Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Celebrate Kwanzaa!

I devoured The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah. I literally did not put it down until I finished it. I don't know anyone who has read it and didn't enjoy it as well. And now I hear there's to be a sequel. Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. I will be waiting when the bookstore opens that day.

I can't wait for the holidays to be over because I'm going to have a book exchange party.
The details are up to you. Eat first, then go through books, go through books first. Draw names and have each person go through books one at a time, or have everyone go at it at once.

Read 'Em and Eat Party

Invite several friends over. Ask everyone to bring a dish and 3-5 books to give away. Inside each book, ask each guest to write their name, number and a brief review of the book. Have each person pick out several books to take home. Call the original owner and tell them what you thought of the book.
Meet again in a few months and do it all again.

Donate any left overs to a nursing home or domestic violence shelter(after you've read them of course).

Some suggestions:
Keep the books and the food separate, someone is bound to spill something.
Have a few extra books on hand for guests that brought 3 books, but want to take home 5.
Don't restrict the type of books beyond "no children's books"
Encourage people to step outside their comfort zone and try a biography if they normally read cozy mysteries
Have a children's exchange at the same time for the kids
Or keep the kids busy with literary crafts, like making bookmarks or flip-books
Get creative and have themed exchanges. Ask guests to bring books by foreign authors and ethnic foods, or books with girlfriends and have an ice cream party
Have fun sharing and talking about books!

Booking Through Thursday

Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? (Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin))

If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?

Interesting enough I just read an article of a man who has a specific ritual for logging in books when he receives them.
I don't use any way of cataloguing my books, online or off. I don't do it because I have too many books. I don't have time to sit and write or type it all up. If I go to the Free Store I could bring in 10 books at one time. The thrift store easily nets 5-6 books. I'm just not disciplined enough to log in so many books each time. I've tried just writing in a notebook, but I'll do it for a couple of months, then fall behind and then it's too much going through and trying to catch up, so I gave up.
I do log the books I've read. I have a composition book that I write the name, author and a few sentences about what I thought of the book. I read so much that I have trouble remembering which James Patterson I read. I just got a Diane Mott Davidson book from the library without checking my list and realized I've read it before. Since it's only a couple of books a week it's much easier to keep up this list.
I also keep a TBR list in my planner so that when I go to the library I can look it up.