Goodreads is Great!

In 2010, I joined the Goodreads community to maintain an online list of the books I’ve read. I also liked the idea of checking out what my friends were reading.

Today, Goodreads is my favorite social media app. I love it because I can:

• Access it from any device. If someone asks me about a book I’ve read, I don’t have to wait until I get home to pull out the list I formerly kept in a notebook.
• Input as little or as much info about a book I’ve read as I wish, including type of book (hardcover, Audible, large print), start date, end date, star ranking and review.
• Sort the list of the books I’ve read by title, author, rating or date read.
• View ratings and reviews from my friends and other members of the community.
• Connect with my favorite authors. Sometimes, Goodreads hosts special forums that allow readers to ask authors questions.
• Participate in contests with giveaways. I’ve never won anything, but it’s still fun.
• Receive book recommendations based on my ratings.
• Get weekly email offers on discounted bestselling books. Most are $1.99.
• Be one of the first to know about new releases.

Goodreads allows me to rate books on a scale of one to five with one being the lowest and five being the highest. Usually, the books I finish are fours. I reserve five-star rankings for Gone with the Wind-type epic novels, and I close those books that I rank below a three after reading a few chapters. Sad, but true. I don’t have time to read poor writing.

If I’m reading fiction, I rate the book based on the following five criteria:

1. Do I think about it after turning the last page? If I ruminate on its message days or weeks later, I’ll rank it a four or higher.
2. Is it well-written? Grammatically correct? Easy-to-read sentence structure?
3. Does every word count? Reading a bunch of fluffy, flowery words drives me crazy.
4. Is it a page turner? Did I stay up late reading it because I couldn’t put it down?
5. Did I learn anything from it?

Please friend me on Goodreads. I’d love to see what you’re reading. I’d also love to know how you rate books. Please drop me a comment below.