goodreads

so i joined this new thing called goodreads, which i found out about through facebook. basically, it's a way to create an online bookshelf on which you can select books you have read, books you plan to read, and write reviews and/or rate books (5 star system), and all your facebook friends can see what you've added/marked/written. sounds cool, right?

right!

so i happily dove in, started finding books i like, marking them, going along merrily as you please... when It Happened. i suddenly stopped to think - what do my book selections say about me? what does it say that "the hobbit" is nestled sidelong with "where the sidewalk ends"? what does it say that i've never read "catcher in the rye"? am i somehow less of an english major by admitting this? should i have not eaten the last of the cheddar cheese block in the fridge?

(ok, that last question isn't pertinent, but it is salient. that cheese isn't exactly agreeing with me right now.)

back to the point. so it got me to thinking - is this really some subversive attempt at making everyone judge everyone else? do we now get to mock people for not having read Certain Books? do we now get to point our virtual fingers and laugh ha-ha-ha-ha when we find out someone has the "kama sutra" as their "most favorite book ever"? is this judgmental? or just another example of how the internet's anonymity can spark our natural human tendency to divide into the haves and have nots?

so what started out as a simple lark along my bookshelves turned into something way more neurotic, and made me review my own selections with a hyper-critical eye. should i leave this in? take this out? add a well-worded-wordy-critical review of this, this, but ignore that as a sign of my oh-so-proper prioritization of the nuances of my reading?

then i realized...it really doesn't matter. one of the most perfect things about being rational, free-thinking human beings is our free will. we can read any blessed thing we want, and everything, no matter how horrifically written, adds something to our mental echelon of information.

so yeah, i'll leave good ol' shel silverstein in there. he can turn the world upside down with a seemingly simple rhyme. and yeah, i'll admit i've never read salinger. maybe that'll provoke someone to loan me their loved copy of "catcher in the rye."

and yeah, i'll keep adding my books - MY books - the ones i've loved through the years, the ones i've only just met, the ones i have yet to meet but have admired from afar, and the ones i've loved, lost, and loved again.

'cause that's a big part of who i am. and anyone who doesn't like or understand that...i feel sorry for them.