Anyone Recommend Goodreads.com?

youngpiper1 · Jul 31, 2013

I am looking at sites to join that could expose me to some new books to read. I found one called goodreads.com

Does anyone use this site? Taking a peek at it , they have quotes from various authors and poets which I like, and i guess each person has a list of the books they owned and have read. Are there any sites that you guys can recommend to me to join to discuss books. Any books you guys recommend I read? I am getting more into classics.
Edit: Corrected capitalization in title per Rule #9, L.

Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine

youngpiper1 · Jul 31, 2013

I thought Game of Thrones was a tv series, I don't watch the TV show though, because I don't have the channel. Where do you buy your books? My favorite book store is half priced books

phred · Jul 31, 2013

I use goodreads, as do several of my friends and some of our favorite authors. It's great if you're looking up a series, and want to know the exact order (ex: Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels, which are up to 13 or 14, and get pretty confusing read out of order...).
I don't pay much attention to individual reviews, unless it's a friend whose taste I'm familiar with. I've seen too many reviewers getting caught up in stuff that's irrelevant to the story (like cover art - which the author has zero control over, unless it's self-published). Overall ratings can be helpful in finding out whether a particular book is generally well-received.
The "Groups" feature is neat, if you're looking at specific genres, authors, etc. - you can get recommendations there from people who like mysteries or Urban Fantasy, rather than trusting the general population. My writing group has formed a closed group in order to share books that may be helpful or relevant to our attempts to learn the craft of writing, and that's helpful as well.
Check it out - it's free to sign up, so even if it's not your thing, you're only out some time and keystrokes. :D

undecagon · Jul 31, 2013

I have a goodreads account, but mostly so I can snoop on Patrick Rothfuss from time to time to see if there's any news of Day 3 of the Kingkiller Chronicles. (The Name of the Wind, Wise Man's Fear....GREAT books if you've missed them). But if you just want some suggestions, and are getting into classics, and have an iPhone (or probably nook or some such thing) -- just log into iBooks and select FREE. All of Holmes is on there, plus, Poe, Jekyll and Hyde, Kafka, Swift, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Dracula, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds...Great stuff, all free!
Yes, I am aware I mixed authors and titles. Sorry...it sort of bothers me too!

undecagon · Jul 31, 2013

I thought Game of Thrones was a tv series,

Yes, on HBO. But - it's based on the novels by G.R.R. Martin. I personally am not a huge fan of his writing, but the story he tells and the things he came up with are brilliant. Thus - the HBO show fits me perfectly, because the staff at HBO has better writers than Martin IMO. That said, most everyone I know who has stuck with the books longer than I did say they are great.

phred · Jul 31, 2013

I personally am not a huge fan of his writing, but the story he tells and the things he came up with are brilliant

I'm actually becoming more of a Martin fan - the "Song of Fire and Ice" novels are good, but his earlier short stories are pretty good, too. He was the editor on a shared-universe project called "Wild Cards" that dealt with superheroes suddenly appearing in modern times, and I enjoyed several of the early volumes (they went downhill after a while, which seems to happen with shared universe projects...)
Oddly enough, I'm finally getting around to reading Jane Austen's novels - and despite the reputation she has as the progenitor of "chick lit", she's actually really good at characterization and pacing. The novels are definitely products of their time, and the Regency era mores and morality are a little odd to modern sensibilities, but I'm also a history major, so it's an interesting window into another time.

boudreaux · Jul 31, 2013

Wattpad is an app I use on iPhone. They seem to have a lot of books.

werdna · Jul 31, 2013

I highly recommend Goodreads. I use it often to get ideas for new books to read, and I read reviews by other readers. I've looked into other book club websites, and I find Goodreads to be the best layout. It was recently bought out by Amazon, and is tied in with their Kindle book reader. I love my Kindle, and I hope in the future, Amazon does more with Kindle and Goodreads for compatibility.

lincolnsbark · Jul 31, 2013

Goodreads is a great way to find new books, authors, and other readers. I love finding a book them forgetting about it, going to Barnes and noble and using good reads to find the books I had previously marked.

