# Shelfari



## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Anyone on Shelfari please post a link or name to your bookshelf. Here's the link to my bookshelf. I also added this to my Kindle Board signature.


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## Susan M (Nov 8, 2008)

I'm on Shelfari as Susan M.  I go over there occasionally and find it is a good resource for finding some similar books I would like to read.  I put a Kindle tag on all of my books that are also available in Kindle format.

How did you make the link for your shelf?

Susan


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Susan M said:


> How did you make the link for your shelf?
> 
> Susan


<url=Put Your Shelfari address here<img]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb117/Avalon1951/Books/12283v1-max-250x250.png[/img][/url>

Then change all the < and > to [ and ] and copy and paste into your signature or message.


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## Susan M (Nov 8, 2008)

Thanks for the link - Here is my Shelfari page:



I'm hooked now on Janet Evanovich and looking forward to Outlander.

Susan


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## patrickb (Nov 22, 2008)

I added a bunch of books from memory (and my manage my kindle history list), but it's a start.  I changed my signature to have a link.


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## sharyn (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm not going to work out links today (it's Sunday, therefore football, and the Eagles are on soon!), I'm on Shelfari as sharyn.  If you tap me as a friend, please mention the Kindle.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Can someone give me a quick synopsis of what shelfari is and why I would want to have a page over there?

L


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Can someone give me a quick synopsis of what shelfari is and why I would want to have a page over there?


It's social networking - kinda like Facebook - for your books. Your books get divided into three categories: Going to Read, Reading Now, Have Read. You can rate and review books, keep a list of favorites, books you own and a wish list. Books are displayed with their covers on a bookshelf. You can sign up to be "friends" with other people, and see their bookshelves.

If you click on the shelfari icon in my signature, it will take you to my bookshelf.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Can someone give me a quick synopsis of what shelfari is and why I would want to have a page over there?
> L


What is Shelfari?: 
Shelfari is a social network devoted to create a global community of book lovers by encouraging users to discuss and share their favorite books with friends and strangers. Their mission is to "...enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word."

Founded in 2006 by Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman, Shelfari was one of the first social media sites devoted to books. In 2007, Shelfari received around $1 million in funding by Amazon.com.

Devoted to creating a community of book lovers, Shelfari allows avid readers to find like-minded folk and to share their love of reading with others.

This is a picture of my Shelfari Widget on Myspace page.










Click on the Shelfari icon in my signature and you will be taken to my bookshelf.


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## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

Shelfari is neat but I have decided for now not to use it. I have trouble keeping up here!   ...and I must have time to Kindle.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I would love to have a Shelfari type feature here. I like to consolidate my online activities, if at all possible.

L


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## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I would love to have a Shelfari type feature here. I like to consolidate my online activities, if at all possible.
> 
> L


That would be great Leslie.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I would love to have a Shelfari type feature here. I like to consolidate my online activities, if at all possible.


There are some photo gallery mods for this forum that you could probably customize pretty easily to function like user book libraries.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Linda Cannon-Mott said:


> Shelfari is neat but I have decided for now not to use it. I have trouble keeping up here!  ...and I must have time to Kindle.


I started with Shelfari last year. I don't keep up with reviews and groups. I go over when I want to update or check to see what everyone else is reading.

I'm spending too much time here and not as much reading.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Susan M said:


> Thanks for the link - Here is my Shelfari page:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I hooked so many friends and relatives on to Janet Evanovich. I finished #13 but haven't read #14.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Susan M said:


> I'm on Shelfari as Susan M.
> 
> Susan


I located you at Shelfari group Kindle Owners
http://www.shelfari.com/groups/23042/about


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## Susan M (Nov 8, 2008)

Avalon3 said:


> I hooked so many friends and relatives on to Janet Evanovich. I finished #13 but haven't read #14.


I'm about to finish #4. I wish more were available in the 3 for 1 price like the first ones. When I really like a series, I have to have them all. This is going to be expensive.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Susan M said:


> I'm about to finish #4. I wish more were available in the 3 for 1 price like the first ones. When I really like a series, I have to have them all. This is going to be expensive.


So you're not reading them on Kindle? I gave my sister a Kindle and keep the account under my name. That way we can read the same books.

We both like a lot of the same authors. I've also turned her on to some new authors that I like.


