Has LT affected more than your free time?

Since signing up with LibraryThing, I've unearthed just about every book in my apartment (a few are still missing) and found places for them on actual shelves, instead of under the bed, hidden and forgotten. Among these books are quite a few from college that I could never part with--not because I ever expected to read them again, but because I've always fantasized about having my own library, a large room with floor to ceiling bookcases on every wall, filled with every book I'd ever read and/or owned.

Apparently what they were really waiting for was for me to mature, in my experiences and in my tastes, because as I took each book out of its box and added it to the database, I looked at it with interest instead of dread. And now several have been moved to my to-be-read shelf, and I find myself looking forward to reading these plays and stories and novels that used to torture me when I was 19 and stupid.

It's possible they'll just torture me again once I actually start reading them, but so far, the Spoon River Anthology is way more interesting than it was when I had to read it for an acting class I took just to satisfy a credit requirement. For this alone, LibraryThing has been worth the lifetime membership fee.

~Polgara

LT is forcing me to resolve relationship issues I'm having with several books. Some books are things I read once and never intend to re-read, but I haven't gotten rid of them yet because of lingering "that was OK" thoughts. But I haven't entered them yet because they're, somehow, guests, not book-family. And I need to resolve the guest issue, both from space needs and "they're staring at me and not contributing to my wellbeing" needs.

I'm also trying to resolve my "those are Hubby's books, not my books, they don't belong in my LT listing." I had no idea I had such segregationist views when it came to my library.

And on a less academic or introspective note...

LT is responsible for all of my shelves getting washed down, most of my books getting dusted, and many of the sad little separated volumes finding their way back into their sets again.

Hah! Totally--not only have my books been rearranged and the shelves dusted, many of them I was like "WHY do I have this?" (though getting rid of them might be too big a step, for anything that's not a trashy romance or terrible thriller that I got free) , and several have definitely demanded a re-read.

I've also started thinking about whether I *really* need all the schoolbooks I have. Will I ever ever read about physical chemistry or xray analysis again? multivariable calculus? Highly doubtful. Do I want to get rid of them? Welllllll....

It is PRECIOUS reference! And source books for writing hardcore sci-fi!

My LT project has seen me sort through nearly a thousand books (and discard, one way or another, nearly 200 books). And I'm still not finished, but my LIFE seems much more organized, somehow.

I may actually be SAD when I get to the part where I run out of books to catalog.

Shop! Buy more! Never STOP! :)

Over a year later - and here I am lured in by work , of all things. I am thinking it might clean out my shelves a little more. Somethings I know I don't really want forever.

LT has given me a place to find books that interest me on the topics I want to read about. I travel a lot with my husband--I mean internationally--and I want to know what I can about those places. Finally, I have a resource that helps me find books that do that! Thanks!

**Keep writing reviews.