I love Goodreads.

So let me blog about the ways:

1. • I’ve been cataloging my reading now with Goodreads for years–and it is so useful to be able to find a book you need to reference again/rediscover an author.
   • Goodreads is a reminder that reading can (and always has been) an act of service learning.  Emma Watson’s ‘Our Shared Shelf’ challenge was such a powerful example of just that: “As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading as many books and essays about equality as I can get my hands on. “ Learn more about this Goodreads group (or join it!) here.
   • Challenge your self: Goodreads promotes different challenges and reminds us that books have the power to broaden our perspectives.  One example is the LGBTQ+ Reading challenge: “We challenge you to spend a year reading books featuring lgbt+ main characters.”  Look out for the Book Riot 2019 Challenge (typically they announce the new challenge in December), it provides interesting ways to approach book selection.
   • Follow your favorite authors:  “Following an author opts you into receiving updates from the author, including reviews, shelvings, blog posts, Ask the Author answers, and more. It will also generate a newsfeed item for all your friends and followers to see.”
   • Take a closer look at your reading stats:

•  Keep your ‘want to read’  list better organized.  This feature is outlined with a complete tour here.
• When reading on Kindle–you can store notes and quotes through Goodreads, more on that here.
•  Goodreads offers you the opportunity to ask an author a question.  You can click here to see which authors are available at any given time.
• Goodreads keeps your love of all things reading alive and well.  I’ve recently been impressed by the podcast they offer “Books of your life,” check out the episode featuring Anne Lamott here.

LASTLY:  I love the backchannel that happens between colleagues when they can see what one another are reading–the transparency here is incredibly useful and can build community too.  I’ve written about this before, you can check out that link here.