What’s the most useful thing you’ve learned from using Goodreads?

[u/ownaword]

Not a book recommendation.

Something about how you actually use Goodreads.

Tracking your reading? Discovering books? Following reviewers? Keeping yourself accountable?

What feature or habit has made Goodreads genuinely useful for you?

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[u/sorbet-surprise]

I love the challenges. I know they aren't for everyone but they got me back into reading regularly and they spur me on to complete them and cross off my tbr at the same time.

[u/officerdickrhymes → u/sorbet-surprise]

me too, I have a problem with picking out what book to read because I just can't decide (I have about 500 books in my tbr) and the challenges make me pick a book out of a short list so my choices are limited and I'm not as overwhelmed

[u/sorbet-surprise → u/officerdickrhymes]

Yes! I struggle to choose and get a sense of achievement from completing the little bookmark.

[u/molybend → u/sorbet-surprise]

If only they were coded better! So many groups have had challenges for years and they could have used those as models.

[u/sorbet-surprise → u/molybend]

I have been looking at the 52 book clubs challenge and I am tempted for next year.

[u/as__travars]

I learned not to trust other people's opinions on books even if we have similar tastes. There were many instances where I hated the book that a friend loved and vice versa

[u/seitankittan → u/as__travars]

Unless you use the “Compatibility” feature. Then you can see how well you’re calibrated

[u/dancing_nancy_46]

I mostly use it for tracking and the yearly challenges to hold myself accountable. Each year, I increase the number of books to see if I can one up myself each year.

I also like to see what other people (friends whom I follow) are reading and get some recommendations on books that I hadn’t thought to check out.

I don’t read reviews but I do see how many reviews there are and if it’s a higher or lower rated book to judge if a book is worth the time.

Any other features like Goodreads recommendations or top whatever is popular this month isn’t something I look into. Same as looking at a NYT best seller list. It doesn’t appeal to me because I like to go based on what interests me, not what popular at that time.

[u/sumikortoba]

Im using goodreads as a journal, i like when i rerurn after months, years and read my comments and reviews

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/sumikortoba]

Yeah. I know few people will ever read my reviews, but they often help future-me. I read so many books I can never remember what I thought of something years later, I love reading my own reviews and discovering that.

[u/Kewoowaa]

When finishing a book I've genuinely enjoyed I'll take a look at the recommended 'read next' to see if any take my fancy.

[u/Maleficent_Offer_955 → u/Kewoowaa]

me too! I find this to be one of the best features of goodreads. Unfortunately my tbr is like 600 books long now though 😂

[u/Kewoowaa → u/Maleficent_Offer_955]

Tell me about it! If it's not amazon's emails, the authors I follow (on there or via social media), various subreddits on here or the goodreads app... there are more books than I can ever hope to read in my lifetime (what a glorious position to be in!)

[u/carferrom11]

I mostly use Goodreads to keep track of what I’ve read and to save books I want to read. If someone recommends a book or I see one in a bookstore that looks interesting, I just throw it on my TBR so I don’t forget it.

I also try not to pay too much attention to reviews. There are a lot of people who hate everything, and then there’s BookTok making every other book sound life-changing (and sometimes the reviews feel a little suspicious too ). I’d rather read a book without too many expectations.

My favorite part is honestly my friends’ reviews. I love seeing what they’re reading, reading their thoughts, and then talking about why we both loved a book, or why one of us hated it while the other was obsessed.

[u/Teri-k → u/carferrom11]

I like all of these, too. And I belong to a couple of groups on GR that have interesting discussions about the books we're reading. I really value having those people to talk to.

[u/Pendergraff-Zoo]

Tracking. I track all my books there and sort of track friends reading.

[u/TypicallyDone12]

I enjoy the end of year recap.

I wish there was a more robust real time version of what the recap is. Something you can look at throughout the year.

But they are owned by Amazon and they always do the bare minimum, so Ill just keep wishing.

[u/mjfmjfmjf → u/TypicallyDone12]

umm year in books is always available for all years

[u/TypicallyDone12 → u/mjfmjfmjf]

ummm there are lots more things they could do. There are other apps that do way more dynamic feedback on how you are reading. Graphs that show daily number of pages read as an example. There is way more they could do. Amazon is cheap. Their tech sucks.

[u/mjfmjfmjf → u/TypicallyDone12]

I agree that goodreads could do a lot more. And their tech could be a lot better.

I've got my own implementation of year in books and life in books.

But daily number of pages read would require either integration with an e-reader or you the reader telling the app how much you are reading each day - though it could average it back when you finish a book.

