nowadays, there’s social networking sites for literally everything (stachepassions probably being my personal favorite), so it stands to reason that there would be a number of sites dedicated to bookworm types. and there are- MANY. most notably, you’ve got your shelfari and your goodreads… and bringing up the rear, is portland’s very own librarything (who knew it was right here!). it’s a lot less pretty, and significantly clunkier than the other two to use, but what it lacks in glossy sheen, it makes up in mad crazy functionality. above and beyond a basic digital bookshelf, librarything essentially lets you search/categorize/sort down to the cellular level. basically, if you get a boner for the dewey decimal system (or enjoy engaging in some hardcore self-righteous literary snark), this shit is FOR YOU.
so, why the hell am i telling you about this? librarything is not merely a rad place to go to bump chests about books with other bibliophiles… but they also have monthly free book giveaways in the form of a pretty awesome program they run called “early reviewers“. basically, authors and publishing houses send fat crates of their new books to librarything, and members can sign up for a chance to get them for free (under the condition that they read and review them for the site). dude, FREE BOOKS. you love free books! i love free books! and it’s not all crappy self-published bullshit- they get some seriously TOP SHELF SHIT.
the main caveat here being that i haven’t been chosen to get one yet… but it’s free to play the book lottery, and i have high hopes that someday i will win. perhaps a sexy complimentary blog post will finally tip the scales in my favor (ahem) (hint hint) (p.s. i’m really pulling for “the girl who would speak for the dead“)? but seriously, even if librarything never asks me to the prom, it really is an utterly fantastic website (you should go join my nancy drew discussion group right now), and somebody is getting all those awesome free books- why not you?
if you could only read one book for the rest of your life- what would it be?
broke 207 
I entered forever (okay for somewhere between 6 months and a year) before I got a free book, and now I get one most months. It will happen for you too! If you don’t have a lot of books listed on your LibraryThing account, then I would suggest adding some, because it does base what it gives out in part on whether you have similar titles in your collection (suggesting that you will in fact read the book). Good luck!
I just signed up with Library Thing as well after learning they are a Portland-based company. Unfortunately I haven’t been very active on it. I just bid on my first round of Early Reads (fingers crossed – I’ll share with you if I get any!)
I wish they were doing more to build their online presence, I think with everything they have to offer they could give Good Reads a serious run for their money. Not with their current marketing & online promotion though…
so i applied for a job there (which is how i found out about it), and even though they didn’t bother to respond to my inquiry, i still sent them back an email basically begging them to do some marketing. they also didn’t respond to that either, and while the guy that did get the job seems pretty smart… he’s definitely more into the curation aspect, and not necessarily trying to expand their user base (or make the site more usable!). we should storm their castle and have an intervention!
In January, I got chosen…apparently the book is like “The Help” mixed with “Nanny Diaries”! I am so in!
I want the one you mentioned too, if I get it, I’ll share…sharing is free 🙂
i might need to borrow your january pick when you’re finished… i do love a good trashy book about why rich people are terrible. also, i totally want a t-shirt now that says “sharing is free”.
And “sharing is free” should be written in comic sans!
We’re switching to InDesign at work, and the team leader sent our In Design training schedule in Comic Sans…too funny.
And while I’m on the subject, I once took a “what font are you?” quiz…not my best moment and guess what I was? I guess it could be worse, I could be a dingbat!
i’m pretty sure that i took that same quiz. although i’m a nice modern respectable font (futura if i recall). i don’t know if we can hang out anymore…
I just totally lifted your post subject matter on my blog. Sorry! I got so excited about LibraryThing when I read yours this morning that I went all Booky McGee at Little Eye Designs.
Your “Sharing is Free” shirt will single-handedly topple the U.S. economy. I’m in!
please feel free to shoplift away! librarything is awesome and deserves to be shared. also, we totally need to design some “sharing is free” shirts.
[…] I can’t put it down! I love to read its pages!!” That kind. Fabulous Allie from Broke207 wrote this post about LibraryThing, which, it so happens is based in Portland, Maine. Wahoo! […]
The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged, of course).
It’s got everything from romance to action to philosophy to sex to grandiose settings to family strife; it’s beautifully written; and it could potentially take more than a week to read.