I and I alone was no longer able to access my email.  Finally today I was able to get access again.  I immediately forwarded all the pertinent messages to my Hotmail, just in case.  Under other circumstances, I wouldn't have worried as much about the problem.  But wouldn't this be the week I have Learning 2.0 homework that can only be accessed from a message in my work email that I can't access?  Figures!  So my homework is a little late but at least I'm getting it done.

The late week's topic was wikis.  Almost everyone has heard of Wikipedia.  Almost everyone uses Wikipedia.  We were given a link to FAQ For Librarians, which I found highly informative.  Until I read this article, I had no idea how accurate Wikipedia was.  The big issue for libraries and researchers about Wikipedia is the fact that absolutely anyone can edit the information in Wikipedia.  That sends up all sorts of red flags because we want the information we pass on to our patrons to be solid.  For this reason, some people won't use Wikipedia and probably never will.  That's sad but each person is entitled to their own opinion, especially when it comes to resources.  When doing any kind of research, I use Wikipedia as a jumping-off point.  I start there, looking for topic-specific terminology and jargon that I may not know about.  I then seek out other resources to verify the information I've found on Wikipedia.  It's always good to have backup.

As for using wikis themselves, they are very useful for having the most comprehensive details necessary for the specific purpose.  I likened Shelfari to a wiki because anyone can edit the information about a title.  In fact, I have done this myself.  The information is then verified by a Shelfari editor.  Anyone with access to a wiki is yet another source of knowledge when information is incomplete.  As the saying goes, "two heads are better than one".  And more than two is even better.

Read on,
Paula

I'm doing my homework backwards

Week 6 is about wikis.  In order to do my homework, I have to access a link in my work email account which I only access from work.  I'll be doing that homework on Monday.  Instead I'm doing my homework for Week 7 today...the week I've been most excited about and most dreading.

You may be wondering why I could possibly dread the week we work on social cataloguing (think Good Reads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari).  Okay, so this is how addicted I am to books: I have an account with Good Reads, Shelfari, AND LibraryThing!  There, my secret is out!  Go ahead, mock me.  I have all these accounts mostly because some friends are on one or the other.
Just for you, here is the chronology.  I joined LibraryThing first (back in April 2007), added a few books and never went back.  Even I don't know why.  
When I had a Facebook account, I joined weRead (2008).  It was okay but hard on computer performance (slow to load).  Being fed up with weRead, I went in search of something better.  That's when I found Good Reads (October 2010).  I convinced two of my friends to join and have been happy there.  I even won a free book through their First Reads program.  And their Recommendations feature is awesome (more about that later).  They have a Reading Challenge feature where you enter how many books you would like to read during the year and it keeps track of how close you are to your goal.  I haven't done it but it's interesting to see what others put as their goals.  For non-readers, I guess the goal of 4 books in one year is a strain.
While trying to convince another friend to join Good Reads, she was trying to convince me to join Shelfari (January 2011).  She likes that it looks like an actual bookshelf instead of a list with covers.  And I've been happy there too.  They have a fabulous feature called My Reading Stats.  Not only does it show you how many books you've read each year (this is how I know I have already read 102 titles and I still have the month of November and December to go) but also a graph of your ratings (I use 3 stars a lot) and other interesting factoids.  One of the things I really like about Shelfari is that it is sort of like a wiki.  You can edit the information on a title's page.  You can even add titles that aren't found.
When I saw the outline for the Learning 2.0 course I'm taking, it mentioned LibraryThing.  'Oh right', I thought, 'I haven't been to that account in ages'.  So I dug out my account password and got reacquainted.  I love that LibraryThing has library standard information like Dewey classification so I can use it to organize my personal library.  I've decided that (for now?) I'm going to use LibraryThing to catalogue only the titles I actually own.  I spent two days entering the ISBN (because I wanted the exact edition) of all the books I own.  I now know that I have 134 titles.  Part of today's homework was to take the LibraryThing tour and I learned some things I didn't know.  You have a limit of 200 titles with a free account (that's what I have).  I have 134 titles already.  200-134=66.  Since buying more books is on my list of things to do, I'll have to upgrade my membership.  I'm visiting family in BC for a week at christmas and my itinerary includes spending a day in a minimum of two of the town's bookstores (one selling new, one selling used).  I highly doubt that I'll be buying 66 books before the end of the year so I'll let upgrading to a lifetime membership be my New Year's resolution.  The tour also mentioned LibraryThing's Zeitgeist tab.  I'd seen it but not explored.  There is a list of authors who LibraryThing.  There are 6256 authors listed.  The list is sorted by popularity but you have other sorting options.  I saw quite a few names I recognize but have never read.

