/lit/ - Literature

Seems like they inflate shit higher than IMDB does.

>>4559165
I was thinking the same.

>>4559158
general consensus is that its a useless piece of narcissistic shit, like everything else

just look at the top quotes of all time and youll get an idea of the userbase: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes

there are so many fucking lists, reviews, blogs and critics out there theres no need to use goodreads for recommendations, its just there for you to craft and gaze at your own literary taste as a part of your self-image. just like last.fm.

speaking of which, you dont have to register on last.fm to get recommendations (similar artists), and you dont have to on goodreads either.

>>4559178
but i have to go to rateyourmusic because its good site

>>4559178
the recommendations are useless anyway. For me, half of it is Marxist shit (because I liked one Zizek book) and the other half is Greek because my favourite book happens to be a Greek classic

>>4559178
>http://www.goodreads.com/quotes
I haven't seen so much Bob Marley since middle school

>>4559186

rym serves a decent purpose as encyclopedia, there is a lot of weird shit in there. I don't use Goodreads but I would be surprised if it is as broad in scope as rym.

well, fuck.

>My question is how accurate are the ratings and suggestions?
I created an account on a whim one day, and I made the mistake of rating each Harry Potter book. My recommendations were entirely things which I had no intention of reading.

If I continue to use goodreads, it will be simply to chronicle what I've read

>>4559249
>I created an account on a whim one day, and I made the mistake of rating each Harry Potter book. My recommendations were entirely things which I had no intention of reading.
>If I continue to use goodreads, it will be simply to chronicle what I've read

your reccomendations will also improve, they dont refresh them every day

This is my Goodreads opinion

I use to keep track of what I have so I don't buy something twice unintentionally. Also I like their reading challenge, good way to track what book you read in the year and it also gives you a page count as well. I don't do the social things on that site because it is just a bunch of boring house wives or board and lonely college smarty pants. But I think it is a fantastic tool.

If you guys use GoodReads to log what you have read do you use their star system? if so how harsh would you say you are with it?

>>4559178
There are a small group of readers that read good "literary" works and give detailed reviews that are often engaging. If you are looking for new books to read just mine people's book shelves and keep comparing taste to follow the reviews of good readers.

>>4559278
Ahahaha jesus fucking christ man

>>4559321

I tend to follow Ebert's method, which is to judge a work based on its ability to achieve the goal it set for itself. Like, I wouldn't necessarily say Harry Potter is worse than Nausea, even if I gave the former three stars and the latter four. They're trying to do completely different things and can't be set against each other. Also, just because I give something a high rating doesn't mean I love it; one can recognize the artistic craftsmanship of a story without finding it personally relevant on a deep level. I think Of Mice and Men is a near-perfect novel, and I gave it five stars, but it's not one of my favourites.

Anyway, rating-wise:

1 - practically irredeemable
2 - poor, with perhaps a few bright spots
3 - average, decent, maybe worth a read but otherwise forgettable
4 - good to great; succeeds at what it's trying to do, probably worth a reread at the least
5 - masterpiece; nearly flawless. profound craftsmanship

But I'm pretty stingy with the stars. Most people inflate big time. Don't use them as a judge; read reviews, both negative and positive.

>>4559358
I try to remember how many time my eyes rolled during the reading of the book.

>>4559358
This man is good.

I like it because I can make a list of books I want to read and I think it sort of encourages me to read more rather than shitpost or do whatever. I've gotten some okay reccomendations but nothing stellar, and the categorical reccomendations for me often have multiples of the same title through them.

The rating system is shit, every book is 3.6-4.3 stars, but I still hand out some 1 and 2's even if it doesn't matter.

>>4559178
That fucking Marilyn Monroe quote plagues me. I can feel the rage rising within me.

>>4559385
>tfw 2 or 3 of the vapid, sluttiest, bitchiest, most cuntiest irredeemable cunty cunts you know post that Marilyn quote ~6 times a year
>tfw one of them routinely changes their cover photo to that quote
The reason I'm still friends with them on fb is so that I can occasionally hate them in secret. I've hidden one though; bitch posts too many pictures of her son who she does ecstasy and meth in front of

>>4559405
Sorry, but why should we give a shit about your friend or your facebook habits.

as an avid /mu/tant I believe RYM is perfect for filing away listened music into a rated database, but Last.fm is for organizational purposes

Goodreads, on the other hand, serves to keep me motivated to read more because of my ability to look at the books I've read and act like a self-absorbed pretentious prick. Nonetheless, I'm still gaining knowledge.

>>4559413
I give a shit about it anon, and I hope you go fucking die you retarded shitposting faggot

If you add the right people with the right taste it's incredibly useful.

Chill, brahs.

>>4559442
Cry more. I can hear your tears hitting your keyboard from over here.This is a goodreads-topic thread on /lit/, not a place to complain about random stupid shit that you choose to subject yourself to.

I just recently started using it. If you have difficulty keeping focus like I do (it fucking sucks) it will help to an extent. Seeing my progress a bit more tangibly helps me not get sidetracked. Other than that, the rating and recommendation system seems really terrible overall.

>>4559358
I vote less on technical ability of the author and more on how much I enjoyed it. I can acknowledge the sophistication of the book but if I felt nothing, it didn't achieve it's job where I'm concerned, so it's not going to get a 5 or 4.

i just use it for keeping track of what i've read
i don't review things or look at the reviews and ratings or anything and i can't be assed to add all the books i've previously read to it
just as i'm reading a book i add it and then once i'm finished i mark it as read
it's handy for me

>>4559447

Post yer profile m8

Link to profiles

I use goodreads, but I don't have it connected to my facebook account. I use it because I like knowing what other people read, and I like knowing their opinions. Most, if not all of these people are from /lit/. /lit/ is good, but it's nice to be able to communicate with a person and pull up a chart with a venn diagram and various stats comparing the books I've read to the ones they have. A lot of the site is overinflated, but so is imdb. Ten million voting on the hunger games for every list skews a lot of stuff. Nobody forces you to those, though.

Really, I like it as a counterpart to /lit/. Even though most of my friends are from here, they're tamer when given a username and profile picture. I use /lit/ for raw reviews, and goodreads for precision reviews that I can relate better to, because I can compare myself to that user's profile/history.

It's not for everybody, obviously, but I still like it.

> send creepy friend requests to old white bearded guys
> their reviews are on top of the review site
> ???
> profit

>>4559405
"Spend not the remnant of thy days in thoughts and fancies concerning other men, when it is not in relation to some common good, when by it thou art hindered from some other better work. That is, spend not thy time in thinking, what such a man doth, and to what end: what he saith, and what he thinks, and what he is about, and such other things or curiosities, which make a man to rove and wander from the care and observation of that part of himself, which is rational, and overruling."

I'm on there, not doing much.
Lot of cunts there, but one can find interesting content if one wants to.

I don't like that it's only in English.