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November 9th, 2011
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Alex at Custom Reads inviting me to serve as one of the site's "book experts." While other work obligations have prevented me from taking advantage of his seriously cool offer for the immediate future, I am nevertheless excited about hooking up with them as soon as possible! And no, not solely because they want me to sign up and start recommending reads (Also? I won't be getting paid for this gig. I'm doing it purely for the love.).
What attracts me to Custom Reads is its concept. Still in beta mode, the site generates unique reading lists through people rather than algorithms. For free! It's kind of like Flashlight Worthy in that regard, although the lists there aren't customized to meet an individual's particular tastes. And with an organic (or as organic as one can get with the internet involved) rather than digitized system, many fantastic, but relatively obscure, books have a chance to reach new audiences. Clicking through the "literary" section, I was told I should check out Laurence Cosse's Novel Bookstore, Michael Crummey's Galore, Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces and Simon Van Booy's Everything Beautiful Began After. Custom Reads is so new, some categories have yet to actually be filled out, specifically "Crafts & Hobbies," "Computer Books," "Transportation," "Philosophy" and "Sports."
Hmmmm…as a knitter, I know of a few books for that first section. The Stitch 'n Bitch series is kinda sorta a classic. As for philosophy, Jacques Derrida. Anything Jacques Derrida. Henry David Thoreau's Walden ranks up there as one of my favorites, too, despite an admitted degree of inauthenticity. Mostly, though, I'll probably stick with literary fiction since that's what I know best.
If you've checked out the site yet, feel free to share your opinions here, and hopefully I'll see you on it soon. I'll be sure to let everyone know when I start up. Hopefully someone will get something from my recommendations! And hopefully I'll reign in my compulsion to tell every user that A Confederacy of Dunces is pretty much the only book anyone ever needs.
