I love it!  I finally took the time to clean out my Goodreads account.  I’ve had an account for well over a decade (possibly even close to two), but I have rarely used it to keep track of my reading or anything else.  When I first joined, I started to use it to catalog my books.  At the time, torn between Goodreads and LibraryThing, I didn’t realize that both websites were created with very different intentions.  Goodreads aims to connect readers, help readers keep track of their reading, and serve as a true social media platform for readers.  LibraryThing, on the other hand, is meant to help people catalog their book collections.  They have also cataloged famous personal libraries and annually hosts one of my favorite Christmas traditions – SantaThing.  Basically, SantaThing is similar to a secret santa for book lovers.  Participants chose the amount they would like to spend.  Then, participants choose books for another person while someone else chooses books for them.  I have yet to be disappointed!

After several years of trying to decide how I want to go about tracking my reading, I have finally settled on Goodreads.  You can find my Goodreads profile here.  The wonderful thing is that a large part of my family is going along for the ride.  Several of my aunts are avid readers, as are my new brother-in-law, his daughter, my sister, my sister-in-law, and my mom.  We now have quite a crew and have already spent some time sharing book recommendations with one another.  My Grandma Buttrick would be incredibly proud!

In fact, I’ve been meaning to brag about this here, but my grandma proved to be way ahead of her time.  In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Grandma Buttrick helped to establish an early version of a free little library.  During that time, she always seemed to have a box of books to take/donate to the hotel in her garage.  At the former Quality Inn in West Branch, a continued important part of Forward Corporation (Grandpa was president at the time, and later, served as chairman of the board), Grandma kept a rotating paperback rack full of books for hotel guests.  Sitting in the lobby in an alcove near the registration desk, guests could take or leave a book.  I wish I could tell her just how ahead of her time she was.  I like to think that she’d be incredibly pleased to see how we’ve passed her love of reading down the generations.  Our little book club of two lives on!

As a child, Grandma Buttrick was the one who helped me get my first library card in Standish.  I’ve done the same with my niece and nephew.  I do hope that our excursions to the library leave an impression on them.  If anyone out there continues to believe that libraries are no longer relevant, they need to actually visit one!