Social Question

ETpro's avatar

Are any of my fellow Jellies on, or care to join me on Goodreads?

Asked by ETpro (34605points) November 26th, 2012

For those not already familiar with Goodreads.com, they define themselves as follows: “Social network dedicated to making reading fun and improving the process of reading and learning throughout the world. See what your friends are reading, check out their book reviews, and log your own past and present recommendations (or not).”

Goodreads is a social sharing site for those who love to read and welcome reviews and reading recommendations from friends, as well as the ability to build a future reading list in the cloud, share what you’re currently reading, and write reviews of books you’ve read. It’s similar to Shelfari.com and LibraryThing.com. I believe LibraryThing may have a few more users than Goodreads, but a fellow Jelly who I had known since my days on AnswerBag.com invited me to join Goodreads, and I’ve grown to truly enjoy the experience. So if you aren’t a member of any Social Reader’s group and think you might like to join one, consider yourself invited to join.

I’m ETpro over there as well, and use the same creatively challenged avatar there as I do here, so I should be easy to recognize and friend.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

26 Answers

whitenoise's avatar

I read a fantastic review on “50 Shades of Grey”, there.

Looked like a good site. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to join another community besides Fluther. I will return there every now and then, though. That’s for sure.

Michael_Huntington's avatar

I might join. Getting tired of this site anyway.

ETpro's avatar

@whitenoise I only check in one or two times a month, and that works fine for the site’s purpose. It’s not at all like Fluther in the magnetic call to check in and share. No points for doing so either. The heavy users seem to be authors who use massive friends lists to help market their books. I have allowed only one of those types into my circle, and that because I loved his work and his interests closely parallel mine.

@Michael_Huntington Oh, I wouldn’t recommend it as a replacement for Fluther. It’s not a place to get random questions answered, or learn from questions and answers provided by others. The total focus is on books and reading.

linguaphile's avatar

@whitenoise THANK YOU. Thank you SO much for that review. It’s such a relief to know someone else thinks the exact same thing I do about that stupid book.

whitenoise's avatar

@linguaphile
Well isn’t it a relieve to ‘come out’ and discover that you’re not alone. :-)

SuperMouse's avatar

I found you over there @ETpro and sent a friend request. It is under my real name and if I have a nickname, it is probably HouseMouse.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I like Goodreads but it’s kind of boring.

ETpro's avatar

@SuperMouse That must be the one I just accepted, or the other one I just accepted. Thanks.

@KNOWITALL I sure don’t recommend it for a thrill a minute. I do see some on religion, politics, is there free will, and threads such as that get into heated debates, but I get more than enough of that here on Fluther. My interest there is discovering great books to add to my To Read list and sharing great (or disappointing) memories from books I’ve completed in hopes that information might benefit others, and might teach me to be a better book reviewer.

SuperMouse's avatar

@ETpro it is indeed one of the ones you just accepted! You were recommended as a friend on my Facebook feed so I sent you a request there as well, now you’ll know which of the Goodreads requests was mine.

ETpro's avatar

@SuperMouse Gotcha, but I swear your secret identity is safe with me. I’ll never reveal you’re really Clark Kent.

KNOWITALL's avatar

ETpro I’ve tried to use it, and I do like the reviews, but geesh, I’m a total bookworm and there’s not enough time to list and review them all….lol

mazingerz88's avatar

Did join to get some ideas on which horror books I should check out next. Bought three books based on the info I got from the website. Same number I purchased from recommendations from jellies here. Not much into reading right now, much less reviewing or discussing them. But those Goodreads members are lucky to have you @ETpro. : )

ETpro's avatar

@KNOWITALL I know the time pressure feeling all too well.

@mazingerz88 Aw! That’s sweet of you. Thanks.

Jeruba's avatar

I didn’t care for Goodreads, but I do like LibraryThing, despite the silly name.

It doesn’t have fluther’s level of social interaction, but it isn’t meant to. The difference, I think, is there’s no “GA” equivalent, and the threads aren’t as easily navigated, so there isn’t that same feeling of immediacy and responsiveness, even when a dialogue develops. The best way I can say it is that there is a kind of perpetual library silence about the place.

But I’ve been steered to some books that I never would have run across otherwise and that were really worthwhile reads. I value it for that.

Response moderated
Unbroken's avatar

I tried Goodreads I still have an account, but trying to go back in time and remember and review, well in one visit my enthusiasm greatly diminished and haven’t really been back.

Maybe one day.

Jeruba how does the format differ, or in what way is Library Thing better then Goodreads?

Jeruba's avatar

I’m not sure I’d make a claim about being better, @rosehips. It’s probably just subjective perception and personal preference showing up, but I found Goodreads generally more juvenile in character. On LibraryThing I’ve found many readers who share my tastes and whose recommendations mean a pretty likely hit for me. There are some very perceptive and articulate readers who’ve posted their reviews of books. I learn a lot from seeing who likes a book and what else that person likes, and I think the feature that shows me whose library has how much in common with mine is just great. I’ve enjoyed several of the groups I’ve joined. I also value the quantity of information I’m able to access about various works.

linguaphile's avatar

@whitenoise I even put the review on FB— got a good number of replies. Two people were gutsy enough to reply that they do like the book. Hats off to them- if they like it, fine, but I still think it’s an awful book for many reasons.

@ETpro, we friends!

WyCnet's avatar

I read an ebook there recently, the first book written by Joseph Conrad – Almayer’s Folly.

http://www.goodreads.com/reader/1402-almayer-s-folly?percent=0.18972

Conrad was the fellow who inspired Apocalypse Now.

Unbroken's avatar

@Jeruba
Thank you for your review. It does seem to be worthwhile to have a feature that compares the “shelves” of books read.
Another issue I found was that none of the groups that I saw tended to be geared toward my interests.

I had not previously considered other reading forums. Much less taken in to account what was “missing” or what I would like to see from such a forum.

Aesthetic_Mess's avatar

I’ll friend you. Goodreads is awesome!

ETpro's avatar

@Aesthetic_Mess Awesome. Judging from your chosen user name we have a great deal in common.

mazingerz88's avatar

Aesthetic Mess and Erotic Tango Professor, @ETpro?

ETpro's avatar

@mazingerz88 Works for me. I’m totally a messy erotica aficionado. I find it the height if aesthetics,

nebule's avatar

I’m there and have been for a while x

ETpro's avatar

Anyone who wants me to add them as friends will need to post of PM the User Name, real name, or email address you’re there under. Those are all I can use to find you and add you to my friends list. My U/N there is ETpro just as it is here.

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