When you read a great book you always want to tell someone about it - your mom, best friend, the noisy neighbor across the street. You want to scream so loud that everyone who hears you goes out, buys it and reads it. Bertrand Russell said, "There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it [on Goodreads]."
Goodreads.com is the largest online site for readers around
the world. There are currently over 7.7
million member with new ones joining daily.
Goodreads was started in January 2007 by
Otis Chandler. He created the site because he believed that reviews and recommendations about books were more valuable and more accurate when they came from friends instead of a computer. Sounds a lot like their mission; “to help people find and share books that they love. Along the way, we plan to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world.”
Otis Chandler. He created the site because he believed that reviews and recommendations about books were more valuable and more accurate when they came from friends instead of a computer. Sounds a lot like their mission; “to help people find and share books that they love. Along the way, we plan to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world.”
The nice thing about Goodreads is that you can use the site
as a virtual shelf so that when you find a book that you like you can “shelf”
it to read later. It also allows you to
post to your friends what you are currently reading as well as what you’ve
already read. You can post comments on
the book as you read; mark where you are currently within the book either by
page number or percentage and when you finish you’re able to rate the book
anywhere from 1 to 5 stars and write a review of the book to let people know
what you thought of it. You can also get
an export of all the books you’ve ever read and rated that you’ve posted on
Goodreads.
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| A Screenshot of my Goodreads Page |
On your home page you have a timeline of your friend’s
comments and posts, well as a general bar showing what your reading, quotes
from some famous people, voting polls on different subjects and if you’re doing
the reading challenge it will show how far you are in to it. I’m currently at 31 of 75 books in my 2012
reading challenge. Another great thing
about the timeline is that you can see what your friends or favorite authors
are reading, what they thought of them and if you think they sound good mark
them as “to read” on your shelf. I’ve
found so many good books that way it’s crazy!
But if you can’t decide what to read next, don’t worry
Goodreads is totally the place for you.
They take your shelves (to read, currently reading and read), analyze
them and then give you tons of recommendations for what you might like to read
later. This is a great way to find that
next hit book to scream about!
There are also forums that people create either on certain
books, genres (everything and anything you can think of has a genre and noting
and I mean nothing is left unturned), movies, devices, or just a subject. This is a great way to make new reading
“friends.” Think of them as your
Facebook friends, not people you actually know but people who like the same
types of books you do. You can create
your own little book club with these friends but instead of sitting around
Betty’s coffee table you’re all at your computers reading and typing away!
So are you ready to post what you’re reading and find some
new friends to get recommendations. Take
the Goodreads tour and come find me.
Let’s read together!
Video with Otis Chandler discussing Goodreads.com
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