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## Susan M (Nov 8, 2008)

Avalon3 said:


> So you're not reading them on Kindle? I gave my sister a Kindle and keep the account under my name. That way we can read the same books.
> 
> We both like a lot of the same authors. I've also turned her on to some new authors that I like.


I am reading them on the Kindle. I have my daughter and father on my account with me. So far, I am the only one reading these but that may change soon. I hope I can get my mother to try one - but she is sharing my dad's Kindle - so I don't know how much time she gets on it.


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Can someone give me a quick synopsis of what shelfari is and why I would want to have a page over there?
> L


Shelfari is a wonderful database for listing your books. When I enter a new book I put tags. I usually tag like this>
If the book is "John Adams" by David McCullough. My tags would be Kindle, david McCullough,c

All my tags are listed below my bookshelf. If I want to see all the books on my shelf that I have on Kindle I can hit the Kindle link below the shelf and all my books will be put on the shelf. I have a tag for David McCullough and by clicking the link below the bookshelf I can see all the books I own and have read by David McCullough.

If I mouse over without clicking on one of my books, I can see all the other members that have read that book and if there are any reviews. When I was in high school I read the Tod Moran mysteries by Howard Pease. By mousing over the books by Howard Pease I found 4 other members that listed his books.

I just updated my bookshelf and have more to do. I joined over a year ago and enjoy listing the books I've read and plan to read.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

I tried it - once I got a few hundred titles on it, it became unwieldy. There is no way to search your shelves and it takes forever to find a book (even in the list mode, where you can at least get 150/page and do a text search there; you just have to open enough pages to get all the books listed on several tabs, then find the alphabetical section it might be in, then do a search.

I am switching to LibraryThing. Same features, more or less, plus easy search in the library. Also lets you set up various views of your library to put on your personal web page (which if clicked goes directly to Amazon and let's people buy the book -- you can let them get the sales credit, take it yourself if you are an associate or give it to any associate, such as kindleboards).  Neither tie in well to Kindle books, but LibraryThing is easier to use when adding new books and tagging existing books (use a tag and link to a hardcover/paperback copy of the same book and you almost never have to set up a "new" book).  Both apps will try to import your DTB list from Amazon or import a book from an Amazon DTB page, but neither like the Kindle pages much.  Both have forums (that are barely used, so can be safely ignored by all); LibraryThing likes to give away books (lottery style, but I've received two this year).

Goodreads is another one - and much more likely to fill your inbox with people you don't know wanting to be your "friend," which gets them an automatic trip to my spambox. I don't mind being friends with those I "know" thru messages/interaction on a board, but have zero interest in someone picking me at random to be friends with, even if we have a book in common.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Part of what eludes me with any of these sites is the fact that I have never kept lists of what I have read in the past, so I am not sure I want to start keeping lists now, even with electronic tools and the ability to share with others. 

It is interesting that I have always been sort of a "private" reader. That is, I buy books, read them...maybe pass them on to my sister or mother, maybe recommend a really good book to someone else, but that is it. Like I said, I never kept track.

Then I got my Kindle and went to the Amazon forum, and now here, and I find there are people with Excel spreadsheets of books read/TBR; they join sites like Shelfari etc. It is interesting to me because they are doing things that have never entered my head. Catalog books read? What a concept! I guess, I have sort of a mental catalog (deficient as it is).

Point is, I am not sure that Shelfari (or anything else) will get this old dog to learn new tricks at this stage of the game. But it is still interesting to read and think about.

L


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I like to keep lists so I can remember books I really enjoyed, and look up the authors later to see if they have written anything new. I also tend to forget if I have read a book.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I agree with you, Leslie. Yes, sometimes I'll buy a book, start to read, and realize I already have. . .but I probably have not remembered enough to stop reading it. And on my home bookshelves, I know where everything is in physical space. Like my brother is visiting and wanted something to read. I was able to go straight to a book I'd recently finished that I thought he'd like: _The Loch_ by Steve Alten. (Just checked, not yet kindled, but a good read nevertheless.) Point is I don't think I'd have the same spatial memory with an on-line site. It is good to know those types of sites dedicated to organizing books are available. . .seems all you hear about are the ones for music and videos.

