So in addition to facebook, myspace, linkedin, friendster, twitter and probably a bunch of sites i don’t even remember joining, i’ve now joined GoodReads, a networking site for book readers. Basically you put up books you ‘ve read and give them a rating and share them with your “friends”. You can search by title and see who else has rated or reviewed it and read their reviews. Naturally I did this for my books then added all my books to my page, rating them 5 stars so that their rating would go up on the site overall. Pathetic. Maybe. No. Probably.


After that, I thought, okay, I’ll add a few books I’ve recently read and give them a rating. Then I remembered that I had already done that on Facebook, having added some book sharing application so that I could once again list my books and reccommend them highly. According to Facebook I’ve been reading Mr. Pip, a relatively short novel, since September. I’m either a really slow reader or having trouble updating my “currently reading” list. Anyway, did I want to start adding books to this GoodReads thing too, knowing full well it would probably be the first and last time I was gonna add anything?


In the end I added a few books just to see what it felt like. I added two books, actually. A book by the friend who invited me to join GoodReads (I sent her a message saying if she added my books I’d add hers and we could give each other 5 stars…pathetic? Maybe. No. Definitely.) Then I added Derek McCormac’s novel The Haunted Hillbilly about a gay vampire tailor who sucks the life out of Hank Williams while making him famous. I gave that book 5 stars. Then I started thinking about other books I might add. And I started thinking about the various writers and publishers and editors I know. And I started thinking, what if those people join GoodReads and see my ratings and are offended and then decide not to publish me or give me a grant or whatever?


I’ve been spending too much time thinking about the power of peep, clearly. But as of this moment I’m struggling. Do I really want to start rating and reviewing books for all to see? Granted, no one cares what books I like or don’t like. But it all just seems a bit too close to home. And I always get anxious and uncomfortable when people come into my office and start scrutinizing my bookshelves.