Goodreads
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Should I sign up on goodreads?
I kind of don't get it. Is it like a big book club? A big group of book clubs? Like yelp for books?
If it's just like yelp or facebook for books, I'm not interested. Is there something more to it?
What's it about and is there something better?
It's a cool place to keep track of books you've read and the number of pages. You can also set goals for yourself, see what your friends are reading, read reviews and more. I use it to keep track of everything I've read.
Don't overthink it. It's a nifty little website.
It's alright for keeping a list of what have you read and have some statistics at the end of the year.
Anyone who uses the attention whoring functions is a fucking faggot.
>>7574950
If you read a lot of them, you tend to forget them, even more if you read novellas from the library.
You just get the number of pages read in a year, the average, your average reading speed, your most/less known book, and stuff like that.
I think you also get recommendations based on what you liked but remember that the community is utter trash.
>>7574957
Got it. Thanks, anon.
I don't find goodreads useful.
I don't care for the community, either.
I've learned about a few cool books from there. GoodReads has a fantastic "if you read this you might like this" section. Just don't become friends with Sebastian.
>>7574950
If someone says, "Have you read XYZ?" I immediately know whether I have or not.
If someone asks me, "Which books have you read in chronological order in the last couple of years along with some brief thoughts on each book?" well then Goodreads is going to come in handy. And guess what, I ask myself that sort of question all the time.
Additionally, if you're a healthy adult, you probably know a good number of people who read books, and some number of them are likely to use goodreads. It's interesting to see what they're reading. You can also "compare" your reads with someone else's to see how you've each rated books that you've both read. Depending on that, you can decide if you want to trust their taste and take a look at other books they've rated highly which you haven't read.
Finally, goodreads will put together automated recommendations based on your various "shelves" (categories that you can organize books into).
>>7574969
I hear ya. You use it almost like Untapped for beer?
I think it is good if you have OCD and want to apply it to literature.
>>7574975
better than untapped imo which was more "fire and forget" type use. you can actually use goodreads to browse, but maybe i wasn't using untapped correctly.
>>7575026
to add, it's more like ratebeer/beeradvocate imo than untapped
It's pretty shit, but there's no real alternative
>tfw rym will never get a books section
>>7574950
It's not that I forget them, it's just that I like to look back on them: the day I started a particular book, finished it, my thoughts on it at the time, etc. It's like a book journal.
If you're a list person, you'll probably like it.
>>7575184
That's what a bookshelf is for. I must have a thousand books or so in my house, and I can look over the shelves and remember reading each of them, generally where and when I was reading them, and what I was thinking.
Not OP but, who are some good reviewers to follow?
>>7575207
I'm a poor student. I get all of my books through the library and it's interlibrary loan system. I read a book or two a week. My apartment consist of a bed, desk, dresser and mini-fridge; there is no room for anything else.
In short, I have no room for a bookshelf or to keep physical copies of books.
>>7575207
check your privilege
I used to write down a yearly list of the books I read in a notebook until I signed up at Goodreads. I think it's a great way to keep track of the books I've read, and what I'd like to read in the future. The site also gives great recommendations based on your "read", "currently reading", and "to-read" lists, called shelves.. You can also make your own custom shelves e.g. some of mine are Russian-Lit, books read in German
Besides being a useful tracking tool (with a cool app for tablets and mobile), it's a good place to discuss literature. Aside from the YA and Oprah's Book Club people, there are a good many intelligent people discussing classics and nonfiction.
Also, if you like to write reviews about books that can be read and discussed by the Goodreads community, then I'd recommend it.
>>7574863
It's shit and populated by shitty people. Check out the aggregate ratings from your favorite authors.
It always feels like a place for people who love others to know that they read, rather than a place for readers. This leads to some predictable Facebook-like stupidity. Classics tend to get hit hard by half-baked criticism and flavor of the month experimental fiction is lauded. These failings coupled with the unending stream of self-proclaimed "modern writers" circle-jerking over their self-published masterworks led me to shy far away from Goodreads.
I got an email from Goodreads yesterday saying I had started The Importance of Being Earnest 1,426 days ago. I haven't finished it
>>7575278
None. Best bet is to friend a lot of the faggots on here, never talk to them, and compare your "friends" books to get recommendations.
Never Talk To Anyone. It's like a gay craigslist hookup.
>>7574863
I use it for: 1) the recommendation engine; 2) listing all the books I have my friends can borrow and 3) checking out my friends' erotica list.
>>7574863
Yelp for books is probably kind of accurate. I use it to keep track of what I've read,and feel pleased with myself in a petty way when I see how many books I've read.
The reviews are mostly inane and dominated by vapid attention whores and unfunny try-hards, though occasionally there are sparks of brilliance.
>>7575964
This is the type of person who gets mad easily and doesn't know how to filter
>>7576256
Goodreads actually makes me feel shitty about how many books I've read. I consider myself pretty well-read, and I've certainly read more books than almost anyone I know except for my parents (whose house is basically covered in bookshelves), and after entering all the books i could remember and kept track for the past 4 years, i've still only read about 900 books at age 30. that seems like pitifully few.