Ann


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## Avalon3 (Dec 3, 2008)

koland said:


> I tried it - once I got a few hundred titles on it, it became unwieldy. There is no way to search your shelves and it takes forever to find a book (even in the list mode, where you can at least get 150/page and do a text search there; you just have to open enough pages to get all the books listed on several tabs, then find the alphabetical section it might be in, then do a search.


The search feature is TAGS
Tags help filter down the search. I tag with an alphabetical letter of the author's last name, the name of the author and Kindle. If I want to find all the books that I've read by Tony Hillerman, I hit the link tag below my shelf and it searches and pulls all those titles to one place for me. I have over a 1000 books and I can easily search the shelves because I added tags when I listed my book. I also have Library Thing but I'm staying with Shelfari.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

People talk about starting to re-read a book they have read before, but I have never done that. Even though I might not remember a title or author, I remember the way a book looks, so in my memory, I match a cover to a cover I have read before. I guess that is a type of photographic memory and I suppose that is what got me through my doctoral program. I could picture journal articles in my mind's eye and I would just zoom in (in my memory) to see the title and author. Also where and when the article was published. For a long time, I thought everyone could do this. It is only in recent years I have realized it is sort of unique.

L


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

From reading this thread, I am intrigued about the idea of building something similar to Shelfari / Library Thing / Goodreads. 

I know... "who needs another one?" But would be an interesting intellectual challenge, and I'm liking the idea of having our KindleBoards 'user group' driving the requirements and design for it. 

Mulling this over...


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## Susan M (Nov 8, 2008)

Harvey- That would be really cool to have the best features of the various programs brought into one package.  I agree that it will quite the intellectual puzzle to find the right structure.

Keep us posted on your mullings.

Susan


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## Marci (Nov 13, 2008)

Harvey, 

That would really be a feat!    And a wonderful accomplishment.  I'd be very glad to give input for something like this.

Leslie,

I'm pretty much like you in that I go by book covers to know if I've read it or not.  I've been fooled a couple time though when the publisher decided to use a different image or graphic on the cover on new print runs of a book.

Marci


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Marci said:


> I'm pretty much like you in that I go by book covers to know if I've read it or not. I've been fooled a couple time though when the publisher decided to use a different image or graphic on the cover on new print runs of a book.


My problem with book covers is sometimes I've looked at them often enough trying to decide whether it's time to purchase, that at some point I forgot why I looked at it: was it because I thought of buying it, or did buy it, or have read it? Once I do have a book it lives on one set of shelves if it's not been read and goes somewhere else when I'm done with it.

Ann


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

Avalon3 said:


> The search feature is TAGS
> Tags help filter down the search. I tag with an alphabetical letter of the author's last name, the name of the author and Kindle. If I want to find all the books that I've read by Tony Hillerman, I hit the link tag below my shelf and it searches and pulls all those titles to one place for me. I have over a 1000 books and I can easily search the shelves because I added tags when I listed my book. I also have Library Thing but I'm staying with Shelfari.


An interesting work-around for a lack of features. But the slowness once you have a lot of books is also a problem. Not that I'd be interesting in adding letter tags for authors and then again for titles. If I want to find "harris", I don't want to wade thru all the H's. And if I want to search a title, I don't want to see authors that start with the same letter. I expected it to be substantially improved when Amazon bought them out, but they really seem to want to concentrate on social aspects of those who won't have many books. Unlike the librarian-oriented classifications on LT.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Part of what eludes me with any of these sites is the fact that I have never kept lists of what I have read in the past, so I am not sure I want to start keeping lists now, even with electronic tools and the ability to share with others.


I hate rebuying a book, especially one I either (a) have on the shelf or (b) discarded due to not wanting to read it again. I've started using Librarything simply as a catalog - I can get to it via my phone from anywhere and check to see if I already have a book. Sure, could do that in excel and copy/paste to phone, but LT has other features, such as visual covers. So, when wanting to pick something to read, I can search for the "unread" tag, the stare at the pics, just like at the bookstore, rather than paging thru the TOC on the Kindle (or browing the ends of the shelved books). Once read, I swap out the tag - Read for Unread and perhaps add "discarded". I probably won't even rate the book, but if you do they add suggestions based on others who rated it the same. You never have to "meet" any of them (just like on Amazon) to use their ratings/reviews/"suggestions".


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