youngpiper1 · Jul 31, 2013

I had heard about free e-books that no longer have a copyright and thus you can get for free. The best part is, they can not be taking away ( look it up, for some reasons kindle and other e-books you pay for can be taken away from you any time) its why I like to have a copy in at least a 99 cent paperback. I wish I had some sort of an e-reader , maybe i can get one for christmas this year.

youngpiper1 · Jul 31, 2013

Also a quick question on E-readers. I know that they have some sort of an archive where connected to the wifi that I don't have them actually on my E-reader, but can I store them actually on my e-reader?
I ask this because what if there is a blackout and I want to read, but obviously my wifi is out, but if I had a kindle and it still had a charge

bigriggers01 · Jul 31, 2013

I've found Goodreads to be a fantastic site and it's turned me on to really interesting areas of liiterature I'de never really considered before (e.g. Native American History). I've spent a fair amount of time on the site and I'm glad of it.

werdna · Jul 31, 2013

I ask this because what if there is a blackout and I want to read, but obviously my wifi is out, but if I had a kindle and it still had a charge

I store most of my books on my kindle, so I can read even if not connected by wifi. I have the option of deleting them, and they are stored on my Amazon account. I can always download them from Amazon and store them on my Kindle again. You always have access to your purchased books.
I get many books from my local library online. Those books are stored on my Kindle until the time period expires for the library loan, usually two weeks. The book is deleted from my Kindle after the loan period expires. I've read dozens of library books at no charge.
I have over 50 books on my Kindle and room for ten times that number.

terrygoldman123 · Jul 31, 2013

Don't know a thing about Goodreads.com but will check it out. Don't own a Kindle either. Don't want one. Want to continue my old school habits of purchasing hardbacks from small on line booksellers who publish bimonthly magazines. Daedulus Books/CD's/DVD's out of Columbia, Md is a favorite.
Lastly as a librarian for much of my professional life, I would humbly suggest asking your local librarian for suggestions on what to read.
Turn the page and turn the TV off.

plateauguy · Jul 31, 2013

Both my wife and I have Kindles. I have a lot of the free classics on mine - but my favorites are the Rex Stout "Nero Wolfe" series and the PG Wodehouse "Jeeves" series. Not classics in the truest sense, but highly entertaining.
I love the fact that my wife can read at night and I don't have to listen to the pages being turned. Also, since we are older we can adjust the print size.

bobpnm · Jul 31, 2013

Goodreads is a great site. I use it often. I like to read series about specific characters. Goodreads is a great place to get a complete list, in order, of an authors books. Search by authors name or by character. Try Joe Pickett. Books about a Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett.

phred · Jul 31, 2013

Another good site for free e-texts is Project Gutenberg - I've been downloading classics from them since the days when they were only available in ASCII text files. They've been updating and upgrading their collection, and you can now download public domain works in a plethora of formats - .txt, .mobi (Kindle), EPUB, etc.
I still buy 'dead-tree' volumes, but I was surprised by how much I wound up enjoying reading on my Kindle. I hadn't really enjoyed reading Project Gutenberg texts on my computer, or on my old Palm V (I actually made it all the way through "The Varieties of Religious Experience" on that thing...), or even on the Kindle app on my iPod once I got around to trying that out. The actual e-readers do have some advantages if, like me, you've got 4 or 5 books (including a couple of technical manuals) going at any one time, and if you chew through them as quickly as I do.

keith929 · Jul 31, 2013

Thanks for the link. I just signed up for Goodreads.

brudnic1 · Aug 1, 2013

I find the site useful. Sort of like a "Yelp!" for books.

werdna · Aug 1, 2013

Also, since we are older we can adjust the print size.

That's the original reason I went to a Kindle. My eyes are getting older, even if I'm not.

The Kindle has rekindled my love of books, and made my reading enjoyable again. I have walls full of bookshelves, but I hardly read paper any longer because of the type size.

Anyone Recommend Goodreads.com?

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