Goodreads



On my To-Read shelf


The Never-ending Book Quiz caught my eye first.  I’m one of those people who gravitates toward quizzes, with topics as varied as “How Healthy are You?,” “Name all the State Capitals in 5 Minutes,” “Find your Decorating Style by Answering These 20 Questions,” “Fill in the Elements on the Periodic Table,” and pretty much anything you’d find on Jeopardy.  Librarians are, by nature, curious.  While we can’t know everything, we’re armed with mad skills, enabling us to find nearly anything.  As you might imagine, as a librarian, I felt quite smug about taking the Neverending Book Quiz.  After taking it numerous times (because it’s never-ending), I’ve been properly put in my place, with only an 18-correct-answer winning streak.  There are dozens of book quizzes on Goodreads, but this one’s my favorite.

One of my favorite titles

Goodreads is a great website, like Facebook with a literary bent, great for keeping track of books you’ve read and books you’d like to read, seeing what your friends are reading and recommending, finding book trivia or quotations, information about authors, and taking or creating book quizzes.  Unlike some so-called reviewers on Amazon, who might simply write that their book arrived late (1-star) or have a gripe against an author (e.g. a liberal reader writing about a conservative author, even though they’ve never read the book), Goodreads reviews are usually bona fide reviews—what the reader liked/didn’t like about the writing, the plot, the format, etc.  Some reviews can still be snarky (I’m a real fan of this review of The Elegance of the Hedgehog), but even this review, like most on this site, is on-point and can be helpful if you’re on the fence about whether to read a particular book. 

Are you a reader?  A quizmaster?  Both?  Join your soulmates at Goodreads!

Mrs. Hodge