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The biggest thing that I dislike about my current neighborhood is the book shopping selection. I live maybe five minutes from a good-sized BN. Their selection isn't great, but it would still be my go-to bookshop just based on location if it wasn't for some funky humidity problem they seem to have. I hardly go there any more, because it's too common for me to find something I want only to notice that the pages are all wavy and the covers are curled up on every copy. They also have these huge windows on the second story, where the sun bleaches the spines of everything on the nearby shelves. Yick. The Borders stores around here tend to have a better selection, but their locations are less convenient. I also hate their stupid, over-complicated loyalty card program with a passion, so I never go there for new release books because I'd rather get a set percentage off with my BN card. There are only two used shops in a decent driving distance, one is large but full of a lot of DVDs and crap. Their selection is really odd and I rarely find anything I want there. The other is small and comfortable but seriously overpriced. They have great stuff but only maybe half of it is worth the expense, even with the constant "30% off your entire purchase" coupons you can print from their website.
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Mar 21, 2010 15:53
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Yiggy posted:This stuff is great for tag residue. My parents had it around growing up but I've never seen it in a normal grocery store so my books have residue these days. Try Ace Hardware or Home Depot.
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Apr 26, 2010 18:07
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Goodreads has groups, which basically means anyone can make their own forum there. Some of the groups are good, others are lame. The only problem is you have to wade past fifty zillion loving "roleplay" groups made by little kids who use them like a chatroom.
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May 25, 2010 08:02
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I've only gotten really good deals on eBay when the books are listed in batches, I've sometimes found listings for 5-6 books that include the one I want for the same price or less than one copy is going for individually. In general, I tend to find better prices through Amazon Marketplace.
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May 30, 2010 07:11
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Usually when I've resorted to searching eBay, it's for books or specific editions that are out of print. But even when I end up in a used bookstore getting something that's still available in other ways, I can't say I feel too bad about it. For one thing, authors and publishers have gotten a hell of a lot of money from me over my lifetime. And, while it's not like I can't afford them new, bargains lead me to buy things I wouldn't typically get. So while the author doesn't benefit from that one purchase, if I enjoy the book then they have a new fan searching for their stuff and talking them up to friends. If I don't like it, then it's still not like they've lost anything because I wouldn't have tried them at full price in the first place. I'd love to shop at indie stores more often, because while I can usually beat them on price their selections tend to be worth the expense. But there are fewer independent shops around here than used bookstores, and they're more inconvenient to get to.
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Jun 2, 2010 17:12
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There's also this one http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2686.Book_Barn_Goons that someone made, I think during a GR thread that we had a long time ago. Nobody really posts in it.
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Jun 6, 2010 02:31
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Here's my GR. I've been using it as a reading journal for the past few years. http://www.goodreads.com/deety I've adjusted my settings so I mostly only post to my feed when I add a currently-reading update or write a review, so if you friend me you won't get swamped with twenty "deety added this to their to-read shelf" messages a day. If you want to friend request please mention you're from SA - I put up a "why do you want to be my friend" question because I started getting a lot of requests from spammy authors and boring people.
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Jun 6, 2010 18:59
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It doesn't do automatic recommendations, it's more about friending people with similar taste and getting ideas from the things that pop up on their feeds. I don't really mind that, because the websites that do give automatic recommendations usually either give obvious stuff (books by the same author as whatever you liked) or things that are pretty inaccurate for me. You can sometimes find recommendations similar to a specific book by checking out the lists and groups linked from that book's page. I started using the site as mostly a way to track my own reading and encourage myself to write reviews. The reviewing thing has been really helpful to me because it makes it a lot easier to jog my memory - especially when it comes to series novels. Stopping to reflect about what I like and don't like about nearly everything I'm reading has also improved my own writing attempts. Lately I've been using the social features a lot more, but that's made my to-read list unrealistic. I think it's changed my reading habits though, because I'm now picking books based more on recommendations and reviews than on an interesting sounding back cover blurb.
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Jun 7, 2010 01:55
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Donkey Darko posted:I haven't used the swap feature yet, but if it's anything like "Read It, Swap It" then it's a pain in the arse to get any decent swaps unless you've got some reasonably interesting books of your own to swap. You're very unlikely to swap a lovely paperback with a James Joyce novel, for instance. Who knows though, you might get lucky! I swapped a Sword of Truth novel for Douglas Coupland's Life After God -- I feel I got the better end of the bargin there.