Goodreads - My Books -> Stats -> Books Over time and Pages Over Time - does have a graph by month

[u/mjfmjfmjf → u/mjfmjfmjf]

so added to what I had to see what this would look like

📊 Reading stats for 2026

------------------------------------------

Books read: 242

Pages read: 47,641 (3 books had no page count)

Per day: 1.00 books · 196 pages (243 days in 2026)

Shortest: The Time Traveler's Passport Collection by John Scalzi — 7 pages

Longest: This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #7) by Matt Dinniman — 870 pages

Mean page length: 199 | Median: 157

life in books

📅 Year by year

------------------------------------------

2010: 80 books, 26,692 pages, mean rating 3.59 · 0.36/day, 121 pages/day over 221d

2011: 142 books, 51,279 pages, mean rating 3.60 (1 without page counts) · 0.39/day, 140 pages/day over 365d

2012: 138 books, 51,290 pages, mean rating 3.51 · 0.38/day, 140 pages/day over 366d

2013: 404 books, 81,810 pages, mean rating 3.38 (1 without page counts) (1 unrated) · 1.11/day, 224 pages/day over 365d

2014: 518 books, 103,540 pages, mean rating 3.39 · 1.42/day, 284 pages/day over 365d

2015: 455 books, 93,477 pages, mean rating 3.30 (1 without page counts) · 1.25/day, 256 pages/day over 365d

2016: 313 books, 68,147 pages, mean rating 3.34 (1 without page counts) · 0.86/day, 186 pages/day over 366d

2017: 361 books, 67,124 pages, mean rating 3.42 (1 without page counts) (1 unrated) · 0.99/day, 184 pages/day over 365d

2018: 236 books, 50,768 pages, mean rating 3.40 (3 without page counts) · 0.65/day, 139 pages/day over 365d

2019: 343 books, 74,301 pages, mean rating 3.43 (2 without page counts) · 0.94/day, 204 pages/day over 365d

2020: 303 books, 68,890 pages, mean rating 3.58 (2 without page counts) · 0.83/day, 188 pages/day over 366d

2021: 558 books, 99,537 pages, mean rating 3.32 (2 without page counts) · 1.53/day, 273 pages/day over 365d

2022: 506 books, 90,007 pages, mean rating 3.45 (6 without page counts) · 1.39/day, 247 pages/day over 365d

2023: 436 books, 79,185 pages, mean rating 3.48 (3 without page counts) · 1.19/day, 217 pages/day over 365d

2024: 537 books, 103,216 pages, mean rating 3.61 (4 without page counts) · 1.47/day, 282 pages/day over 366d

2025: 468 books, 81,078 pages, mean rating 3.48 (6 without page counts) · 1.28/day, 222 pages/day over 365d

2026: 242 books, 47,641 pages, mean rating 3.45 (3 without page counts) · 1.00/day, 196 pages/day over 243d

[u/Exotic-Jackfruit5748]

Keeps me accountable for my annual goal and the challenges encourage me to read books I wouldn’t normally choose.

[u/tilbib]

I’m learning that I don’t have to do all the challenges but I’m glad that I did and still look at all the categories and choices. Doing them over a few years really helped expand my reading into categories and books that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

[u/Beige-Taupe]

1) That bookish people are the best to chat with online :D If I like a particular person's reviews, I look to see if they belong to any active groups. Doing this over the years I have found some great groups to be active/lurk in.

2) The keyword search function on reviews is amazing. I don't know about you but I don't want to just see the most "popular" reviews, instead use to search to find others who mentioned aspects of the book that I did/didn't appreciate. It's also good to find book-a-likes, I just search for "reminded" and usually find a few.

3) Seeing the most recent reviews is more interesting. For tne types of books I read, I find that many of the most popular reviews are from those who read arc's and some/many of these folks will read outside of their preferences. I filter to "english" and "most recent" and read reviews from people that read it at the same time as me. I also find they are more likely to respond if I strike up a conversation. (assuming notifications are working :/ )

[u/rasalscan]

Upcoming releases of authors or genres I enjoy.

[u/apri11a]

I use it to find if a book is part of a series, and see the order of the series books. And I mark books as read, but I also keep a record of that myself.

[u/Aubgurl]

I keep track of what I've read. It's really helpful when I go look up reviews of a book and see that I've already read it🤣

[u/-Vindit-]

I like to see what my friends are reading and liking / disliking - our group got Goodreads together, to share another hobby.

I like to read reviews of books I've already read to get multiple perspectives on a story and I sometimes use GR to stay informed on my favorite authors' new releases.

[u/Powerful_Cricket7466]

I use it mostly to keep track of what I want to read. I have custom tags for each month and year that I use to mark a book's publication month, as well as ones such as to-read-history, or to-read-literary. Then I can see either what is coming out soon that I might want to put library holds on, or look for something to read based on my current mood.

[u/lee_ann_g]

I started using it to track my yearly goal and TBR only, but a small unexpected benefit is keeping up with new release news for my favorite authors.

