books

The Book Stand


The link below is to one of my Tumblr Blogs, ‘The Book Stand.’ The Book Stand is a place for finding free books available in Kindle and/or PDF formats. I post anywhere up to a dozen a day on the Blog and they are all free when posted (but they don’t all stay that way for long).

Visit at:
http://bookstand.tumblr.com/

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Books and Cataloguing


I once had all of my books catalogued and organised. I guess the ones I had up to that point still are – but now, with ebooks and other traditional book additions to my library, the number of books/ebooks I own has probably doubled at least. I should have continued to catalogue and organise them as I added to the library, but alas I did not. I have been working away at doing it now, on and off, for a little bit in recent months. I’ll get there eventually, but it takes a bit of time.

I use Goodreads online for cataloguing and a database on my computer for offline cataloguing. Both have their purpose, and one acts as a back up of the other. If I can get this done, it will be very helpful in using the library for research and study purposes, and also save a lot of time in the long run.

From My Armchair: 4 August 2012


At the BookShelf

I am into my last days of annual leave, so it is doubtful I’ll be able to read anywhere near as much as I have this last week. I’ll probably have the Kindle out at lunch for a bit, so I’ll still be getting some reading in even while I’m at work. The Kindle has certainly made it a lot easier to have good reading material available no matter where I am. Loving the Kindle.

 

Social Networks, Web Applications & Other Tools

Not a lot has happened with the social networks in the book/reading niche over this last week, except that I have been updating Goodreads on a regular basis as to what I am reading, progress and cataloguing the books as I go.

I did do a quick addition to Quotista, which has a lot of potential but doesn’t appear to be being developed any further, which is…

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Reading: The Bourne Identity


Bourne IdentityToday had been quite unpleasant outside. It has been pouring with rain at times, then not. When it hasn’t been it has been blowing a gale and it is also quite cold. It’s bucketing down yet again. So very little has been able to be accomplished outside today. No great outdoors for me on this wet and miserable day.

I have been spending a bit of time, as a consequence of the weather, reading ‘The Bourne Identity,’ by Robert Ludlum. I haven’t read the Bourne series of books before, but have seen the movies many times. I’m a big fan of the Jason Bourne movies. However, having seen the movies it has been difficult to some degree reading the book. The book is very different to the movie, more so than what ‘The Hunt for Red October’ was to the film version. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still enjoying the book and will try and work my way through the other nine books (I believe there are now 10 books in the series).

So I’m making good progress through the first book and as I said, enjoying the read. I’m hoping to complete it before the end of the week, which I think I can achieve relatively easily. I’m approaching halfway through now – on the Kindle. I was only 10% through it a couple of days ago, so progress is going very well.

Goodreads: The Book Reading Social Network


Website: Free Kindle Books and Tips


If you have an ebook reader (specifically a Kindle) and would like access to free books, the site have linked to in today’s post could be just what you want. ‘Free Kindle Books and Tips’ is a Kindle Blog. I have been visiting this site on a daily basis now for several weeks and discovered some great books (possibly great as I haven’t read them all to confirm that yet).

Visit the Site at:
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/

Reading: The Hunt for Red October and Jason Bourne


I am a big fan of Tom Clancy novels and in particular the Jack Ryan series. A number of years ago I read all of the novels published in the series up until the time I moved house and so for the last 5 years I haven’t read any new ones. When I moved I decided I needed to clean out some of my books (and I have a huge library), so I figured the majority of my fiction books could be cleaned out. I always regretted moving the Tom Clancy novels along, though I figured that at some point I could reclaim them as ebooks, which I am now beginning to do.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to start reading the series again – right from the beginning. I hesitated as to what order I should read them, given that Patriot Games really was set before The Hunt for the Red October, but then settled on the order of the novel release order – so Patriot Games will be next. So I purchased a copy of The Hunt for Red October from Amazon. Of course I decided I might as well watch the movie again, as something of a comparison/contrast. That sort of thing intrigues me you see. I own a Kindle, so I purchased the Kindle version (which can be purchased via the link above).

So having read the first few chapters of the novel I decided to watch the DVD movie (which I have watched a number of times since purchasing the DVD some years ago) again. Now have refreshed my mind by re-reading the entire novel, it is not so much a comparison as a contrast. Certainly there are common threads and similar plots, but there are a large number of differences between the book and the movie. Still, both are quite good in their own right.

So Patriot Games was going to be the next book in the Jack Ryan series and this was to be read next. However, having read something about the 10th book in the Jason Bourne series of novels I thought I must read those also. So to break up the Tom Clancy books I’m going to be reading the Jason Bourne novels also. In fact I have just started the first in the series (again, quite different to the movie), The Bourne Identity (by Robert Ludlum).

BookYap: Book Recomendations


I am about to start using a new web application called BookYap. Put simply, BookYap is an application that recommends books based on criteria you enter. There are over 650 000 books in its database, so chances are it will find a book for you.

You can search for a book by using keywords or the filters it has available (based on personality types). By becoming a registered user, the application learns more and more about you and your reading habits, improving the recommendations it makes for you.

Books appear with thumbnails of their covers and book ratings. A brief description appears by hovering over the thumbnail. You are able to interact with the application and associated community by sharing books you have read and your reviews of them. There is connectivity with both Facebook and Twitter also.

You are also able to add books to a reading wishlist if you like. Books can be purchased from Amazon when you choose a book to read.

Visit BookYap at:
http://bookyap.com/

 

Storybook


Today’s link is to a site for people who are interested in or are actually writing a book or books. Storybook is Open Source software and available for free. From what I’ve seen of the software and a tutorial that I found on using it, Storybook looks to be a very useful piece of software. For a change I have two links – one for the software itself and one for the tutorial I found on it.

For more, visit:
http://storybook.intertec.ch/joomla/

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/organize-create-stories-novels-storybook/

 

Goodreads


If you are into books and sharing your thoughts about them, whether that is by book reviews, lists, what you own, etc, then Goodreads may be a social network for you. I am on Goodreads and I am using it to catalogue my entire library (both hard copy and digital) – it will take me a while to complete the exercise. I use Goodreads and Shelfari – at the moment Goodreads is probably my preferred book sharing social network.

http://www.goodreads.com/