Anybody on Goodreads? I signed up ages ago when an author asked me to review her book, and yesterday I decided to start using the site. It's pretty fascinating - you can compare your book tastes to your friends' and see how you each rated the books you've read. The results surprised me in every case and prompted lots of book conversations, so that's a win! The recommendations feature is great too; it suggested several books that I've read and loved (and had forgotten to mark as 'read'). Although when I saw somebody had rated my favourite book a 1/5, I had to inform him we can no longer be friends and he's now on my List of Enemies. So there was that. This is me if anybody wants to add me. Let me know who you are so we can compare books.
I'd love to use it more, but I tend to forget about my account. I should venture back and update my shelves. I do read Goodreads reviews almost always before purchase, or if I'm looking for a similar title to what I've just read, Goodreads can be very helpful. I've also used it to keep track of my TBR list. I even had the app at some point, and it wasn't half-bad.
I use it mostly for my own reference - I have a terrible memory and can't keep track of what books/authors I've loved/hated. But it's got some fun social aspects, too. A lot of authors hate it, I guess because they've had bad experiences with their own books - Goodreads tends to be quite a bit sloppier than Amazon about fake reviews, grudge reviews, etc. I don't think I've ever had really negative experience there, though.
I clicked the Goodreads icon on my Kindle last night and found you can download samples from your TBR list with one click. Pretty useful! Since I started reading primarily on Kindle several years ago, I've had the same problem. It's so easy to download masses of books, and delete them when done, that I forget what I've read and if I liked books or not. And I hardly ever post reviews now, because I read so many books that I can't remember what I thought about them when I finally go on Amazon again. Sucks about the dodgy reviews though.
I signed up to Goodreads a couple of months ago, but have been focused on writing so much since that I haven't had time to read anything!
I signed up on goodreads a long time ago to connect with a then-favourite author of mine. The site seems practical and I've used it a couple of times to look for books with a common theme: that worked mostly. I also sometimes read reviews, though as @BayView I've noted that they tend to be either over-the-top 'friendly' or abyssmal bad. I was/am tempted to create a booklist, but I won't do it. Sure, it would be fun to rate and see ratings from others, but a) I'm pretty sure my taste in books (non-fiction) is not shared by the people here in WF, excepting a very, very few people, and b) I'm careful of what I post where. If I give a review, my opinion on the subject will colour what I say (I'm not that good a writer to keep my response impartial ), and I don't want a public trail.
Yeah, I'm careful about what I post under my author name. Within my genre I'm not going to be posting bad reviews of other authors' works - just not something I want to associate with my author name. If I don't like books in my genre I'll remove them from my list rather than rate them. I don't think reviews should be impartial though, in terms of subject matter. They should never be coloured by the reviewer's feelings on the author, only on the book's content, but we don't need to be factual. Reviews are about feelings and opinions, not fact. I've also noticed that the ratings system Goodreads uses probably skews things. On there it's: 1* - I didn't like it 2* - It was okay 3* - I liked it 4* - I really liked it 5* - I loved it So any book that wasn't terrible is going to get 2*+, whereas most people think of 3* as "okay". I don't know how many people actually use Goodreads' definitions when rating, and how many use a more traditional 1-5 scale.
Yeah, you got that right. I would write a review if I'd manage to be impartial in terms of subject matter, but I won't be able to. I get it that reviews are about feelings/opinions, and that's exactly why I don't want to give a review. Discussion with persons known to me is another matter. I don't know any of the authors, so fat chance that my opinion on them colours my response
I use the "read" button for works I read within my genre that I don't feel like I can say too much positive about. So it's like a code for me... if I see that I know what it means and don't seek out more work by that author.
I think about it on occasion, and when someone brings it up. But I just don't know. Help I need an adult.
I use it passively, to check out reviews of books I might want to buy, and of course to check out reviews of my own book. I'm not much of a review writer myself, except for recently when a book (Peter Darling by Austin Chant) just blew me out of the water and I had to gush about it.
Firstly I wish my book had reviews. Secondly I just can't to seem to help myself when it comes to giving reviews of books that I have read. Though most of them so far have been sub-par, or just ok. Only two in the last 6-7 months were enjoyable.
I'm fairly active on it. I like to keep track of the books I read. I've got an author page bc I linked my self-published novella, but I don't really use it as an author page...mostly just for listing the books I'm reading. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8269640.Jennifer_L_Taylor If you friend me, just tell me who you are.
I've been using it since May 2010. I love it. I am one of those people who obsessively track everything (what songs I've listened to, what games I've played, etc) and before I began using GoodReads I had been tracking my reading progress in a notepad for years. I rarely leave reviews though. I've only felt compelled to leave two in the time I've been using the website.
Magic, Mercenaries, And Advanced Math How to be Dead (Book 1) I have been really slow , but I am working on my 4th book on my to read list. I am kinda on the fence at the moment. I get into the story and then it says something kinda dumb, and the cycle continues by saying the same thing later on. It would probably be better than pushing a characters vanity just because they use to a model. We got it the first time.
I'm only 62% for @Stormsong and 58% for @Tenderiser. My conclusion? Clearly you guys have bad taste. It's the only explanation.
I'm fairlly active on Goodreads, though I mostly use it to read reviews on my favorite books or books I'm considering buying. I've yet to write a review, though one of these days I might just work up the nerve to do that. I didn't know about the comparing book tastes thing, sounds really cool though. Also I'm adding you right now @Tenderiser
I signed up to it several years ago, but hardly ever use it. There's one book I've apparently been reading for three years....
An understandable error, but in actual fact you like the wrong books. Sorry I can't find any Fernandos on my friends list so I can't compare with you, but I'm sure we like the right books.
I use it mostly to track the books I read, and to set myself a reading challenge each year. Otherwise I'll keep buying books, but I end up not reading them. I love to read, but I never give myself the time to do it. When I set myself a goal to read them, I will. You can add me, but I have to say, I have a pretty rubbish taste in books. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22593390-sam
