Goodreads

A few weeks ago, my daughter recommended that I check out the social networking site
goodreads. I have been enjoying it
ever since. It is a site for people who like to read and want to find out what
others are reading and why. Users list the books they are reading and recommending
and can see the lists and comments of other readers. I have written up 16 books
so far, starting with Bill Bryson’s William Shakespeare: The World As Stage
(2007). My review:

Research into the life and times of William Shakespeare is surprisingly still evolving as new documents are found even after 400 years. So this new biography makes a helpful and fun addition to the many thousands of books about Shakespeare already available. Bill Bryson’s entertaining books are usually about his life. This is the first I have read that is on a literary topic. He has clearly done his homework and, even though I added a few snippy margin comments, generally his conclusions are sound. Bryson leaves out what was learned about the Globe theater from site excavations and he sometimes is too focussed on “we can’t know anything really”; however, this would still make a solid introductory book to a topic which is all too often dry and nitpicky.

I have established the following goodreads “bookshelves” for my reviews so far:
children-youth (1) | fantasy-fiction (4) | general (5) | history (4) | mysteries (2) | religion (1) | shakespeare (2) | trains-and-transit (2)

I am having a good time writing book reviews and reading the reviews by others of books
which I have already read or about which I am curious.