6 Reasons you Should be using Goodreads

Last updated on 24 January 2023

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Wondering about the reasons you should be using Goodreads?

Using Goodreads is something I do nearly every single day. Whether it be to update the number of pages I’ve read in a book, to look up when a book is due to be released, what the second book in a series is called, or to find the perfect quote. There are so many reasons you should be using Goodreads, especially if you’re a bibliophile.

If you’re mad about books then you probably already know all about Goodreads, and probably have been using it for years. If you’re not, or perhaps you’re just getting into reading again, I thought I’d share six reasons you should be using Goodreads for tracking all your reading.

1. ‘Meet your next favourite book’

Just like their catchphrase says, you really will find your next favourite book. Every time you click on a book, it will give you a list of suggestions based on that book. These books might be in the same genre, or a similar theme, or by the same author.

There is also a ‘Recommendations’ section, where Goodreads recommends books to you, based on what you’ve read already, or you’ve been looking at. The number of times I’ve found books that I have ended up loving just by these recommendations are too many to count. And this is just one of the reasons you should be using Goodreads!

Let’s keep it going!

2. Make bookshelves full of glorious books

There are three bookshelves that are automatically on your Goodreads account, and you can’t change these. but why would you want to? They are Want To Read, Currently Reading, and Read. Simply search for the book on the website, or scan the barcode (see next point). When you’ve found it, pop it on the Currently Reading bookshelf, and when you’re done, change it to the Read bookshelf.

Having a Want To Read bookshelf is so awesome, because it means you can add any book that you find on Goodreads to that shelf, so you know exactly what books you want to pick up and read in the future.

As well as these three useful shelves, you can also create your own. This is a fantastic way of keeping a track of the books you own, especially if you have the app. I have a bookshelf called ‘Own It’, and every time I buy/receive a new book, I grab my phone, open the app, scan the barcode, and set it to go on my Want To Read shelf, and also my Own It shelf. I love this because it means if I’m at a book store and I find a book, I can quickly lookup on the bookshelf to see if I have it already. Genius.

You can make whatever type of bookshelf you want: YA books, books never to suggest to anyone, books with beautiful covers etc.

3. There’s an app for that – Scan it

Goodreads has an app (who doesn’t these days), and while it has similar functions to the website (search, add books, join discussions and groups etc), it also has a scanning function which is a life and time saver.  Every time you pick up a new book, you can easily scan the barcode with the Goodreads scanner function on the app (which you can get for Apple, and here for Android), and you can have it set to where you want the scanned book to go.

For example, I have mine automatically set to Want to Read, and also Own It, because those are books that I scan the most often – ones that I’ve bought/received. However, if I’m out and about and I spot a book that sounds good, I’ll which the scan to Want To Read and boom. Saved.

4. Join Groups, have discussions, add friends

Goodreads is home to thousands of groups that you can join. For example, for Blogger’s Bookshelf, we have a group that you can be a part of. On it, we post discussion threads for group posts coming up, notices, and what we’re reading at the moment. There are also book clubs on GoodReads, and groups of friends. There are companies and libraries using GoodReads too.

You can chat about your favourite (or least favourite) books, make friends, follow people and their reviews, suggest books to others if you think that they might be interested in them, based on what they’ve already read. You can add people as friends, so you can always see what they’re reading. It’s like another little booky community, and it’s wonderful

5. More than books

As well as tens of thousands of books listed which can put on bookshelves, share with friends, and chat about, there are quotes which you can ‘like’, trivia questions you can answer, quizzes you can (try to) complete, competitions you can enter to win books (ah, yes please!), see what events are coming your way, follow authors and see what they’re reading, find eBooks, vote in the Choice Awards each year, and my favourite special/extra feature: do the Goodreads Reading Challenge each year. This brings me to the next point…

6. Goodreads Reading Challenge

This is seriously my favourite thing about Goodreads. Every year you can take part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. You only have to have a (free) account and from there it’s super easy. At the beginning of the year, you can decide to set yourself a goal that you will read x-amount of books by 31st of December. It’s completely 100% up to you how many you set yourself to read.

Every time you finish a book, and you change it from Currently Reading to Read, you will be able to give it a star rating, a review (if you want to), and to add what date you finished it. When you do this, Goodreads automatically adds the book to your Challenge, so you can see all the books you’ve read in the year. It will also keep a track of how many you’ve read, how many you’ve got to go until you complete your challenge, what percentage of the way through you are, and if you’re running a bit behind or not. I love this so much.

Sure it gets a little stressful if it says ‘you’re 2 books behind’ but then you know that maybe reading a few short books would be a good idea at the moment.

Bonus: Its books

Lots and lots and lots of books. And that, my friends, is wonderful. If that’s not one of the best reasons you should be using Goodreads, I don’t know what is.

Do you use Goodreads? What’s your favourite thing about it?