Wednesday, July 15, 2009

ON BOOKS ~ Goodreads...



Edition #37
Thirteen Things about THE BUMBLES -
and our favorite book website...

We're sure you have heard about the website Goodreads. But do you belong? It is the perfect place for everything books. Even Andy's considering setting up a profile - or maybe just a shelf under Molly's profile - baby steps. Here are 13 reasons why this site could be useful to you...

1. There are thousands of online book groups covering everything from Classics to Vamps.

2. These book groups have online discussions about the books they read. The discussions are held through posts so you can read along and participate on your schedule at your convenience.

3. You may have friends already on Goodreads but by joining groups, participating in discussions and writing and reading reviews you can meet new friends. And if you are shy, you can also elect to follow the reviews of a particular person without becoming friends.

4. You can receive notifications at a frequency of your determination of what your GR friends are selecting, reading, ranking and reviewing. This gives you tons of new suggestions from like minded readers, or maybe helps you take a step outside of your comfort zone.

5. You can build an online library of shelves filled with books you have read, plan to read, and are currently reading.

6. You can name your shelves however you would like - traditional categories such as Fiction, Thriller, or Biography - or more personal such as Not Worth The Effort, Books I Wish I'd Written, or Mt. TBR.

7. You can rank the books you have read by a star system and it goes toward the overall cumulative ranking. The cumulative ranking tells you what the average ranking for each book is on GR.

8. There are places to keep personal/private notes while you read as well as places to share your thoughts publicly. Your GR profile is only as viewable as you want it to be - public or private.

9. Private conversations can be conducted within GR's e-mail messaging system.

10. If you love lists you can interact with Listopia - adding books to best and worst lists of all kinds of imaginable categories.

11. If you love trivia you can play along with the Never Ending Book Quiz and see how you rank with the rest of GR.

12. Chances are your favorite (living of course!) author is on GR - such as Neil Gaiman or Paul Coelho. They, along with thousands of other authors, are participating on GR as well. You can check out their bookshelves, send them a message, find out what they are reading and what they think about it.

13. You can share your creative writing, enter book giveaways, read timely author interviews in the monthly newsletter, find upcoming local book events, let a progress bar update everyone on how you are coming along with your current read and fill your profile with favorite quotes, authors, photos, blog links and - of course - your favorite goodreads. There's not a lot you can't do on GR, but if you think of something you can submit a suggestion to the Feedback Group and the site's founder, Otis, will work with you to see if it can be implemented. I dare you to tell me about a kinder, more socially beneficial place for bibliophiles. If Andy's considering it, you know it's GOOD!

Check out Molly's GR widget on our sidebar if you want to join The Bumbles on their Goodreads adventure.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. What do you do? Write Thirteen things about yourself, summarize your week in one entry, make it easy for other bloggers to get to know you on a weekly basis. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is not only encouraged, it is part of being a Thursday Thirteener! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!


18 comments:

Nicholas said...

I'll check it out. I am a member of Shelfari but I never go there.

Hazel said...

Thank you for sharing your list. This is the very kind of thing I want my free time to be spent on, (I am forced to set aside my love for books and for collecting them in this lifestyle I am in nowadays) and I want to go see if the online shelf there is easier to manage than the one I am working on right now. No. 12 is really exciting to me! Thanks again for this wonderful list! Happy T13.

I am Harriet said...

Wow. Great info! Thanks

http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/07/thursday-thunks-and-13-stupid-new.html

Sandy Nawrot said...

Your reasons are compelling, I will admit. But another website that would take more of my time scares the hell out of me. I'm already on here waaaay too much!

jillconyers said...

I"m a long time member and just convinced my husband he needs to join. As an avid reader GR is one of my favorite sources for new release info.

Paige Tyler said...

I've heard of it, but I'm not a member. Sounds like a great site!

*hugs*
Paige

My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry" said...

I am on Good Reads too but like Shelfari better so am more active there.

SuziQoregon said...

I love Goodreads - I get lots of great recommendations from books my friends there are reading.

The Gal Herself said...

First of all, I LOVE your TT graphic. I have suffered through this All-Star break, missing my Cubs soooo much and seeing this was balm for my soul. (The second half begins today!)

I'll have to check this out. The discussions could be interesting. So many people on Amazon haven't even read the books they comment on ...

Margot said...

Your post reminds me that I am not making the best use of GoodReads. I have yet to join a group and I know I am missing some great fun there. This post is a great advertisement for GoodReads. Good job.

Unknown said...

I have a Goodreads account and I LOVE it. It's a great way to network, meet new people and come in contact with new and interesting writers.

Like you posted Goodreads offers so much for everyone. Kind of makes you wonder why people would pass it up.

Here is my Thursday-13 list:http://romanticcrushjunkies.blogspot.com/2009/07/thursday-thirteen-its-not-just-another.html

Have a Great Day!

Anonymous said...

I think I signed up, but haven't used it. I'll have to check on that!

Square Peg Guy said...

I belong to LibraryThing. I'd love to use it to socialize with others that share my taste in books. Unfortunately, I don't have time for that. Right now, I use it just to keep track of what I've read. And I use the widget that allows me to show on my blog books that belong to a certain category.

BTW, I'm a Neil Gaiman fan.

Thorne said...

And I was perfectly happy with shelfari until you said Neil Gaiman was on goodreads. Now I have to go... Grrr... (I already have over 800 books on shelfari- I wonder if I can import them to gr??) hehe! Happy Thursday, Bumbles! (I'll email you again soon- this heat has me super lazy :-(

Unknown said...

I'm already a member but haven't spent near enough time there. Thanks for the nudge.
Happy T13!

Americanising Desi said...

i love your list :)
and i think i have been member of shelfari but now i hardly visit it!

http://2short2sweet.blogspot.com/2009/07/words-in-kiss.html

Terry Kate said...

Hello,
I know I am a day late, hopefully not a buck short as I am writing the Thursday report. Time to read?
Ha! I wish! I run a author/book website and I don't have time to read much of anything sadly.

I have interviewed 67 authors so far for my site and read 1/2 the book from about 2 of the authors.

Right now I am at the super big Romance Writers of America conference. Sadly no nudy men run around at this particular convention, but if you are a man WATCH OUT! I have a feeling some of the hotel staff have been groped by now.

Here is my Thirteen and as always much love to the Bumbles.

Terry Kate
http://www.ritbs.blogspot.com

Literary Feline said...

What a great list! I haven't really had a chance to explore GoodReads the way I should. The groups intimidate me--there are so many! I wouldn't know where to start in deciding if I wanted to join any.