I've taken the recommendation of several flutherfolk to join goodreads.com, but I don't really get it. What's the point?

I think it must be like Facebook or to some degree even Fluther. You sort of have to know other people who participate.

I don’t get it either.

I love it
you get to share your opinions on all the books you’ve read
you get to see what your friends are reading and what their reviews are for books
i’ve gotten so many lists of books to read because of goodreads.com and because I trust my friends’ opinions…

That may be my problem. I am not the most trusting of others. I am also not convinced of the value of the opines of the masses.

So, @Simone_De_Beauvoir, to do it right you have to have a friends list?

@Jeruba at least 2–5 friends on goodreads.com

@Jeruba (i hear you. I even have friends and it doesn’t do it for me). I think you have to have 1. friends who use it, 2. friends who use it and make updates, and 3. friends who make updates and read things that are actually interesting.

@andrew guess I’m lucky and have all 3 and I think @Jeruba would be one of those people, for me

Getting to see what other like-minded people are reading and reading those books myself

Ditto to the above.

I have about a dozen friends who use it. If I’m in a history mood I take a look at Matt’s list, if I’m in a sci-fi/fantasy mood I’ll take a look at Garrett’s list, etc.

(My interests tend to be all over the board)

Thanks, @Simone_De_Beauvoir! I just might decide to take you up on that.

@Jeruba, I haven’t used Goodreads, but if I had to chance to see what you were reading, I just might join.

I do use livingsocial.com’s book tracking app on Facebook. I would use some kind of app whether I had friends or no; it make it easy to track what I’ve read, which I always have done anyway. But I agree that having friends who use it makes it much more interesting and worthwhile. I often look at what my friends are reading, and what they’ve said about what they’ve read. LivingSocial is a good choice (for me) because I’m already connected with a lot of friends there, and the integration makes it easy to invite them to sign up, and easy for them to accept.

I’m flattered, @Gundark. Actually, my profile already tracks what I’m reading and what I’ve recently finished. It just doesn’t give any ratings or comments. They wouldn’t all get a thumbs-up from me.

I use goodreads as a way to track the books I want to read. I’m always reading articles about good books, then have little slips of paper with titles or author’s names on them, pages torn from magazines or newspapers, what a mess!
With goodreads I keep my “to read” list and when I’m ready for my next book I peruse my list.
I like seeing what my friends and family are reading, take their advice on good books, post some comments on the books I’ve read.
I think it’s dandy!

@Jeruba the ratings or comments from friends is what makes something like Goodreads or livingsocial books really valuable, in my opinion. It’s the combination of factors that I find really interesting and helpful.

There are also recommendations, so if you like a particular author or genre you can find similar books to sate your appetite.

All right, you can find me there as Jeruba if you wish. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for all your answers.