Don't Judge a Book...

...by its cover. I think almost everybody in this world have heard this saying. I agree with the literal and metaphorical meaning of the statement. However, whenever I pick my next book, I can't help but judge the book by its cover.

Whenever I chose a book, I consider the following:

• The story/plot of the book
• If it was recommended, it usually goes to my TBR list automatically, (unless it is non-fiction...then have to do a little research)
• If I see a review on the book blogs I follow
• Usually Facebook's Visual Bookshelf and Shelfari's reviews
• The book cover.

Recently, (sometime last week), I was browsing through the non-fiction audio books section (I occassionally do that). One audio book caught my eye because the spine of the book was colorful. I just had to pick it up and it was none other than Amy Sedaris (David Sedaris's sister). I will listen to it soon (a colleague is borrowing it right now.) Here is what I know:

• Plot: something to do with hospitality
• Recommendation: Not really....I had read something about her promoting the book and that got me interested.
• Review: Waiting for the colleague to finish. She said she is enjoying it so far.
• I haven't looked on Facebook or Shelfari but I have a slight idea what they will say.
• The book cover: well...it was interesting. Have a look yourself.

Anyways, time to sleep. It wasn't such a good day and on top of that, didn't get much accomplished. I have my exam next week on the 25th. Good Night.

Virtual Bookshelf - Shelfari

I recently read a review of virtual bookshelves online on Wired.com. The blogger "Geekdad" reviewed LibraryThing, GoodReads, and Shelfari. I use Shelfari on my blog and I have seen other bloggers that use LibraryThing and GoodReads. I wondered how these sites were but I was too lazy to check them out. I am pleased with Shelfari.

I like how the bookshelves widgets look on my blog. I just don't like the fact that I cannot make more categories on there. The categories are "Reading now," "Favorites," .... You get the idea. I wanted to make categories like "Books I read in 2008," "2009," and so on. However, I was able to accomplish that on Facebook's Virtual Bookshelf. But, the problem is, both virtual bookshelves do not match. I will have to match these two and make sure all the books are included and I am too lazy for that.

Anywayz, GeekDad's results were:

After working with all three sites for the past month, I concluded that LibraryThing is the best site of the three for maintaining and organizing your book collection. GoodReads is close second if you want to share your reading habits with your friends. Shelfari is a distant third.

I am somewhat disappointed that Shelfari got last. It is a good site, except for the whole list deal. Oh well...I don't think I am going to switch. Here is a link to the article: Catalog Your Books Online

Time to sign out and start packing...almost time to leave and head to the library to study :(