Bookish Things

Well, I am feeling a bit low for writing inspiration today, so I figure that instead i will share some of my favorite resources for reading that can be found on the internet. As you may know, I'm an avid reader. My husband may argue that "avid" is much too tame of an adjective to use.

I recently purchased a Kindle, and have found it to be a fantastic platform. While I have some minor complaints, mostly about the user interface (UI), I really enjoy the portability, the fact that your eyes feel that they are reading paper, the ability to have multiple books at your fingertips and the lightweight device - I recently finished reading Book 3 in the Inheritance Cycle, Brisingr, which weighs in 784 pages and probably about 2 pounds - and reflected how nice it was to hold the Kindle in one hand without the strain that would usually result from such a tome. I've become something of a product evangelist, and should probably contact Amazon about my commission, as I've directly influenced at least two friends to purchase one. If you are at all interested in the device, I'd be more than happy to share additional thoughts with you. I think it's a winner!

Another site that I've come to really enjoy is Goodreads, a central database to store your reading lists, books that you'd like to read in the future, and share your reviews and recommendations with friends. You can see I've embedded my current list in the sidebar of the blog. If you read frequently and would like a convenient way to catalog and share your favorites, I highly recommend it. And it's free!

Finally, what should you do with the books you've read and no longer have a need for? Well, you can certainly donate them to a local school or library, or take them into a convenient used book store. However, there are some other fabulous resources available:

• BookMooch is a place where you can swap books you no longer need with others seeking to reduce their own inventory. The availability is a bit spotty, and it's difficult to find new releases and popular fiction, but I've found some great classics as well as travel guides and general non-fiction. You add books to your inventory that you are willing to swap, and gain points as they are mooched by other users. Then, you can use these points to mooch books that you want! You pay outgoing postage (media mail) on books that you send, and do not pay for books shipped to you, so there is some out of pocket cost, but it's significantly less than you'd pay for new books, and it promotes recycling!
• If swapping your books online doesn't excite you, then you can also benefit from the internet in selling your books online for cash. I like this as a first-stop: if I have books I'd like to dispose of, I'll first input them on BookScouter to see which buyback sites will offer me the best deal. So far, I've had great luck and prompt payment from Cash4Books and Textbooks.com.

That's it for today! I hope you've enjoyed and can make use of some of these resources!