Getting Ideas from Goodreads

I hate to admit, but my digital and actual bookshelves have been disappointingly dusty as of late.  For about two months after returning home from my church mission, I felt like material that wasn't written by the hand of God was off-limits and sinful.  Thankfully, my dear aunt recommended a few really prime reads to me after the initial returned-missionary weirdness wore off.  So by way of My Antonia, I was reacquainted with the world of literature, and was soon hungry for more.

Isn't it nice then, that I signed up for this class?  I had an enlightening experience setting up my account on Goodreads this morning.  It was really cool!  I thought the “friends” feature, which allowed me to import my friends from Facebook and see what they are reading, was super neat.  It surprised me that a few of them even read, to be honest.  But I like this because if I ever don’t want to play the library gamble and hope that a random book is a winner, I have somewhere to search with recommendations from people I trust.  It reflects badly on them if the book they liked is actually really lame, but my friends usually have good taste, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I also like how the “bookshelves” bit keeps everything well-organized.  Gone is the Dewey-Decimal system—now everything is categorized neatly on the screen in a way that is MUCH easier to understand.  It’s like, “Hey, I just really want a twisted love story today.  I think I’ll go to my ‘Twisted Love Stories’ shelf!  Look, Vampire Diaries! Perfect.” 

I’m excited to start finding more friends and getting their opinions on books, as well as exploring the site to form my own.  The more people read, the more their minds are opened and their perspectives broadened.  Many Goodreads = even more great ideas.