books

While I was undergoing chemotherapy for the first part of this year, I found myself unable to read. I couldn’t follow the story for more than a page or two at a time. Before that, I would read obsessively every couple months and then take a break for awhile to focus on other hobbies. Once I finished chemo and got my reading brain back, I decided to dedicate time before bed every day to reading.

In June, I discovered Goodreads.com. Goodreads is a combination of a social networking, crowd sourcing, and statistic tracking for readers.

Once you’ve registered for an account, you can start adding and rating books you’ve read or want to read. To organize those books, I’ve created 4 bookshelves:

• books I’ve finished reading
• books I’m currently reading
• books I have at home and haven’t yet read
• books I want to get

I found it most effective for me to edit my bookshelves to enable sorting and to make each shelf exclusive. Sorting allows me to utilize the crowd sourced ratings and see which book on the list will be the best when I’m picking a new book to read. Making each shelf exclusive means that when I move a book to a new shelf it is removed from it’s old shelf.

To pick a new book to read, I sort the books I have (if I’m at home) or books I want to get (if I’m at the library or picking a new Kindle book to read while I’m out and about) by rating and pick the best rated one that appeals to me at that time. When I start reading it I move it to currently reading which is quick and easy with the handy iPhone app. And when I finish the book I move it to read and give it a rating to help other users.

As I finish books, Goodreads also collects statistics about how many books and pages I’ve read and what sort of ratings I’ve given them.

I started using Goodreads in June 2010 so this chart represents 5 full months. In that time I’ve finished 26 books (averaging more than 1 a week) and read 8330 pages. Granted, several of the books I’ve read this year were written for young adults but my goal when reading is to entertain myself.

Goodreads also has a social networking aspect where you can comment on the books your friends are adding to their lists, compare what you’ve read with what they’ve read, and see how similar your tastes are. If you’d like to add me as a friend you’re welcome to do so.

I’m loving Goodreads, I’ve gotten my sister hooked on it too, and I can’t wait to see how my statistics evolve over the years.

Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links.

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