If you love books, one website you need to check out (besides #AmReading of course!) is Goodreads. Goodreads is a book directory, review site, book club (multiple ones), and social media haven all rolled into one. If your interest is perked, keep reading for some of Goodreads best features.
1. Directory
If it’s a book, you can bet that Goodreads has a record of it. You can easily find the ISBN, publishing information, or different cover editions for any book you can think of. It’s also super easy to look up all the books in a single series.
Source: Pixabay
2. Shelves
What good is all those books if you have no way to keep track of them? A Goodreads account comes stock with a Read, To Read, and Currently Reading shelves. But don’t stop there. You can make as many additional shelves as you want and tag books to them. Want a shelf of mermaids? Go ahead! Want to keep your favorites all in one place? Do it! How you organize your books is totally up to you.
Source: Pixabay
3. Listopia And Recommended
We all need a little help sometimes in deciding what to read next. Listopia and Recommended are great tools for that. The Recommended tab creates reading suggestions for you using the books in your shelves. Listopia, on the other hand, offers lists of books by theme. There is probably a list for just about everything, you just need to look. A couple great ones are “Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once” and “There Ought to be a Band.”
Source: Pixabay
4. People
Remember how I said that Goodreads was part social media? You can add all your book loving friends on there, too! Goodreads makes this super easy by connecting your account to services such as Twitter or Facebook. This way you’ll be able to see all your friend’s activity in your main feed, such as if they reviewed a book.
You are also able to follow people. This is great for people who are known for leaving good reviews on books. Or you can follow authors themselves.
Source: Mary Robinette Kowal
5. Book Clubs
Book Clubs are alive and well on Goodreads! Whatever you love to read, there is probably a club for it. Clubs can set a book for the group to read over a period of time, and have their own forums for discussion.
Source: Pixabay
6. Fun Stuff
Consider yourself well read? Why not try the Neverending book quiz? Aside from that, there are a myriad of user made quizzes to try out. Also check out the endless quotes! You can save your favorites to your account, and maybe even discover some new ones.
Source: Positive Writer
7. Goodreads Choice Awards
Science Fiction gets the Hugo Award. Horror gets the Bram Stoker Award. Once a year the Goodreads community comes together to vote for their favorite books that year. A couple of the 2015 awards went to The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah for Historical Fiction, and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee for Fiction.
Source: Amazon
8. Reading Challenge
This is an awesome way to stay on top of your reading goals from year to year. Set a goal at the beginning of the year and read your way to beating it. As an added bonus, the Challenge page can tell you how ahead or behind you are by a a number of books.
Source: Goodreads
What’s your favorite part about Goodreads?
YouTube Channel: Book Riot
Featured image via Goodreads
