The Little Things
July 14, 2015

I have a confession for all of you: I’m addicted to Goodreads. It happened really slowly, the build up took months, and I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until a few weekends ago.

I can’t really remember the first time I heard about Goodreads- I’m sure it was a status update on Facebook at some point, but the first conversation I remember having about it was with a co-worker as we were going on a retreat for work last August. She encouraged me to sign up, but as people close to me know, I need to think about things for awhile before I make the jump (that’s why I thought about my tattoo for about a decade before getting it!), so I didn’t sign up, but continued to see posts from goodreads on Facebook. I let the idea marinate for awhile. I finally took the leap and signed up at the end of December, and immediately started putting in books and ratings for things I had previously read.

Goodreads

Goodreads serves as a sort of virtual book shelf. When I signed up the three shelves were “read”, “currently reading”, and “want to read”. I’ve constantly struggled to remember the books that I’d previously heard about that I wanted to read, so now all I have to do is add it to my “want to read” shelf, and I can access the list from anywhere. Even better- on the goodreads app, there’s a scan option so if you see a book you’d like to read, you just scan the bar code and it pops up on your account. So convenient, right? You can also add other shelves that you might like. For instance, I’ve seen people make lists like “DNF” (did not finish, mostly due to the book not being good) or I have a list that says “need to get from lib”. That shelf is for books that I need to get from the library itself, as a kindle book option isn’t available. That way, when I go to the library, I won’t get a hard copy of a book that I can get on Kindle, and I can focus on the books I have no other way to get. This is sounding pretty good, right?

Goodreads ALSO has a place to rate and review any book, so I can see if it’s worth my time. Goodreads also has a social media component, in that you can connect with friends and see what they are currently reading as well. I LOVE this, and have found so many great books simply because someone else I follow has marked a book as “want to read” or “read”. If you’re needing motivation to get back to reading, this app will certainly help!

So, I’ve suddenly become obsessed, and started spending ridiculous amounts of time each week organizing my shelves, searching for new books, etc.. And I’m totally ok with that 🙂 If you don’t have a Goodreads account yet, I’d encourage you to make one as soon as possible!

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have a Goodreads account? If you do, what do you like most about it?

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2 responses to “The Obsession With Goodreads”

  1. The Little Things says:
    September 7, 2015 at 1:45 am

    […] what people are reading! I’m always on the prowl for good books, and love adding them to my “want to read” shelf on goodreads. So, when I saw this reading challenged that Sarah posted, I immediately wanted to join in on the […]

  2. The Little Things says:
    November 8, 2016 at 2:45 am

    […] previously talked about my love for goodreads and how it has impacted my reading. I made another addition to my reading that has really stepped […]