About the Good Reads Recommendations feature: it sparked a contest between myself and one of my friends as to who had the most books on their "to read" list and overall.  This is why my "to read" list is now up to 354 instead of 230.  The feature is amazing.  By creating "shelves" (a more complex version of tagging, really) about the books in your profile, the Recommendations feature finds books similar based on some behind-the-scenes criteria.  This has helped my friend find titles she's already read but had forgotten to add.  I made the happy mistake of creating a shelf called 'books about books' (because I'm a freak who loves to read about libraries, reading, and books in general) and it is the recommendation shelf I visit the most.  But I had to call off the unofficial contest; I can't live like that.  If I allow my reading life to become competitive, it loses all enjoyment.  Current standings: she has 801 read and 274 to read; I have 477 read and 354 to read.  I know for a fact that I am missing books because I just can't remember them all.  But here is how I finally let the contest go:  She is 17 years older than I.  I'm sure I could read 324 books in 17 years (did I mention I've read 100 already this year?)  The important thing is that we both read and we both read what we enjoy and we keep track of it all on whatever site we prefer.  We talk about books and we are always seeking out more.

One thing I've learned from using more than one book cataloguing site is that each one IS different.  I've found a few titles that are on one site but not the other (which is infuriating since my tallies will never be exactly the same on all sites).  I enjoy each of them for various reasons and will continue to use them all.  Thankfully the multiple tab feature in my internet browser means I can use them all at the same time to cross-reference.  One thing I wish to change about all three sites is that you can't print a basic title and author list of your books.  Shelfari is mean enough that you can't perform this function until you've reached 80% on your public profile (I'm at 76%).  Good Reads and LibraryThing will let you print the list as shown on your screen (aka in table format).  For people who don't have cellphones (yes, they do exist) or who don't want to use up all their airtime with searching their Good Reads/Shelfari/LibraryThing sites, having a print option would be wonderful for book shopping.  I think I'll go submit that as a site recommendation.


If you want to see my various accounts...
Good Reads
Shelfari
LibraryThing


Read on,
Paula

A photographer who won't use Flickr?

Photography runs in my family.  My uncle was a professional photographer.  My brother helped to start a photography school.  And I have loved photography for a very long time.  So why don't I want to create a Flickr account?  In recent years I've become far more picky about the photos I take.  Most of the photos I take now are what I call "event" photos: concerts, weddings, and other special events I attend.  Predominantly my photos are of people, and I don't like to publicly share photos of other people, and certainly not without their express permission.  I do have a Webshots account though.  If you've never heard of it, it's kind of like Flickr except Webshots uses the photos for your computer's background and screensaver.  But I haven't even used that in a while; blame the previously-mentioned outdated hard drive.  I really like Webshots.  I will like it even more when I can use it again.  If you're interested in seeing my photos, you can view my profile.

I did a people search for "public library" on Flickr and got 1234 results.  I sorted by the number of items.  The first one I thought was Canadian was the London Public Library on page 5 with 1192 photos.  But I admit I'm not a geography whiz so it may not actually be the first Canadian library in the list; it's just the first one I found.  The London Public Library had a Lego contest (what a cool idea!) and this was one of the winners.

Last year was the first year our summer reading program staff used Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote the program.  You can view their first YouTube video here.

As for podcasts, I had downloaded Juice on Monday.  Tonight I finally figured out how to use it.  I'm excited to listen to the Q interviews with William Shatner, Douglas Coupland, Colm Feore, Chaz Bono, Adele, and Alan Doyle!

You realize that all this access to new-found media will take away from my reading time, right? *sigh*

Read on,
Paula

I promise ...

...to do (that is, finish) my Learning 2.0 homework tomorrow.  For now I have other things to talk about.

