Into the Labyrinth of Goodreads

I'm a librarian. I'm already inundated with Goodreads lists on my email, PubWeekly on my desk, Book Pages calling to me from the New Fiction area, and carts and carts of returns, all brimming with enticing titles that seem to be screaming, "Read Me! Read Me!" So I need more electronically generated recommendations, or earnest suggestions from other BMB bloggers, like I need another cute kitten bookmark. NO thank you very much.

There, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I DO value learning more about how to do the RA conversation. I appreciate the opportunity to write about books using the appeal factors; I find that I already do a more conscious and conscientious RA as a result, e.g. I have fearlessly mentioned the significance of the setting and/or characters of a couple of books in my recent advisories. (I do wish I could find more customers who value WRITING as I do. So many are simply looking for an entertaining story...)

I do not need to dip into Listopia's "Best Book Boyfriend" list, or some of their other popular lists, for my personal reading. (See rant above.) But I would certainly use this as an RA tool; specifically, as a hook to encourage customers to subscribe to Goodreads. I'd show them, say, one of the Chick Lit lists or Vampire Romance lists, because Goodreads does such a good job of including cover photos and enthusiastic reviews. Looking at all of those 4 and 5 star ratings on a Kinsella readalike would be a great incentive to pick up a recommended book. 

Overall, I find Goodreads a quick, entertaining source of sketches of current, pop fiction/literary fare. Love the bright, upbeat, visually appealing format. Much better than a dry list of authors and titles. Sometimes the reviewers are quite eloquent. Even more, I enjoy the discussion threads posted after I have listed a book. Best of all, you immediately get the sense that you, too, could be part of a community of like minded people -- the wonderful world of book addicts!

The site itself is not as easy to navigate as I would like. For example, I had to ask a coworker to help me find the "Read" option on the dropdown menu in order to add a title to my list. But overall, it's a fun site, and I think that, like a lot of things in life, you can get out of it what you put in.  

In general, switching back and forth between Goodreads, my blog, the blogs of others, my Gmail account, and the BMB site is um, just a tad tedious.