Can I recommend …

CoverI've just found a new way to add to the ever-increasing list of book titles that I have great difficulty getting around to reading but have kept on my 'For Later' shelf in BiblioCommons. The cliché 'better late than never' springs to mind.

My shelf currently stands at a very respectable 17 (I'm sure there are people out there in 'Library land' openly gobsmacked at this paltry total BUT I have just had a cull. I was completely ruthless and it took only 2 minutes to cut it back from 27 to 17.

Oh the internal debating and agonising I didn't put myself through! Most of these tomes have been on my 'For Later' shelf for an eternity and have either been recommended to me via colleagues and customers or I have read a favourable review in a magazine or newspaper and placed it onto the shelf before I forget the title. Then I forget to look at the shelf and pick my next read from it - well nobody's perfect!

Now I have another method by which I can add to this list - on the front page of the Christchurch City Libraries website right at the bottom of the page is a link called Books. This takes you to New in Books, Staff Picks, On Order and then Recent Comments.

Recent Comments deals with any comments or reviews of books from newspapers, library borrowers and library staff. In a steady flow, these brief comments automatically move from one book to the next book that has been recently reviewed. Clicking on the cover will bring up a synopsis of the story line, publisher details followed by the heading OPINION where all the reviews appear.

Sometimes a certain sentence within a review personally resonates and is all that is needed to push you from apathy to action. Before you realise it, you've clicked on the book cover and are placing a hold OR adding to your 'For Later' Shelf. If inclined you can even give the book a star rating.

Anyone out there enjoying the freedom of reviewing the books they read or feeling that they would like to give it a whirl?

Kōrerorero mai - Join the conversation.