havin' a Goodread

I've always been a bookworm. As early as my grade school days, I always have a book in tow. It was my mother dear who introduced me to it and who fueled the passion. I remember her collecting books that fill up several boxes when I was younger. Back in grade school, I remember going to the high school department's library just to borrow books (they have better selection!).

Nowadays, I still borrow books from the library, and I'm extremely lucky that the library system here is phenomenal. I'd gladly pay all the taxes because I know and can see where the money goes to. I'm like a kid in a candy store whenever I'm at the library. Too many books to read, so little time. Another awesome thing about the library is that they have an online catalog of books that they have available. If you can't find the book at the local library, you can have it requested and the other libraries who have it will send that book to your local one and they notify you if it's ready for pick-up! Cool huh?!

More often than not, I just borrow books and if I read a really really good one, I check for deals online and buy them.  Exception applies if a book is included in a series that I'm collecting, then I'm definitely getting myself a copy.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Anna and the French Kiss and Bloodlines

Take the above picture for example, I've read the Percy Jackson series a year ago, but I waited to get the paperback boxed set completed since it's cheaper! Anna and the French Kiss is a really, really good book and it was on sale, so I got that too. Bloodlines is 1st book of the Vampire Academy spin-off series, and I've already decided to complete the collection.

My current reading list is growing. The great thing about the library is they let you borrow a book for 2 or 3 weeks depending on how new the book is. You can renew again on it's due date granting that there is no other person waiting to borrow it. And also there is no limit to the number of books that you can borrow at a given time.

current reading list

With this many books at one's disposal, it's hard to choose which books are good reads. Of course, I do have my list of favorite authors which I always check if are releasing any new books. And then I discovered Goodreads from GIRLTalk. Similar to Shelfari (which I also have an account), it's a "social cataloging" website that allows you to list all the books that you have read, currently reading or planning to read. You can search by either the book's name, author or even the ISBN number. The cool thing about Goodreads is fellow bookworm friends can share, recommend a book, can view all the books in your library, read your review and many more! You can start a bookclub too. It can be open to all or by invitation only.

There is also a reading challenge that you can set for yourself. It tells you how far you are from your goal and if you're behind on your reading pace. Pretty neat! I've set myself to read 50 books this year and right now, I've already read 32 books. However, I'm 3 books behind on my current pace, if I want to reach that goal I need to read quicker!

I'm also an active member of the GIRLTalk bookclub. We nominate 2 books every month, one general fiction and one YA. There is voting schedule and whichever books won, you'd read it for that month. Discussion will be held the month after.

updates/wall page

profile page

bookshelf  (read books)

Are you a Goodreads member too? Add me up: http://www.goodreads.com/alengdelarosa. I'd love to know what you're reading!