I’m still on Goodreads but it’s so slow, the app’s just an even slower webview of the site and the redesign has made me have to click more to do what I want.
What’s the alternative? Obviously we’re on the fediverse and I see people talking about Bookwyrm.
I used Anobii till 2010 and I can’t remember why I left but it’s still there. I’ve poked StoryGraph a bit but it was lacking several of the books I wanted to add.
There must be more! What do you use/recommend?
I must confess to being somewhat disappointed by BookWyrm; however I think it’s still very early days over there. I wish them all the luck in the world, and hope they can dethrone Goodreads which is owned by amazon and is therefore evil. I’ll be checking on them periodically to see how they progress.
Been using Openreads, an open source app for android.😅
Absolutely nothing. I probably should though. Or at least something to find some new interesting books.
Well, you don’t have to. I like to be able to answer when I’ve read a book - or, increasingly, whether I’ve read a book. Apparently there are books I enjoyed while reading but made zero impression on my long-term memory.
My memory is terrible (thanks, Covid), but I will definitely be able to tell someone if I’ve read a book or not. No list required. Don’t ask me what it was about, though.
Memory loss has its advantages, I can read the same book a bunch of times and it’s like I’ve never read it before.
@Deebster@beehaw.org I used to use #Anobii as well, it was far better than #Goodreads in its early days, unfortunately, the latter overtook them. Now, most of my shelves are on Goodreads.
You can go self-hosting mode. You can self-host #BookWyrm, or the traditional, ever reliable, #Calibre. _ I no longer use Calibre because Goodreads.
On the BookWyrm side of things, it can import your books from Goodreads.
@youronlyone
@Deebster The only thing I really really miss with #BookWyrm is an API, I want to be able to automatically synchronize my shelves and individual book status/progress with both #Calibre and #KOReader.There is an open issue on the subject, so 🤞
@teroshan@mastodon.social True that. Hopefully it will come. I want to remove my reliance on Goodreads since I’m not using it other than to track. And the authors I follow are more active outside of Goodreads. 😅 (Some are even here on the fediverse network.)
#Calibre
As in the ebook manager? I don’t see any way to track your reading or other lists on there. Is it a plugin, or are we talking about different Calibres?
You can do it pretty easily in Calibre with custom columns for reading status, rating, etc. For Kobo users, the KoboTouchExtended plugin syncs reading status automatically (I’m sure there’s some equivalent for other ereader brands).
ah, I didn’t realise that custom columns was a thing you could do! Makes sense then. I might see if there’s a way automate adding all my last read dates into a column.
I guess you can only track books you have as an ebook, so no dead-tree versions or to-read lists.
If you really wanted to track books you don’t have digitally, I guess you could use a dummy file (even a blank txt could work) and use Calibre itself to add all the metadata. It’s far from ideal, though.
I just started using Bookwyrm. Not the best app ever but it’s federated and relatively new, so I’m giving it time. My wife uses Goodreads with her friends but I don’t want to support Amazon any more than I already do.
I use a cardboard bookmark, shaped like a robot, with a frayed bit of yarn tied to it, which I bought from Waldenbooks in the early 80’s. [drops mic, walks away]
Nothing. Why should I track my reading? I read for fun, tracking it would take the fun right out of it and turn it into some kind of competition. I’m not at school anymore.
Personally for me it’s because I have terrible recall memory and having a list reminds me what I read and who I read more easily than trying to knock it loose from the Ol noggin. I do it for TV and movies as well.
Things like good reads and story graph also host user reviews and can be good for discovering new things.
I use Goodreads, I have used it since like 2010 or something so I have all my books there. Hopefully, we get some good alternatives though as Goodreads has become really slow, it feels like using the Internet in the 90’s.
Thanks for making this thread! I’ve been using Goodreads and Storygraph, but have been trying to find another tool as well. I have considered using notion but I’d miss the social aspect. The other recommendations for bookwyrm and librarything make me want to check those out. Appreciate the suggestions!
I use the strictly offline Book Tracker app on my iPhone. I don’t really care about reviews or the social features, I just want an overview and some stats about my reading.
I do use Storygraph. It allows you to add any missing book.
I use Goodreads mainly but have just made a Bookwyrm account to see what it’s like. It’s definitely rough around the edges, will stick with it for a bit and see how it develops
Goodreads. I don’t care it’s slow because it’s not like I’m acessing it more than once a week anyway.
At this point, honestly just a spreadsheet that gets synced from laptop to phone with syncthing. Boring but effective.📚
This is me. Mostly I just want to know what I’ve read and what I thought of it, or if I did not finish. I don’t need all the other things.
I started using Obsidian with Dataview plugin.
I’ve started doing something similar! Obsidian with the Dataview and the Book Search plugins.
