I am rarely as happy as when I have a good book in which to get completely lost. Finding those little pockets of time in the day – or on a good day finding hours of time – to snuggle up in a big chair with a soft blanket and an engrossing read gets pretty close to perfection for me. The only problem is that when I finish a great book, I don’t know which one to pick up next. Friends are always recommending titles, but when the time comes, I can never remember what they are. I can hardly remember which books I have already read!
Recently, a friend told me about a website that has intensely improved my reading life, www.goodreads.com. Here are a few of the major bonuses to using this helpful site:
- Your profile. You can personalize your experience here by creating a profile with information about yourself that can help you connect to other readers like you.
- Your friends. Get your friends to sign up so you can easily see what each other are reading and get info from them on their past reads.
- Your reviews. Not only can you post what you thought about a book you’ve read, but you can also join groups with other readers to interact and share ideas.
- Your recommendations. Goodreads creates book recommendations for you based on your ratings of other books!
- Your history. Finally, this website can help track what you’ve already read and books you want to read. Next time you pick up an interesting looking book that seems vaguely familiar, you can check to see if you’ve already read it!
Grandmother Hen is also a great place to offer a review about a book you just read or to swap ideas about popular titles. Don’t see a community group that fits your reading style? Create one!
