Reading: shared in a digital space

How do you share what you love (or hate) about a book you have read? What if your family and friends don’t have the same love for the particular genre or author you like to read? How do you get your recommendations?

Of course, you may be lucky to rely on your school librarian, local public librarian or your local bookshop owner, since these people are usually avid readers with lots to share! However, the digital age also presents book-sharing communities that are readily available when these people are not.

These communities include GoodReads and LibraryThing. Both offer the ability to not only track what you read and enjoy, but also the opportunity to connect with other readers who may have the same interests or reading tastes.

You can simply browse for titles (based on authors, titles, genres and more*) or participate by logging what you read, rating books and writing simple (or extended reviews). You can link up with people you know, or follow those who seem to like the same books or have a similar purpose to your own. Once you have logged a few titles, GoodReads and LibraryThing will provide recommendations for your next book.

Checking these recommendations, or reading the varied reviews of others, can also help you decide whether you want to pick up the latest book by Jack Heath or Margaret Atwood, or help you discover someone new. Remember, not everyone likes the same book, so there are sometimes interesting and contrasting discussions to dissect.

Why not give it a try, and maybe encourage a few friends also, to be able to share what you are reading in a safe known group? Then look for other friends or acquaintances with similar tastes to your own. You may even get the chance to ‘Ask the Author’ questions, or participate in a special discussion event – all related to your own specific likes and dislikes. Do it on your laptop, tablet or phone as apps easily available. What have you got to lose?

What other avenues do you use to share and find reading recommendations?

* Other things include reading lists, giveaways, new releases, interviews and GoodReads choice awards.

** You can always browse this LibraryThing, JustNew, which shows how you can list your own bookshelves/reading, and the app offers. (You can change it to look at cover images to browse over 900 titles…) Then, why not setup up your own!

Indie Awards 2016

Each year, the Independent Booksellers select an array of Australian books for recognition. Often these books receive applause further afield, and so the shortlist proves to be a great point, for readers young and old, to select from. Previous winners include Anh Doh, Tim Winton, Richard Flanagan and Craig Silvey (with ‘Jasper Jones’ soon to be released as a movie).

This year’s shortlists (released last week) include:

LEB Indie Shortlist 2016 tiled web banner_1.indd

CHILDREN’S SHORTLIST
Olive of Groves by Katrina Nannestad & Lucia Masciullo, Illus (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
The 65-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Illus (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Bad Guys, Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Australia)
*The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)

YOUNG ADULT SHORTLIST
*Cloudwish by Fiona Wood (Macmillan Australia)
Prince of Afghanistan by Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin)
*Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years 1: The Tournament at Gorlan by John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
*Soon by Morris Gleitzman (Penguin Australia)

Source: http://www.indiebookawards.com.au/#!Shortlist-Announced-for-the-2016-Indie-Book-Awards/cmbz/569c69ff0cf28074ac9d3348

Many of the authors mentioned above would be well recognised by most readers, and our library has those marked *.

I wonder which of these titles will be awarded the top honour? Which one would you choose? 

Other categories also exist at the Indie site –  for debut novels adult reads and non-fiction titles – which are also worth looking into. The Indie Book Awards category winners and the Book of the Year 2016 will be announced at an event in the Sydney CBD on Wednesday 23 March.

Have you been to see your independent bookseller to chat about these titles? Will you have read some of these titles before then? which one will you vote for?

*** Shaun Tan is always hard to beat – so different from the others in the Children’s Shortlist – maybe he’s really in a class of his own?

# Some of the local independent booksellers we rely on include:

the Turning Page, Springwood

Megalong Books, Leura

Wisemans Books, Richmond

Harvard Books, Blaxland

and further afield, the Children’s Bookshop, Beecroft