Week Four: Goodreads Style

 

Here is my Goodreads profile page!  Feel free to see what's on my list and recommend me something!
I enjoy using Goodreads not so much for rating or ranking books, but as a place where I can keep an ongoing list of what I'm reading that I can access from any computer.  I know many people keep written lists in books and journals, but I enjoy the paperless ease of my growing Goodreads list.

Based on what I've posted to my reading lists, GR has done a decent job making suggestions for my further reading.  Granted, these suggestions must come from some computer formula, and at a glance they seem to be suggestions gathered from the publishers catalogs of books I've already read, which does sometimes work.  I've also enjoyed doing some of the quizzes and browsing some of the lists, from whence I can add books to my list that I've missed.

[On a separate note for this assignment, I am not entirely sure how to go about stalking my colleagues.  I guess I will have to cyber stalk some of my bcpl coworkers and get them to friend me on Goodreads.]
When I get some bcpl Goodreads friends I will complete this assignment.  Until then, check out Goodreads if you want to make your own reading lists.  For the voracious reader it's a great place to keep track of your reading (and to recall if you can't remember what you've read vs. what you haven't!).

Alright, I finally found a friend!  I've recommended some books to Olivia here on her Goodreads.  Scroll down to see my comments!  I did use trusty Novelist to help in my recommendations, but I did use the 'search books' tool for her page to see if she had already read any of the books I was going to recommend.  It checks against her list and tells you if it is on there.  Nice tool, and a nice way to see if you may or may not have the same reading interests as your bookish friends.
If you're too lazy to check my comments on the GR site, here they copied and pasted:

Hello Friend!

I see that you've read and enjoyed Skinny Dip, by Carl Hiassen. I used Novelist and found a few books that you may also be interested in (they follow a writing style that includes satirical and dark humor).

One recommendation was Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett, but I double checked your list and you've already read that one! So I am going to suggest David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, which follows a family described as zany and dysfunctional. This story involves a varied and wide cast of characters, and Wallace's writing is described as 'morbid cerebral humor.' If that doesn't suit you, or you don't want to get involved with the antics of a cast of hundreds, I am also going to recommend White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. This story involves a man who is transplanted to New Delhi, India after he has landed a new job. However, his outlook on life undergoes changes as he begins to see technology, materialism, and city life in a new light.

Sorry if this sounded like a commercial for Novelist or like spam. It's not!
See you at the library!

Anne

Week 4: Assignment 1
Explore Goodreads (especially features like Listopia and Explore) and write/share your impressions/discoveries/revelations on your blog. If you have not already, please join Goodreads and add and rate at least 15 titles. Look at what Goodreads recommends for you – why do you think those titles were chosen? Complete the following Goodreads features and functions:
•Create shelves for the books you rated.
•Make friends with colleagues.
•Recommend a title to a colleague based on a title or titles that they have enjoyed using the comments field on Goodreads. Be sure to include appeal characteristics in your recommendation and note why it is similiar to the title or titles they enjoyed.
•Include this recommendation on your blog and write/share your impressions, discoveries, or revelations from exploring Goodreads.