Week 4 - Goodreads

I first joined Goodreads in 2007 and have used it very regularly to keep track of books I've read and books I'd like to read. For the first few years I used Goodreads, I only had 2 shelves - read and want to read. One day I was looking through my read shelf, trying to find a particular teen book that I had read. After sifting through too many titles, I decided to create shelves for teen fiction, children's fiction and children's picture books.

Until this assignment, I hadn't rated any of my books because I simply wasn't interested in what Goodreads might recommend to me. I went through and rated a bunch of my books but not all of them. I was pleasantly surprised by many of the recommendations generated by Goodreads. There were even a few books that I know I've read but must have forgotten to add to my shelves. I like that when you scroll over the recommendations, it gives you an annotation. However, I think the most valuable part of the recommendations was that Goodreads shows you the covers of books that you've already read that generated the suggestions. Seeing the covers of books I've liked provided insight as to why I might enjoy the suggested books. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but seeing the books I've read brought to mind why I liked those books and I automatically made associations to the suggested titles. In the future, I will make a point to check the recommendations.

In the past, I've occasionally looked at Listopia but I haven't found it as helpful as a readers' advisory tool as other sites. I probably wouldn't use it with a customer who was in a hurry because I find it often takes some time to sift through the lists. On the other hand, there are some unique lists you might not find elsewhere such as Best Kick-Ass Female Characters From YA and Children's Fantasy and Science Fiction. There are also a wide range of genre lists that you can explore to find new releases. Once in a while, I enter the giveaways and a few years ago I won a copy of The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. That was pretty cool. I also use Goodreads to see what my friends are reading. There are a few friends on Goodreads who have similar taste in books and I like to see if they've read anything I might like.

Since Goodreads is user driven, I think it is a good way to stay informed about trends and popular books. For example, you can see the top 200 books published in the current month that have been added. I have recommended Goodreads to customers and I will continue to use it as a way to keep track of books I've read and would like to read.

I "made friends" with several colleagues and suggested the following titles to Tom M. through Goodreads:

I noticed that you had a couple of LEGO-related books on your read bookshelf and wanted to recommend another title you might be interested in. A Million Little Bricks: The Unofficial Illustrated History of the LEGO Phenomenon by Sarah Herman details the history of the toy "its inception in the early 1930s right up until today". I thought you might enjoy this book because it appears you read a lot of non-fiction and are also interested in history. Another book that might appeal to you is The Cult of LEGO by John Baichtal. This book features full color photos of various LEGO creations as well as exploring "serious side of LEGO, used in therapy, prototyping, and teambuilding." I think you would appreciate the history as well as the humor in this book.