If there was a P.E.D for reading besides coffee, Goodreads would be it! Goodreads was the second app I downloaded when I got my smartphone and it is the one app I have consistently used the most. If only there was an app for movies and record.....we'd be really talking (#first)
Before the days of the smart phone, (I was a laaaate adopter) I took pictures of books I wanted to read, and when I got to a computer, would add them to a spreadsheet. Old school much? Why yes, I do. But with this handy dandy app, that is no more! They have this nifty feature called TO READ. Now, my rule is, the TO READ list can never have more books than my READ list, but this is so helpful. Now any trip to Nice Price Books and Records, Dog Eared Books, or Reader's Corner (if you are in Raleigh I recommend all three) includes a few additions to each category. See a book I like, BOOM...on the list. That book I read back in high school...BAM added to the list. Bye,bye Excel spreadsheet, and reading half the book before remember I have already read it.
Goodreads has also helped increase my reading. I love a challenge, and if I set a goal for myself I will eventually reach it. (That whole setting a clear time frame thing is still a bit tricky) Setting yearly reading goals has helped me read more and read more often. As I have mentioned before, my Read-A-Thon with Emory & Henry College as part of our STAYHOMEcoming 2020 exploded my reading and led to some really great books. Each year I increase my reading goal by five books and each year I have met or exceeded that goal. That keeping track has made such a huge impact.
One feature I tend to underuse however is the reviews. Occasionally, I will sway with the breeze on a book, but for the most part I am my own reader. Rating a book is personal to me, and while I give reviews here, take them only as suggestions. Good for me might be terrible for you. As a Librarian, we learn from reviews, but never take them as Gospel. Contrary reviews are just as helpful as ones that affirm the popular opinion. Just like 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong, people are still reading James Patterson after all these years.
I am not an app person by any stretch, and I really don't care to use my smartphone any more than I must. While it took be FOREVER to actually get one, I do love the tools, like Goodreads, it contains to make my life just a little bit better. And really why would I resist something that makes me read better, and more often? Right???
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