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Jun 7, 2010 17:54
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In the Feedback forum over there, a few people reported getting requests from an account that had received hundreds of books but not shipped any. The person who sent books off to them googled the address and it matched a used bookshop's. The oddest thing about that thread, to me, were the number of people that didn't seem to give a drat about the idea of a bookseller stocking themselves through the swap. I think they've added a maximum number of open requests you can have at once since then.
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Jun 8, 2010 04:44
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My GR account is only what I've read since I started it. I keep thinking about putting in things I remember well enough, but I never get around to it.
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Jun 14, 2010 14:28
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For organizing my to-read list as well as what I've read (at least since starting the account), I use Goodreads. New accounts start with read, to-read, and currently-reading shelves, but you can create your own shelves and even make them exclusive (a book can only be on one exclusive shelf, and those also sort to the top of the shelf list). I use my to-read list for things I definitely want to get around to eventually. Then I created a looks-interesting shelf for things I might want to check out sometime later, and a read-next list for books that I've already purchased or have out from the library. I also made a wishlist shelf for books I want to buy new, and one called wishlist-vintage that's for older, out-of-print books that I have to find used. Those wishlist shelves have come in really handy when book shopping because I can pull them up right on my phone. And I made an "upcoming" shelf for books that aren't out yet, I scan it once or twice a month and it helps me remember to either order the books or put them on hold at my library. Those are all my exclusive ones, but I also created some non-exclusive organization shelves. I have a kindle-wishlist one for books I know are available for Kindle but haven't bought yet, a not-for-Kindle shelf for books that I'd prefer to have in e-book format but aren't out for it, and a generic Kindle shelf that I tag all my Kindle purchases with. I use the same three concepts for library books, things I want from the library, things they don't have, and things I've already checked out. Every couple of months I go through my not-for-kindle and not-at-my-library shelves and check to see if those books have become available. And of course I have a bunch of shelves based on genres and nonfiction subjects. Goodreads is really handy for that sort of thing, because you can search for places to find each book from the book's info page. I think when you start your account it links you to Amazon and BN, but you can add and remove searches from the default list and customize their order. So when I'm logged in, the first "find at" link is actually a search of my county's library system, and the second is an Amazon link that's a fast way to check Kindle availability. You can also select multiple shelves to view, which makes it surprisingly easy to sort through stuff if you've genre-tagged the books you're interested in as you add them. So when I'm in the mood for a historical mystery, I go into my to-read shelf and also choose my historical and mystery shelves. If I don't see anything that catches my eye, I start with my looks-interesting shelf and choose those two other categories again. Sometimes I've already marked if those books are at my library or not, but if I haven't, I can check their inventory then request them through the library's online system with a few clicks. It works really well for me having all that stuff in one place and accessible from any computer or from my phone.
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Jul 25, 2010 03:52
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Since the poster asked about organizing their to-read list, I kind of assumed they were interested in an idea beyond just "pick something." I'm absolutely anal-retentive about it, but it's what I got to after about three years of experimenting. I spend maybe twenty minutes a week poking around in my book list, and it's saved me time and frustration. I guess some people's brains are just more detail-oriented than mine (or maybe I'm just getting old), but I used to forget recommendations, miss releases from authors I like, and accidentally buy new editions of books I already owned because the cover was different. I'm enjoying what I read more because I always have a list of the things that I'm definitely interested in, rather than just browsing and picking something based on the blurb and a quick skim of the first few pages.
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Jul 25, 2010 08:28
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Horror suggestions: Shirley Jackson. She's best known for The Lottery or The Haunting of Hill House, but I think her best book is We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Richard Matheson. His short fiction is really great. His longer stuff is more hit or miss, and avoid Hunted Past Reason at all costs because it's total poo poo. You can't go wrong with any of his anthologies, though. Thomas Ligotti. His books and stories have this weird, dreamlike kind of horror, his style is the kind of thing people either love or hate. Unfortunately they can be kind of hard to find. Mira Grant's Feed. The idea of bloggers covering a presidential campaign during the zombie apocalypse sounds corny as hell. But this is actually a solid, fast-paced story about politics, paranoia, viruses, the news, and what people will do for power. And also zombies. Kim Newman's Anno Dracula. This a follow-up to Dracula, if that book had ended with the Count winning. England's become openly infested with vampires, and famous characters from Victorian history and lit interact while hunting a serial killer. I typically hate recent takes on older characters, but I really enjoyed this book anyway. Norman Partridge's Dark Harvest. It's about an isolated town with a bloody Halloween tradition. The writing style seemed very heavily influenced by older Stephen King stuff.
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Oct 6, 2010 05:14
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I'd be interested in doing Secret Santa again, but it's going to depend on the dates. I'll be traveling for the holidays so I'd need to get something shipped (and hopefully received) fairly early.
