Your Home Library--great for poetry books!

Have you ever wished you could easily share the titles of the poetry books that you own with other friends? Or share other subjects your home library? Social software has come to home libraries, and Library Thing (www.librarything.com) is a perfect way to get a record of the books you own, let other people see what you own, and find books you want read.

It's easy to sign up for Library Thing, and you can list 200 titles for free. If you want to list more books, there's either a yearly or lifetime rate to choose from. 850,000 other people are already on it! To play around with it a little, you can try some searches on some of your favorite authors and subjects, and explore many of the other areas on the page. I am on as IdahoJoan, and if you search me under Search, then Members and Locations, you can see my minimalist collection of books. The clouds feature is especially nice--click on it and you can see a tag cloud of what a person owns.

I looked around at poetry, writing and was referred to PoemCrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words by Susan Woodbridge, In the Palm of your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit, The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach, and a lot more. All excellent books!

If playing around with it a little convinces you that you want to get on it, sign up is quick and easy. It will prompt you for a little personal information, and then to enter your books, WHICH you can do very quickly with ISBNs and matching the correct editions. After you have a book list, it's fun to look at the different formats, and then make a printed copy of your home library.