I joined GoodReads a few days ago. It’s a social network based around literature. I had planned to use it as a way to track books and reviews as I read and wrote them, but I had a fit of OCD that night and stayed up well into the wee hours of the morning to add my book collection to the site. I’m not only attracted to this because of my love of lists, a love that is indeed true and strong, but because of the features:

• Easily search by title, author, or ISBN to find and add your books, choosing between different editions found on Amazon and other sites.
• Tag your books for easy browsing.
• Add reviews and a star ratings to your books. It also allows you to blog your book reviews, formatting it for you and linking to the book cover image hosted on their site.
• Add your friends, track their books and reviews with an RSS feeds, and send them recommendations.
• Join groups to meet people and discuss books or writing. Quite a few book clubs seem to be available as well.
• View author pages. These contain general information on the author and their work, but the authors can actually actively use the account as well. For instance, you can view Neil Gaiman’s book reviews and his to-read list. You can also add him as a friend and be notified whenever he reviews another book he’s read.
• Add your own writing or novel excerpts, and create your own author page if you’re published.

There are other things I haven’t really looked into yet, like a Facebook Application, Twitter integration, and widgets for your website (book lists, quote displays, etc).

I’ve decided to only add my physical to-read pile to the site, and not my endless virtual list, so it’s a great way to get a clear view of what I have pending. It’s a frightening view, to be sure, but it’s clear nonetheless. The queue currently stands fifty-seven strong, largely due to non-fiction books that I bought, half read, and placed on the shelf to be forgotten. I find I’m at least vaguely interested in every topic under the sun, but rarely am I interested enough to get through an entire book on the topic. This is something I’d really like to change, so maybe this will help with moving me towards that.

Anyway, if you’re on GoodReads or are planning to sign up, add me as a friend!

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