Net gain for readers

Some of us just can't help ourselves. At every book shelf, we cock our heads and scan the titles. Now, with LibraryThing.com, we can peek at thousands of libraries.

The site -- a MySpace for bibliophiles -- just might be the world's biggest book group. And LibraryThing can analyze your collection and recommend titles.

Nearly 50,000 members have cataloged 3.3 million books since Tim Spalding launched the site last August. It uses the Library of Congress and Dewey decimal systems but it makes finer distinctions, too.

Members create categories, such as ``steampunk," ``paranormal romance," or ``Christian living."

Last month online bookseller Abebooks.com bought a 40 percent share in LibraryThing. Spalding, who lives in Portland, Maine, won't disclose the amount.

He's hiring help and expanding into music and movies. Yet he promises the investment won't kill the site's quirky spirit.

Fifteen years ago Suzy Becker of Bolton wrote and illustrated ``All I Need to Know I Learned From My Cat." Now she's out with another animal-themed book, this one a children's story sprinkled with fun facts.

``Manny's Cows: The Niagara Falls Tale" (below) dates back 10 years to when Becker taught at a charter school at Fort Devens. When Becker asked seventh-grader Manny Moreira about his summer plans, he said it was tough to go on vacation when your family owned 500 cows. Becker suggested he imagine taking the cows on a trip and write a story about it. Manny grimaced. Becker took up the challenge.

Reviews have been enthusiastic. Best of all, Manny traveled from Pennsylvania for Becker's book party. He and his brother run a chicken wings franchise. No cows to tie them down.

Red Sox Nation take note. Seth Mnookin opens his book tour for ``Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top" in his hometown Wednesday. He will be at The Attic in Newton Centre at 7:30 p.m. (See Page E5 for a review of ``Feeding the Monster.")

``Conservatives Without Conscience," by John W. Dean (Viking)

``The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More ," by Chris Anderson (Hyperion)

``The Hot Flash Club Chills Out ," by Nancy Thayer (Ballantine)

Randie Farmelant, owner of Feed Your Head Books in Salem, fell in love with ``Grrrl" by Jennifer Whiteford. `` `Grrrl' documents, in diary form, the angst-ridden life of high school misfit Marlie. Tired of her boring suburban existence, Marlie goes on a journey underground into the riot grrrl movement, forming an all-girl band and developing a dangerous relationship with an older rocker," Farmelant writes.

``A cross between Joe Meno's `Hairstyles of the Damned' and Michelle Embree's `Manstealing for Fat Girls,' ` Grrrl ' makes you remember why you hated high school so much, while simultaneously making you want to relive every moment of it (or at least Marlie's version of it)."

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.