...to read.  I promise to read on my own, in print or on a screen, wherever books appear.  That's right, I've just consumed the book "The Reading Promise" by Alice Ozma in one day.  Technically, less than one day.  Actually closer to seven hours.  All 279 pages of it.  In this book, a father reads to his daughter for a 3218-day streak.  That's 8.8 years.  If I had kept track, I could probably beat it.  If I had thought to keep track of it, I would have, but I haven't and now I'm kicking myself.  Reading is so much a part of my life that I can't even contemplate a day without it.  I read during my breaks at work, I read at home after work, I read on my days off.  I'm always reading.  I always have a book with me, which is easier now that I have an e-reader on my BlackBerry.

My brother and his wife are expecting their first child in December, the first grandchild for our family.  Reading "The Reading Promise" only fueled my enthusiasm for being the "book aunt".  We don't know if it is a boy or girl and won't know until s/he is born.  But I dream of reading to her/him.  Because we live on opposite sides of the country, I have a plan for accomplishing this.  I'm actually excited about it.  In fact, I think I'm a little too eager.  I want to read books that s/he isn't ready for.  Is it okay to read just anything to a newborn?  Can I read it Malcolm Gladwell and Robert J. Sawyer?  Is there a "Reading to Babies for Dummies"?  No matter what, I promise that my niece/nephew will have access to any books s/he wants.

Read on,
Paula

In honour of Halloween

Winamp?!  Whoa, talk about a blast from the past!  I haven't heard that name in twelve years!  Too bad it's too much of a security risk.  I downloaded the setup file, scanned it for viruses (as I do with all downloads regardless of source; no threats found), and installed it.  When it opened, avast! (the top-rated antivirus software) wanted to open Winamp in safe mode because of security risks.  I said ok to that and then Windows Security Alert popped up with its own security warning.  I never get WSAs so I figured it must be a serious problem if both warnings popped up.  So much for that idea.  I uninstalled Winamp and started over with Juice.  It installed faster and without any security warnings.  I'd call that finished.

The issue is with having to download software.  I'm very picky about what I allow on my computer.  My hard drive was refurbished when I bought it 7 years ago so it's starting to show its age.  When I eventually get myself a newer, faster hard drive, downloading software won't be such an issue.  But on my current hard drive any increase in used space and background-running-bits means my regular uses for my computer are slowed down.

 I brought my latest book over to the computer to read while it slowly attempted to do the things I wanted (like adding podcasts).  It wasn't until I gave up and started shutting stuff down that I realized the book had been sitting on the 'Enter' button by the number keypad.


  Lesson learned: Never do your homework on Halloween.  It becomes a nightmare.

 Graphic via deviantart

Twilight #1.5

As usual, I can't remember how I found out about it.  All I know is that at 1am, I told myself I had to stop reading Stephenie Meyer's partial draft of "Midnight Sun", being the story of "Twilight" written from Edward's perspective, because I HAD to go to work in 7 hours.  She has written another awesome story.  If you are a fan of the Twilight Saga, this is definitely a must-read.  When the actual book is eventually published, I'll get myself a copy.  The books in the original series are on my christmas wishlist this year.  A coworker told me that if you go to the Twilight section of Stephenie Meyer's website, you can read behind-the-story information and outtakes (scenes that never made it into the books).  I do not consider myself a Twi-hard.  I love the books.  I like the movies.  But I do not drool over the characters or the actors who play them.  I will not see the movies on opening night because I'd rather hear the dialogue than the whistles, cheers, sighs, and sophomoric comments of teenage girls.

Read on,
Paula

Quotes about reading

"Can't read all the time.  Bummer." - Rina Bander, in "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs By Writers Famous & Obscure"

"Parents didn't have to read the New York Review of Books or James Joyce, and they didn't have to make their kids read Treasure Island or Greek myths.  Parents simply had to read for themselves, and to make sure there were kids' books in the house.  Children had only to see that reading was something adults did for pleasure and, following this example, would begin to read on their own."
-Lewis Buzbee, "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop"

"I've had many more thousands of books in my possession than my shelves at home would indicate.  At one time, I tried to keep them all, but that quest soon became impossible; I now only keep the ones I'm sure I'm going to reread, the ones I'm definitely going to read before I die, and the ones I can't bear to part with because of an aesthetic or emotional attachment."
-Lewis Buzbee, "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop"

Read on,
Paula

Why wasn't I told about this?

