[Lirael]

I have no need nor want for "social reading."

I read because I want to either derive some entertainment from it, to experience escapism, or to learn something for myself, not to analyze it all to hell and back and go over it with other people - I did enough of that in school, thanks!

I just finished reading two books tonight, and I have many thoughts about them. Shall I write you all a poorly-spelled and badly-punctuated term paper on them, complete with my half-baked philosophical musings? Or make notes in the books' margins that copy, verbatim, the sentence they're right next to, as though that somehow adds a deeper level of understanding? (Got that one once...) More to the point, would any of you actually want to read that? I sure don't!

I feel like any attempt "social reading" is destined to be just like other social media - Jane Doe can post all she wants, but the only person who cares about Jane Doe's thoughts on what Jane Doe is doing, thinking, eating, or reading at any given moment is Jane Doe herself, and the rest of us don't want it cluttering up our screens.