Reading...it's a social thing

What's the first thing you do when you finish a great book? Do you pass it along to a friend, bring it back to the library or place it on your overcrowded book shelf at home? Now there is a new way to share your enthusiasm for your most recent read. Similar to Facebook is a site called Goodreads (www.goodreads.com) a social network for bibliophiles. You can write a review, create a book shelf with titles you want to read or see what's new in the publishing world. You can rate books you have read with a star system from 1 to 5. You can get lists of books by genre and topic. You can look at the shelves of others and find what they suggest reading. At the end of 2011, the Goodreads website had 6,700,000 members, by the end of 2012 that number had jumped to 10 million!

If you are a Facebook user you will love the easy to use format of Goodreads. If you are a blogger or have your own website you can use a widget to show your readers what's on your book shelves at Goodreads. You can join groups of other readers who have your same interests in every genre and niche imaginable, from manga to werewolves there's a spot for every type of reader.

Goodreads is free! They even have an app for that and it's free too. So you can use your smartphone or tablet to scan barcodes from the books you are interested in next time you visit the library or bookstore and they will be saved on your Goodreads bookshelf.

One thing to note is that like Facebook, you have to be at least 13 or older to join. If you are a social media user you can let Goodreads check for friends that are also using Goodreads.

Michele Schumann
Children's Librarian