There has been an interesting article in The Bookseller which suggests that Twitter and Facebook are not places people go for serious book recommendations. For most people I would imagine that this is true quite simply because most people don't use them for anything. I admit to an adversion for Facebook but Twitter is a very interesting place for book discussion despite the 140 character limit of each of the posts on there. Twitter has a search facility and you can use #ilovethisbook or #fridayreads in the search box to see what people are recommending. For those who can't face trying Twitter then I have picked out a few I have seen recommended this evening:from @meandmybigmouth (the publisher Scott Pack)
"The Blue Fox by Sjon. Short. Evocative. Moving. Icelandic. And a quote from Bjork on the cover."
and
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen. Even more spellbinding than the movie."
from @BristolPrize
"Mention again for What Good are the Arts? by John Carey- brave, stimulating, can be a life-changer. keep returning to it"
from @stevenha11
"Nam Le's The Boat. A beautiful book near the top of my "I wish I'd written that" list. Check it out. Seriously, go now."
I haven't read a book yet simply because I read about it on Twitter, but I do have one on my wish list The Tsar's Dwarf by Peter H. Fogtdal who tweets and blogs as Danish Novelist. I don't think I would have heard of this book had I not been on Twitter but it sounds fascinating and when I do get my paws on a copy it will be because of those 140 character long posts.
Have you read or bought any book mainly because of coming across it on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter?
5 comments:
Like you, I don't think I've read a book just because I heard about it on Twitter, but seeing what folks I follow are reading has piqued my interest in more than one book. I might then go look for more info or add it to my TBR list.
I don't think I really get Twitter - I haven't got around to searching for books to read and don't know how to look for them either! Maybe Ibooknet could publish the Idiot's Guide to Twitter... for a start, there's obviously some significance to the # but I haven't quite tumbled to what it is, and instead of spending the brain power working it out I must admit I head for easier climes to navigate!
Thanks a lot for mentioning THE TSAR'S DWARF, my tragicomical historical novel.
I do agree with you that Twitter is overwhelming because everybody seems to be pushing something whether it's a book, a religion or how to get whiter teeth.
But still Twitter is great. It makes the world smaller and you DO connect with wonderful weirdos around the world.
Teresa - yes, I think Twitter is an excellent starting point for books. If someone you follow recoememnds soemthing one doe stake notice and if they link that with a blog review then so much the better.
Jane - hashtags just make it easier to search. If everyone tweeting about the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009 puts #jlr09 at the end of the tweet it identifies the subject without taking up too many characters. Twitter recognises hastags as search terms and they become clickable within tweets. Hover over one with your mouse and you'll see. Else you can use the search box to search for a hastag term or simply for an author's name.
Peter - thank you for stopping by!
But I believe we, only we can make these places i.e., Twitter and Facebook even Myplace a place to exchange ideas and to share interesting books we find here and there. I personally try to post and recommend books or articles of my interest on such social networking communities...these are our future news media, together we can make a difference, the dream moves on (Ted Kennedy!)
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