For years I've been trying to find a way of discovering good new books through friends and the internet. And now, I think I've finally found it. Occasionally, I would browse the Goodreads web for reviews and related books but I never really exploited its full potential until I downloaded the related app on my android smartphone.
What a breakthrough! Besides being a wonderful tool to learn about new books, it helps you classify and remember all those books that have been in your cobwebs for years. You create shelves of books that you´ve read and those which you would like to read. Also, you can see how other goodreads members have rated the books so you don't waste your time on poorly classified stuff, while seeing what books they have on their shelves.
For me, however the greatest revelation of the app was the recommendation section, which generates a list of potentially interesting books based on your shelves. By simple clicking on the recommendation you classify it as a book to-read. Simple.
Goodreads also works as a social network, so you can join groups that discuss novels in your area of interest and you can get in touch with people (make friends) who share similar tastes.
Now the downside. In this age of diminishing privacy, one has to wonder if the things you post on the web will come back to haunt you someday, who knows? Just a word to the wise, the webpage is run by Amazon now and what better way to commercialize stock than through a book loving social network? Obviously, there is a potential monetary gain to be had, so book lovers beware!
Another drawback is the rating system, which is a great tool BUT which may dissuade you from reading great novels just because they were hated by a few. Check out the number of times a book was rated, I find the higher number of ratings, the more reliable the rating is.
So if you're interested here are the sites:
And the app on Playstore (there's also an Iphone app in the Apple Store).
Try it, you´ll like it.