Week 4 of the Learning 2.0 course I'm taking is about social bookmarking and tagging.  We were instructed to sign up for an account with Diigo.  You can view my links and tags here.  But here's the thing, this is the first time anyone has mentioned this service to me.  I guess my friends and coworkers aren't as social media-conscious as I thought.  Either that or they just haven't mentioned it.  The reason I'm personally excited about this newly discovered site is that I will be able to access my bookmarks from any computer with internet access.  I'm jumping for joy over here!  Now this is something I will definitely use!!  I've been the weirdo with her bookmark links on a portable USB or disk.  I recently loaded them into Dropbox because it has that syncing function too.  Going to Diigo will be so much easier!  And it's got the fancy highlighter and post-it note functions.  I also like the visual appeal of Diigo over Delicious.

I have a Stumbleupon account but I don't use it very much.  I imagine that the internet is a very vast web of sites with fascinating things I have yet to discover.  That's why I signed up.  But the subjects of interest are too general and they lead me to webpages rather than the main website.  Most of the sites I found were fun but pointless, see them once and never go back.  That's not what I use the internet for.  So maybe Diigo will be a better alternative to Stumbleupon.  Every now and then I get bored of what I know and go seeking something new and that's when I've used Stumbleupon.  For me, Stumbleupon's recommendations are like junk food.  They fill my needs for the moment but leave no lasting impression.

As if I weren't on the internet enough!

Read on,
Paula

Library eye candy

I've discovered my new favourite website.  I can sit for hours just salivating over The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World.  I had no idea that English country house libraries were so big!  I'm starting to imagine my dream library.  These pictures are definitely helping.

What does your dream library look like?

Read on,
Paula

Everything in one place

I was introduced to Bloglines in 1999 but forgot about it after graduating college.  Just when I rediscovered it, I got an email last year reporting that Bloglines was closing down.  A mad panic to find a replacement ensued.  I ended up going with Google Reader.  This works for me since my blog was with Google and I use Google a lot.  Bloglines changed their mind about closing down but by then I was too entrenched with Google Reader.  I find Google Reader more visually appealing, even though there isn't much to it.  I have a personal Google Reader and I created one specifically for the Learning 2.0 course I'm taking.  I weeded my personal account down to 32 blogs and I have 25 blogs in the Learning 2.0 account.  I love RSS feeds because I love being able to read it all in one place instead of going from site to site.  It's so much easier and I'm grateful to the people who invented it.  I imagine that a library would use Google Reader to gather resources in one spot.  Getting RSS feeds from online newspapers, library-specific blogs (such as 025.431) and other information/research resources could help staff to find answers to reference questions or to post to the website/blog/Facebook/Twitter that may be of interest to patrons.

I created a Twitter account.  To be completely honest, I was hoping that wouldn't be a course requirement.  I don't like Twitter.  Being limited to 140 characters means that most of what I've read on Twitter is mundane, boring, and unnecessary. The only redeeming quality is that your favourite author(s) might have a Twitter account.  But since Twitter is so popular, a library could use it to reach more of its "connected" patrons.  Twitter could be used for the same things a library Facebook account, blog, and/or website could be used: namely, information about upcoming events, alerts about holiday hours, samples of new title listings, and links to online resources and articles of interest.


Read on,
Paula

Three cups of tea and deceit

Have you read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson?  It was getting rave reviews and book friends had mentioned their interest in reading it.  It sounded good but for some reason I was never really excited about it.  I put it on my to-read list as a 'just-in-case-I-have-nothing-better-to-read' title.  I strongly believe in donating to charity and helping fellow humans but I don't often read about it.

I'm a big fan of Jon Krakauer's writing style.  I've read "Into the Wild" (years before the film), "Into Thin Air", and "Eiger Dreams".  His latest book is "Three Cups of Deceit".  It seems that "Three Cups of Tea" is not exactly 100% accurate.  It sounds similar to the James Frey/Oprah debacle.  I've used this as an excuse to remove "Three Cups of Tea" from my to-read list.  I wasn't very keen in the first place anyway.  But although I love Krakauer's work, I have no intention of reading "Three Cups of Deceit" either.  I prefer not to read about the fraudulence of so-called humanitarians.  I prefer to keep my rose-coloured glasses on about the world.  I prefer to believe in the good of others.  I prefer to be naive if that's what it takes to save my sanity.