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Nov 6, 2010 06:29
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Flaggy posted:I was the exact same way with that trilogy. Tried the first one, immediately went out and got the other two. The other trilogy he just started is in the same vein but different universe I believe but sticks pretty much to his same style. I keep hearing Brent Weeks recommended and was interested in trying him, but I really didn't like Empress. I thought it was flat and the main character was predictable, it was dull to read about someone who always knows she's divinely inspired in what she should do and doesn't really choose or question much. The religious system was a drag on the book, the dialect was a bit tedious, and none of the characters were too interesting. Is it really that similar to the Night Angel stuff? Because if so then I probably need to avoid Weeks as well.
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Jan 2, 2011 16:48
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I typically have 6 to 12 library books at once, all from the same library system. I never check out other types of media. I frequently renew books, and the program seems to have no option for that. Maybe an "add one week to duration" button for fast renewing? I guess the Twitter feature could be handy for some, but I wouldn't use it. I'd recommend letting the user set a default check-out duration for newly added books. Hardly anyone will be adding a book that's due in one day, so it would be faster to add books if we could set that standard value rather than having to select it each time. My library sends out email reminders a few days before books are due, so remembering due dates isn't an issue for me. I noticed the description says it's a 30 day trial? I'm a heavy library user, but this isn't something I'd pay for, especially since I could just as easily add due dates into either my Google calendar or a decent to-do list app, both of which offer reminders.
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Feb 16, 2011 21:13
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The best part is when the reviewer quotes some awful sentences from the book and the author says they have no flaws. It was funny watching her flail around and defend herself with Amazon reviews, but even if she hadn't flipped out, it's hard to see someone who self-publishes their terrible early stuff scraping together enough of a career to really ruin.
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Mar 30, 2011 05:49
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Amazon isn't trustworthy for reviews or ratings, especially for less popular books, because it's so full of spam reviews and authors can get negative reviews yanked. Goodreads is the only user-based review site I participate in or read reviews from. I don't think of it in any kind of "social incentive" terms though. I review there because I like their interface for keeping track of my reading. I guess it's nice if other users find my reviews helpful, but I write them for my own benefit, to help me remember what I read and to lead me to think more deeply about why I like or dislike something. I wouldn't join a site aimed at self-published books. There's too much garbage to wade through, and it's not like my to-read list isn't already stuffed with more mainstream, professionally-edited novels than I'll ever have time to read. But I'd also have trouble trusting a user-based review site, no matter what type of books they focused on, if I knew they were paying for reviews.
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Jun 26, 2011 06:01
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Meh, could be, I never pay attention to the average rating of a book on Goodreads (or on any other site for that matter). I stick with the ratings of the folks on my friends list, whose taste I already have a general sense of, and the text reviews. I use it mostly to evaluate stuff that's already caught my interest though, the last thing I need is more recommendations.
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Jun 29, 2011 19:07
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As a bookstore shopper, I've definitely done the "read part of a book in the store" thing, but the downside of that is some folks aren't very careful with the books. There's nothing more annoying than tracking down the book I came in to buy only to find that the one copy in the store has bent pages, a broken spine, or a torn dust jacket. This has happened so often at the BN near me that I only go there when I have some other reason to be at that shopping center, or when I want something new and popular that's likely to have a lot of copies to choose from. Otherwise I make the trip over to the farther away Borders or just order online.
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Jul 13, 2011 20:41
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In the US, things published before 1923 are public domain, that includes some Lovecraft stories but I'm pretty sure there's nothing by Howard in that time frame.
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Aug 25, 2011 18:09
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You can add a question to your GR profile that people have to answer when they friend request you, and it can either require a specific answer or be open-ended. I use one that's something like "Why do you want to be my Goodreads friend," and I went from getting at least one author request a week to maybe one every few months. Anyone normal that wants to request you will just put something like "we have similar taste," and a lot of authors just interested in self-promotion are too busy requesting fifty zillion people to bother with me. A few of the more aggressive ones have linked me to their book or their website as an answer, and I just report those to Goodreads. Authors aren't supposed to be mass-messaging or hassling users about trying their books, so if you report them then they'll often get a warning to knock it off.
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Jan 27, 2012 04:33
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 03:30 |
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Maybe Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books? They're epic fantasy books with really good characters. And if she loved Hunger Games and would be interested in YA fantasy, get her a copy of Graceling. It's about a young woman with a magical talent for killing, and there are a couple of sequels.
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Jan 1, 2013 22:23
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