Grack21 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Goodreads is free. LibraryThing isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 errrr.....Goodreads also has a ton of different groups with ongoing discussions, so I'm not sure how that's any "worse" than LibraryThing....So your original post was just a big old epic fail for not mentioning that. Good to know. I'm not a big fan of their interface so I never explored the rest of the site. And the ads... no thanks.Goodreads is free. LibraryThing isn't.$25... The horror! The horror! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 So your original post was just a big old epic fail for not mentioning that. Jeez, hostile much?As I said in my previous post: "It's easy to find discussions about all sorts of books there. It tends to be more oriented towards John Q. Bookreader than towards Intellectual Discourse, but you can find people who are interested in just about any book ever published if you just look around a bit."If you wanted more details, you only needed to ask. Or look around the site for yourself.And the ads... no thanks.I never have to look at any ads at all. Ya see, I use Firefox for my browser -- so I get to use a handydandy add-on called Adblock Plus, which automatically blocks all the adds that some sites try to inflict upon users. I never even knew that Goodreads HAD ads, until somebody else mentioned it recently.If you don't like looking at ads, perhaps you should switch to a better browser -- or get an adblocker of your own. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulineMRoss Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Consensus seems to be that LibraryThing is marginally better for cataloging your books, GoodReads is marginally better for the social aspects (fora, friending, etc), Shelfari is marginally worse than either. GoodReads is the biggest, I'm pretty sure. I hang out at GoodReads (never saw the point of paying for LibraryThing, tried Shelfari but can't remember why I didn't go with it).I have to say, though, that GoodReads doesn't have the same level of discourse as here. No detailed analysis of individual books, no big-name authors. On the plus side, no endless discussion of B*kker and misogyny. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I have to say, though, that GoodReads doesn't have the same level of discourse as here. I agree that Goodreads tends to be more average-Joe oriented...but you *can* find more specific discussions if you look around.no big-name authors.I have actually been quite impressed with the number of authors who have started using Goodreads. Heck, I can even follow the blog postings of folks like Rothfuss and Cherryh from my Goodreads home page. Rothfuss has written 75 book reviews on the site, and even Gaiman has 14 reviews there. So, yes, there ARE big name authors using it. For a few slightly "smaller" name authors, I know that Janny Wurtz is an active participant in fantasy discussions, as are Mark Lawrence and Mike Sullivan, and no doubt quite a few others that I'm not aware of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulineMRoss Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I have actually been quite impressed with the number of authors who have started using Goodreads. Heck, I can even follow the blog postings of folks like Rothfuss and Cherryh from my Goodreads home page. Rothfuss has written 75 book reviews on the site, and even Gaiman has 14 reviews there. So, yes, there ARE big name authors using it. For a few slightly "smaller" name authors, I know that Janny Wurtz is an active participant in fantasy discussions, as are Mark Lawrence and Mike Sullivan, and no doubt quite a few others that I'm not aware of.Yes, I like the links to author blogs, and yes, some big name authors use Goodreads, but there are vanishingly few who actively engage with the discussions. Most who do are self-pubbers (or ex-self-pubbers like Michael J Sullivan). Janny Wurts is an exception - she writes long, thoughtful, interesting posts. I don't recall bumping into Mark Lawrence over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Yes, I like the links to author blogs, and yes, some big name authors use Goodreads, but there are vanishingly few who actively engage with the discussions.Yeah.....I am always looking forward to MORE participation....but the level of participation that is already there is much much greater than a blanket statement like "no big-name authors" would indicate.It appears to me that Goodreads is growing at an incredibly rapid rate. And as for other big name authors, I happen to know that Lois McMaster Bujold just recently started looking around the site...who is to say how many other authors may just now be getting familiar with it? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Heaven Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Goodreads sounds like it's definitely worth a shot - thanks for the suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lummel Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Contarius is goodreads friends with Mark lawrence, Pauline, so you are only removed from him by one degree ;)As a book forum on goodreads you can have comments on each book that you shelf, there are book specific discussions and there are discussions in groups, some of which are group reads of a particular book. So it's quite open to readers using it to have book discussions. I suppose the advantage of the forum is that any discussion is open to any browser, but it's horses for courses I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Contarius is goodreads friends with Mark lawrence, Pauline, so you are only removed from him by one degree ;)In fact, I bet a lot of the Westeros users are his friends over there. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cseresz.reborn Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Thanks for the responses. I want to get away from the fantasy genre so I'm not so sure about places like SFF world or Malazan - I'm looking for something a bit more general. I'm also interested in trying out somewhere with a different flavour/atmosphere which I may find more compatible my reading tastes. Several books/series I've really enjoyed I wouldn't have tried had I read about them on this site beforehand, and similarly I've not been too into a lot of what I've seen praised on here.SFF and Malazan: dead forums (= 8-10 people only)LT ang GR: not bad, not bad"The ultimate solution for your problem": http://www.online-literature.com/forums/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 SO how do you people post on this forum. Cause I can see ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Jeez, hostile much?You just bring out the best in me :)If you don't like looking at ads, perhaps you should switch to a better browser -- or get an adblocker of your own. :)Better than the exact same browser and adblocker plus that you're using, because I'm running the same thing. I also run NoScript, and still get ads on Goodreads because they're written into the Goodreads script.ETA: If you wanted more details, you only needed to ask. Or look around the site for yourself.And why should I have to ask? The OP asked and you neglected to inform. So I'll reiterate, epic fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Jon Snow Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 not really a forum, but Reddit's r/fantasy is becoming a fun hangout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 You just bring out the best in me :)Wow -- if that's your best, color me singularly unimpressed.Better than the exact same browser and adblocker plus that you're using, because I'm running the same thing. I also run NoScript, and still get ads on Goodreads because they're written into the Goodreads script.If you're still getting ads, then you've got something set up wrong -- 'cause I've been a member there for more than a year now, and I don't get any.And why should I have to ask? The OP asked and you neglected to inform. So I'll reiterate, epic fail.Oh poor baby, I failed to specifically detail each and every single feature available on Goodreads? Did your mommy also fail to spoon feed you your pablum today??I actually informed perfectly well, thankyouverymuch. If you failed to understand what I wrote, or if you for some strange reason felt some overweening and unrealistic sense of entitlement to more, that ain't my problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lawrence Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I used to be on a couple of Library Thing groups - didn't know there was a paying section... I like goodreads & review there but haven't really taken to any groups yet.Forums I have fun on are:fantasy-factionSFF WorldRanting DragonTerry Brooks Forum / Other Authors& occasionally SFF Chronicles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmail Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Larry is only interested in people suffering in Spanish, so our quaint little forum here is sort of like visiting your retarded uncle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Larry is only interested in people suffering in Spanish, so our quaint little forum here is sort of like visiting your retarded uncle.Not true! I'm also interested in it in Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Serbian, Haitian...but sadly, not Klingon or Quenya. These latter two omissions have left me a pariah in some circles here, alas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Not true! I'm also interested in it in Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Serbian, Haitian...but sadly, not Klingon or Quenya. These latter two omissions have left me a pariah in some circles here, alas.Larry! Completely off-T --I never could figure out your avatar, so just now I went to look at a larger version of it on your profile page. And Heavens to Betsy, it says you're in the Nashville area. Who woulda thunk it, an actual edumacated person in TN. ;)I grew up in Nashville, now living in Lebanon. Howdy neighbor! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Yeah, I live on the western outskirts. The avatar is of a squirrel ninja, part of a years-old inside joke between me and another, in case the large avatar didn't make that clear. And yeah, there's some educated folk around here...I think ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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