Multitude of resources increase reading enjoyment

By now it should be obvious that simply reading books is not enough for me. I have to also talk about books, share books, think about books, and write about books. Fortunately, there are many tools to help me fully realize a bookish life.

Texas Book Festival

The 2019 festival begins Saturday morning at the Capitol. This is a free event open to the public with speakers and activities for all ages. There will be over 300 authors, book signings, readings, presentations, panel discussions, demonstrations, and thousands of books for sale. If you’re a reader, this is the premier event for you. Check out their website to plan your trip.

Web tools and apps

There are at least a dozen websites and apps that allow you to list, categorize, and rate books you own, you’ve read, or you want to read. You can also connect with others who share your interests. Goodreads and LibraryThing are two of the most popular. I use LibraryThing simply because my librarian daughter recommended it to me.

Whenever someone recommends a book to me, I immediately enter it on my wish list on LibraryThing. I don’t have to worry about trying to remember the title or author, which I probably wouldn’t do anyway. When I want to recommend a book to someone, but I can’t remember the author, I simply search my catalog. Sometimes I can’t even remember the title. Fortunately, LibraryThing includes a thumbnail of the cover, so all I have to do is browse for what the book looks like.

Some other options are Shelfari, Booksr, and Libib. You can find many others. Just google “book cataloging.”

Book clubs

The Bastrop Public Library will launch the Director’s Book Club Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. in the Maynard Conference room. January’s title is The Library Book by Susan Orlean. The club is geared for adults, and the public is invited. The club will meet regularly on the third Thursday of the month.

“We’ll be reading a mix of fiction and non-fiction and contemporary and classic titles,” Library Director Becca Sexton said. “When it makes sense, I’ll be tying in books to things happening in our community.”

The Bastrop folks on Nextdoor.com also have a book club that meets on the third Saturday of each month at 1 p.m. at Casa Chapala (upstairs). The book for today’s meeting is She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. You can join Nextdoor.com to find more information and receive their emails.

“We usually have in attendance from four to nine individuals,” Nextdoor book club member Diana McNabb said. “We enjoy getting together to socialize, talk over chosen reads, and enjoy a meal with one another.”

The American-Statesman hosts an Austin 360 virtual book club. They read a book each month and discuss it via Facebook Live on the last Thursday of the month, which is great if what you’re looking for is to simply watch two people discuss a book. However, their Facebook page is a good place to connect with people who read and to get recommendations for titles.

KUT also has a book club. They focus on Texas and Austin authors and meet at Book People for a live discussion (as well as on Facebook Live) with the author. Not many books clubs get to discuss books with the folks who wrote them.

If none of these suit you, choose a book, invite some friends, and serve some snacks. Now you have a book club.

Retailers

Bargain hunters might be interested in websites like Bookbub, Ereaderiq or Kobo. On Bookbub’s website, you can browse titles that range in price from free to a few dollars. You can also set up your preferences and receive an email each day with the day’s deals. Ereaderiq lets you browse Amazon books by price (including free), genre, or length. Kobo allows users to search for discounted or free e-books and audiobooks.

I check my Bookbub email (most days). Several times I’ve found books that are on my wish list for just $1 to $2. They also send me recommendations based on my preferences. I can also sign up for an alert when a particular title is discounted.

For the ink-and-paper purists, Thriftbooks offers new and used books at deep discounts. You can search their website or browse categories. I’ve purchased several hard to find titles from them.

E-books and e-audiobooks

If you’re not interested in purchasing e-books or e-audiobooks, you can borrow them from the Bastrop Public Library. You just need a library card and internet access. You can read e-books or listen to e-audiobooks on any device and even switch it among devices. Two apps are available, Overdrive and Libby, which are free to download. There are also several websites that offer e-books for free, like SYNC, Project Gutenberg, and OpenLibrary.