Online Book Communities

Now I've used GoodReads before, but only to look up book reviews to see what others thought. I've never really thought about using an online book community to keep track of the books I read (mainly because it's depressing how little I read), but browsing a few different sites gave me a new outlook on the whole thing. They aren't just one dimensional sites, they're legit social media sites focusing on literature. I love it!

Goodreads is a handy little site. I've used it to help me create bibliographies because it gives you all of the book information. I've used it to read reviews, but there are way too many spoilers! For my own bookshelf, I really like it. Goodreads is super easy to use, easy to find books, easy to rate, and easy to add whatever other book information you feel is necessary. While browsing the Goodreads site, I noticed many comments/reviews looked like responses to an assignment. I think this would be a great way to get students involved in reading and rating books. It's a great way to use technology and literature and take a grade. I wonder if my students would have to create their own Goodreads accounts to comment on books. That's something I'll have to look into. 

LibraryThing is yet another online book community. This one is a bit less interface pretty if you know what I mean. It's very linear, providing a list of your read books and any recommendations. You do have the ability to follow other readers and their profile, but for me, the lack of aesthetics, makes me not want to use it. I don't see myself using this site mainly for the reason that I see it as a mere log book for books read, nothing more, nothing special. I don't think that I could get my students to buy into this one. Out of all of the online book communities that I've tried, this is definitely at the bottom of the list. I hate saying that. I feel like I'm going to hurt someone's feelings. It just doesn't work for me. Finding books is easy enough, but when I went to add a book, there was way too much involved, many sections and options that I felt unnecessary. It just made the entire process of adding books to my shelf feel like a chore. 

Booklikes is one of my favorites so far. The user interface is lovely! It's pretty, streamlined, easy to find and add books, and has a posting style similar to twitter or instagram or facebook. I love this! I can simply add books to my shelf, or post a status update with pictures, URLs, or videos. This is definitely the one that I'd use from here on out and in the classroom. I can see students really getting into Booklikes. They would get a kick out of creating their own profile, adding books and reviews to their shelf, and posting updates as they read. This has so much potential. Of course we'd have to have a long discussion about internet safety and privacy issues. I'll play around with this one more and then get back to you on how it's working out for me. Guess that means I need to get a new book started ASAP. :)

Shelfari is linked to your Amazon account so, all of those kindle e-books you've purchased show right up on your shelves. That feature is fantastic. I don't have to manually search for what I just read, it's already there. Plus the website is super good looking! Visually appealing! It also has the great social media style of following other readers and groups. I don't know that I'd use this website with my class, but it's definitely a contender with Booklikes.  I wonder if I download a kindle e-book from Amazon, if it'll show up automatically or if I'll have to figure out a way to sync it. That gives me an excuse to download something now doesn't it?


All in all Shelfari and Booklikes are two online book communities that I can see myself using on a personal basis. I feel like Booklikes lends itself more towards use in the classroom. Students can blog about reading, take photo status updates with a book, and ultimately add the book to their virtual shelf. I would love to look into using this site more. Will there be any privacy issues, bandwidth or accessibility problems? I could assign work for students to complete at home, but not all of my students will have access at home. This is one that I'm willing to fight for computer lab time for. I honestly believe that students would love to use Booklikes. There is so much potential here!