Assignment 4: Goodreads

Listopia—I love the lists generated on Goodreads because it’s a very fast way to get some recommendations (from a good amount of people) for books and genres I’m not as comfortable with in terms of suggestions. These lists are even helpful when I’ve exhausted some of my go-to recommendations and need yet even more. For instance, when a teen needs a recommendation and has read all of the popular and trending books, I can often find something appealing to the customer based on the extensive subgenre lists available. I also like that the lists are always changing, there are always new ones (Best Beach reads for 2015 is the current “featured list”) and as a part of social media, lists are created as real life happens. Goodreads serves as a great resource for organically generated suggestions.

I use Goodreads for ratings and recommendations, but have never created new shelves until now. I created a bunch of shelves and went back and added my books to my new shelves. Now I have a ton of new recommendations based on each individual shelf I created. Some of these are very accurate and some not so much. The shelf I called “Adventure”, for instance, suggested many similar non-fiction adventure stories. The shelf I titled “Baltimore Author”, however, (for Laura Lippman) just recommended similar mysteries that did not have anything to do with Baltimore. It is clear that the actual name of the shelf does not have any effect on what they recommend. Also I have a shelf titled “Did not finish” (i.e. did not like) so interestingly enough, I know to steer clear of the recommendations for that shelf.

The “Explore” part of Goodreads is great for finding new titles in particular genres. I often don’t read brand new books because there are usually lots of holds on them, so it’s nice to browse the explore page to make myself aware of the new items on the shelves that are going to be popular here in the branch.

I haven’t friended too many people, but just added some coworkers, so I’m excited to see what they are reading and read any reviews they have written.

Based on her extensive reading history of historical-fiction, I recommended Child 44 to Laura. She also seems to enjoy books that are a part of a series where you get to know the character and know what to expect from them, so I think she will enjoy that aspect of the characterization of this book.

Based on Carmen’s reading history of books largely based on women’s relationships and romance (Chick Lit), I recommended Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand to her. I think she will enjoy reading about the romantic elements in the story as well as the evolving relationships between the three women.