Read on,
Paula

New to ebooks

I have a BlackBerry Curve 9300.  Unfortunately, my library's ebooks from Overdrive are not compatible with my model.  I keep my fingers crossed for someday.  Until then, I have managed to find an app (called Buku Reader, $1.99) that allows me to read epub books.  I read all five of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series on it.  I am now basking in the constant availability of reading material without having to worry that I will somehow ruin the physical library books that I read.  Most trade and paperback books get scrunched and deformed from me carrying them in my backpack, therefore I try to read hardcover as often as possible.

Today I downloaded "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (which I intend to read during my christmas holidays...I like being prepared), "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby (I've seen the movie, now I want to read the book), and "Devil in the White City" by Eric Larson (a title recommended by a coworker).  I also have books by Mary Roach, David Sedaris, and Malcolm Gladwell already loaded.  I currently have 13 titles loaded and hope to increase it.  I will be travelling during the christmas holidays and don't wish to be stuck without any reading material.  Nine of the thirteen titles are on my "to read" list and the others are incidental finds.

Although I'm enjoying reading on my BlackBerry, there are drawbacks.  People might think it's the small screen but I'm personally fine with that.  Actually, it's the way the text is converted either from the file or in the app.  There is one font and one font only.  This means I'll have to read "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" in print because it switches from 'I' to 'he' so often and I can't keep it straight without the differentiation in text.  Also, sometimes there is no break between paragraphs and/or chapters.  It ain't great but it'll do.  It feeds my craving for constant reading access without having to spend large sums of money.  A friend recently bought a Kobo and I helped her figure out how to load it.  All the talk about Kobos, Kindles, and Sony Readers has me intrigued but not enough yet to actually purchase one.  At least with my BlackBerry, I have it with me at all times anyway.

Do you have/use an ebook reader?  If so, what kind and are you happy with it?  Do you still read print books?  Do you have a preference?  Personally, I like both.

Read on,

Paula

WOTS

I attended this year's The Word On The Street festival in Toronto with four book-loving friends.  And we go for the whole day.  This is my second year in a row and I hope to go every year.  I am a big Robert J. Sawyer fan and he has been at the festival both times I've gone.  I hope he continues to attend as well.  I love hearing him read from his own books because of the way he reads it, giving the story more emotion and pizzazz than when I read it to myself.  When I told one of my friends that I had bought only 10 books this year, she thought that was a lot whereas I was thinking it wasn't much at all.  If I'd had more money, there were at least four or five more that I wanted and I'm sure I could have found even more.

Read on,

Paula

Google+ vs. Facebook

I created a Google+ account today as part of my Learning 2.0 course.  I live in a small town and don't know many people in my profession (aside from my coworkers) so using LinkedIn never appealed to me.  I used to use Facebook for a few years but all my friends wanted me to join their games.  I found it too distracting and ended up just wasting time on Facebook instead of "having a life".  And the whole privacy issue with Facebook is a big deal breaker for me.  I had seen the little +1 icon before but just wasn't curious enough to find out on my own.  I used Blogger when I had a blog and I'm using it again for this blog.  I am a big user of Google Reader.  I have a Google email account.  I just can't use Google Chrome until I get a new hard drive; the one I currently have is approximately 10 years old.  But otherwise, I'm a big fan of Google.

So I added some people to my Google+ account.  Since it's still pretty new, I'm hoping more of my friends and coworkers will join.  And for those that are interested, it does have games like Facebook.  I'm not sure what I think of it yet but I like the look of it.  And my two favourite authors (Robert J. Sawyer and Douglas Coupland) are already using it. I wouldn't mind finding old college classmates that I've lost touch with though.


Read on,
Paula

Learning 2.0 (and a new pet peeve)

Right up front I will admit that I have perfectionist tendencies.  I want things to be just right.  Like the title of my blog.  I want it to reflect me as a person, not be just a random one.  I looked at WordPress first but found it too complicated.  I don't want to have to download something in order to blog.  I have read some Tumblers recently and find them too disorganized for the aforesaid perfectionism.  So I settled on Blogger.  I've used Blogger before for a now-defunct personal blog.  And in choosing my blog title, I discovered a new pet peeve: people who waste good book-related blog titles for blogs that have never been used or haven't been updated since 2003.

Read on,

Paula