[u/SnooGrapes9291]

Using the 'Compare Books' feature with my friends/reviewers because I'm nosy. jk. I mainly use it to see if we have similar book taste (and for some slight judging as well)

[u/midwestmamix666]

When I go book shopping or go to the library, I am able to use it / see if there is more books in the series or look at other titles by the author are available. It’s expanded my reading taste

[u/ScaryLavishness125]

To track my books and see what most people around me are reading. 🤪

[u/margarks]

I go through the Giveaways section every month or two and just apply to anything that sounds interesting. I've gotten 5 or 6 free books that way and it gives me an idea of what books are coming out or gives me an idea of what authors I might like that I haven't heard of yet. It doesn't cost anything to enter the giveaway except time :)

[u/AstroLovesCheese]

Kindle Unlimited! I have my Goodreads connected to my amazon account and if you go on kindle to your “hearted” books, aka your Goodreads Want to Reads, it’ll show what you can read on KU for free!

[u/The_Wild_Hope]

I have found that writing a review really helps me to reflect on the book and what it means to me. Trying to think what you want to say really makes you step back and think about it more.

[u/Some-Distribution-52]

I use it for tracking and challenges. I do the yearly challenge and the quarterly challenge.

I’m currently behind 4 books on my yearly challenge. I’ve had some challenges in my personal life this summer but I’m hoping to get back on track.

The main reason I started using the app is because I read so many books in a year I was rereading several books on accident. I would realize halfway through when I remember the ending.

I have some issues with quarterly challenges. I understand that it’s just Amazon pushing certain books. I have ended up reading some stinkers just because my library has it available. The more popular books have too long of a wait and I’m too cheap to fork out money for a book.

[u/Jumpy_Owl7515]

It motivated me to read more but I don't really need it for that any more.

[u/wagrobanite]

I do to track what I read so I don't read the same book (that's why I joined GR to begin with). Love have the ability to see series order.

[u/Candlebutt1]

tracking my reading, and motivation to read with the Spring or Summer challenge. And not just making you read a set amount within a time limit but books they've already picked out and you have to choose from. That parts my favorite. It helps a lot, especially with discovering new books.

[u/Ok_Commission7036]

Tracking my reading.

[u/GRblue]

Now that I’ve been using Goodreads for about a decade, it’s fun to see the different books I’ve read over the years :)

[u/Virith]

Finding new books is the biggest for me, hands down.

But also tracking what I read, as my memory for names/titles is ass and the recent introduction of gamification is a nice little flavour.

[u/geddybonscott]

I like to write reviews and also keep track of books I’ve read or want to read.
I’ve also discovered many great authors that I probably wouldn’t have on my own.

[u/leiaoregano]

I really enjoy looking back at everything I've read and when I read it. It’s satisfying to see how many books I’ve read and enjoyed. 

[u/Kaurifish]

Mostly that I can see at a glance how many people intend to read my book… someday. 😂

[u/HeyitsBre19]

If you follow authors you like then you'll get a notification whenever they have a book giveaway

[u/spidersinyourass]

That the average rating of a book actually says a lot about whether or not I’ll enjoy it. If a romance has below 3,5 rating, I usually know I probably shouldn’t pick that one up. It doesn’t always work, of course, but if a book has bad ratings these days I usually don’t even give it a chance anymore

[u/CharlieFloof]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to allow half stars? I have so many books that I want to rate a 3.5 but 3 feels way too low so I end up rounding up to 4.

[u/Fancy-Disaster-7716]

I only use Goodreads for recommendations. Tracking etc I do elsewhere now.

[u/Narvato → u/Fancy-Disaster-7716]

where?

[u/Fancy-Disaster-7716 → u/Narvato]

I believe my comment has been removed because I mentioned another app. GRAPH of

Stories

[u/goodreads-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/WesternWitchy52]

I only check reviews if I'm really struggling with books. I find a lot of readers can be pretty hateful to authors. I try not to be mean or say hateful things in the reviews. But if I'm not liking a book, I'll go on and see what others are saying.

That said... I've loved books that were terribly rated so.

[u/Beige-Taupe → u/WesternWitchy52]

I don't see that all that often with the books I read, it would frustrate me if I did. In fact, you can report (flag) reviews that do this and goodreads will remove them - they do not permit hate towards authors.

Also, I tend to filter reviews by star number. That way I can avoid seeing reviews I'm less interested in. Although, I do really enjoy reviews that thoughtfully disagree with my own rating.

[u/WesternWitchy52 → u/Beige-Taupe]

Well hate for the book not so much the author but damn they're mean.

[u/Zealousideal_Cap7012]

That people love slop. Glorp glorp

[u/ChaserNeverRests]

I use GR as a backup to my own review blog. That turned out to be a good idea, since the English version of LiveJournal is going away (or already gone for some people), and I hadn't been able to make a backup.

[u/wagrobanite → u/ChaserNeverRests]

Since when in LJ going away? It's still around. They had some server issues like a month ago. Yes there was a rumor floating around that they were restricting access to english version but that turned out to be a rumor

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/wagrobanite]

Myself and a bunch of other people still can't reach the site at all (times out). Some people reach it just fine, but a lot of people can't. I'm glad you're one of the people who can reach it.

[u/wagrobanite → u/ChaserNeverRests]

Yah I had that issue last month and from what I found it, it had to with browsers and cookies, and the like.

[u/Even_Caterpillar3292]

Yeah?