It Takes All Kinds of Readers

OK, I confess, I joined Facebook. Now, you have to remember I'm a computer geek, and as such, I'm not really all that good at dealing with people, face-to-face. I'm much happier working with machines; they're logical, they don't talk back, and generally do what you tell them to without argument. (Although I do have one server that I swear wants a blood sacrifice before it'll condescend to behave.) If I have to interact with people over the course of the day, I do everything possible to do it in writing (yes, e-mail is my friend). So, it only makes sense that a medium that allows me to interact with others, without actually having to talk to them, would offer some appeal.

At first I thought it was kind of silly; I had four or five "friends" (distant cousins and co-workers) with whom I'd rarely communicated in the past and have little in common with now, and I just couldn't understand the attraction. (Sadly, I didn't really care that my cousin spent her evening watching Glee on Fox.) Then, one day, the oddest thing happened – I got contacted by a former high school boyfriend. From there, one thing led to another, and now I'm in contact with all these people I have had nothing to do with for decades. (Still not entirely sure whether or not that's a good thing – and they probably feel the same way.)

I've found that one of the more interesting aspects of these sites is all the book activity taking place on them. Considering the US isn't exactly a nation of readers (the average American reads four books a year according to a 2007 poll), I've been surprised at – and heartened by - how many people are eager to discuss all things book-related. As you can see from the banner at the top of this page, BookBrowse participates in both Facebook and Twitter, but BookBrowse is hardly alone in taking advantage of current technology. I made the mistake of following a certain author's new book (because if you signed up as a fan, you could win a copy of her novel -- and the odds were good – and I'll do just about anything for free books). This resulted in my Inbox receiving a poorly-written (yet glowing) reader review of said novel approximately every ten minutes. I'm glad it was only one author's updates! My gosh, it would have gotten real ugly, real fast had I did my usual thing - gotten all carried away and signed up for half a dozen of them!

Another thing I've discovered is that my opinions aren't universal, not even about something as highly regarded as a work of classic literature (say, for example, Pride & Prejudice). I actually had to stop looking at topics that discuss readers' least favorite books. It's very hard to restrain myself when others are trashing novels I'm passionate about, books that any NORMAL PERSON would like... books anyone with HALF A BRAIN SHOULD ADORE AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?! ... (Uh, excuse me... sorry about that... having a flashback.) Needless to say, I've found that they do tend to frown on it when you start flaming others' opinions (even when you're completely right and they're stupid). So, to keep my friends, my various associated memberships, and my blood pressure in check, I've had to simply stop reading those conversation threads. Lesson learned.

BookBrowse reviewer Kim Kovacs is an avid reader in the Pacific Northwest. All those rainy days give her the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of books that span many genres. Browse Kim's reviews.