>>7575278
J.G. Keely does pretty funny reviews on A LOT of books
>>7576482
Relax, dude. 900 at age 30 is a good amount. You're no Bloom, but no one is. Just do the math on it for a second.
Even if you include all the books back to when you started reading at, say 13? You're averaging 1 book per week...for 17 years. Sure, some were probably shittier than others, but that's definitely not bad.
Don't stress about that shit.
>>7576157
You didn't miss anything important.
Yeah you should sign up and not talk to anyone they have some cool stats about your readings.
And it can be nice to read some reviews after you just finished a great book and just spend some more time thinking about the book and soaking in all the perspectives and reminisce.
>>7576482
>i've still only read about 900 books at age 30
I've only read 142 at age 23. And 2/3rds of those were read in the past 4 years. Most are wayyyyy behind you. Imagine how we feel.
Terrible search engine, only lets you see dumb lists.
I literally can't fathom how one of the biggest book sites has a worse site / search engine than one for an obscure medium such as visual novels, that lets you search for extremely specific tags.
>>7574863
It's good for your OCD and some reviewers are legit good (Crito, for example). Reviewing books makes you more critical and more analytic while reading. (Admittedly, I rarely review books because I'm lazy and my English is shit.) Some groups are great too.
>>7575049
I think Sharifi said that he might make a book site one day.
The film equivalent would be imdb
Both are way too popular so shit and pleb things get way too much recognition
But the database is so large that most obscure stuff will have a review or two anyway
Good method of keeping up score and rating for yourself
goodreads is a website where you can put stars next to pics of all your favorite depressing modernist lit, and say things like 'the part where the maid has sex with a bull is p much chill', if u want 2
>>7574964
Just signed up for good reads recently. Who is Sebastian and why is he so terrible?
>>7579571
he reads a lot and this makes others feel insecure and try to tear him down
You get the pathological validation when you post a review and two anons "like" it, that's a plus.
>>7574863
It's social media for readers without your relatives posting minions or friends promoting Sanders/Trump. You can choose to rate and check out similar books to what you've read, discuss some stuff with internet "friends", and track your reading progress through the year while controlling whether or not you want to be social or not on the platform without anyone harassing you about it.
Also, be my friend, OP. I have shit taste and don't really write reviews so I'm definitely worth it
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22494004-ana-syromenos
>>7575964
I don't read other peoples' reviews. It's a very useful site for cataloging your reading history.
>>7578536
L O N D O N
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>>7579795
added
>>7574884
>Don't overthink it.
The irony in this statement is overwhelming.
It's a convenient way to keep track of your reading and get some half-decent recommendation ideas for new books to read. That's about it.
>>7577278
VNDB is the best listing website, the tag system is so well done. I wish mal and goodread were similar.
>>7575207
I started using ebooks so I can highlight notes and xfer them to documents. 80% of the books I read are digital now.
>>7574863
If anyone has more than 20% books in common with me, you should definitely friend me.
Most of /lit/ is sub 9% comparability. Check how close my shit taste is to yours, Take the challenge today!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10099857-unsoundly
![2c4420fd37[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/BZ50JxZ.png "2c4420fd37[1].png")
>>7580689
Meh. Close. 17.25% and 83% similar ratings in what we've both read.
>>7580721
A kindred spirit. Also we have the same name.
I mostly read non-fiction which is probably the biggest reason.
>>7580689
18.18% in common, but almost all of them are books you think you should be reading.
Props for Sophie's World tho, it's what got me into philosophy many years back.
But how the fuck could you give only 3 stars to Othello and The Count of Monte Cristo?
I use the Goodreads App when I'm in a bookstore. I can scan the book and see if anyone I know has read it and left comments. Generally community reviews are bit helpful. I can also add it to my Want to read lust and then it immediately populates on my kindle.... I know it's shitty to be in a book store and buy online but yes I do that in the books I am not sure about.
>>7580764
I'll confess there, I was forced to read them years ago for school. I'm sure if I re-read them I'd enjoy them.
Which gets more into a sidenote: the philosophy people use when raiting books. Do I rate a book 5/5 that is great, but I've already read the source materials and didn't learn anything?
Or do I rate it on a personal level of what my feelings were while reading?
I can scroll back through my list and see which were my quake books and what changed my thinking at the time. Reading an expose of Media corruption wouldn't be as amazing as 'Trust Me I'm Lying" since I already know about it.
>>7580771
I'm even worse. I go to bookstores to see what I can steal online.
>>7580802
What do you use for books?
>>7580840
iPad mostly
>>7580840
not him but btdigg is the ultimate resource, followed by libgen mirrors, bookzz, bookfi.
Typically I use goodreads to track all the "want to read" titles until I read everything on my kindle and then load everything up in one shot. I get little shots of endorphins for completion
I hate the fact we can't downvote review. When the top review is full of tumblr/9gag picture or a guy who gave the book one star and start his review by"I only read the first 20 pages" I die a little bit inside. One of the best rated review of the hobbit is just a bunch of pictures from 9gag about the movie http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/577781946. If we were allowed to downvote bad review shit review like that would never make it to the top.
>>7580852
>looking at community reviews
just look at the /lit/ scum you have friended or ignore them completely.
