Mailbox Monday: Cold Warriors by Duncan White & Why I Love LibraryThing

I got one new book last week from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.



Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War by Duncan White. This new book focuses on five writers who the author argues engaged in "literary warfare" on both sides of the cold war: George Orwell, Stephen Spender, Mary McCarthy, Graham Greene, and Andrei Sinyavsky. McCarthy and Greene are two of my favorites, so that alone makes me want to read this.

While I'm here, I'll give my unsolicited plug for LibraryThing. I've been on it since 2006 and use it to keep track of and organize my library. You can find my LibraryThing profile and library here. I like tracking my personal library on LibraryThing because you can add your books, tag them, and track them in spreadsheet format.

You can use the standard columns to track things like author name, publication date, page numbers, or date read. Or you can track by tag to really manage your library. This gives you flexibility to keep track of which books are still "TBR" or which are "finished" or "read." I tag "NIL" if the book is no longer physically in my library, which saves a lot of time searching through shelves. And I tag the year I read it so I can make a list of books read each year. "Wishlist" is a popular way to keep track of books you want.

Finally, I like that LibraryThing lets you add your books by ISBN so the edition on your spreadsheet is the exact edition on your shelf. If for some reason the cover doesn't match, you can chose from another cover on LibraryThing or upload your own cover.

I'm also on goodreads. Maybe there is a way to track a personal library on goodreads the same way as on LibraryThing, but I've never figured out how to do it. So I do not use goodreads the same way I use LibraryThing. I most use goodreads to post some book reviews and as as a social site. Although there is also a community of book lovers on LibraryThing -- people review books, join discussions and groups, and there is a robust Early Reviewer program.

If you are on either LibraryThing or goodreads, please come and find me!

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.