Goodreads 101

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Welcome to Goodreads 101! Your introductory course into the literary platform that allows book lovers to track, rate, and review their reading escapades. In this episode, we delve into our personal shelving strategies and the star-rating systems that often leaves us pondering over the perfect score for our latest read.  Goodreads isn't just about tracking progress, it's a space that connects us through our shared love of literature, sometimes challenges us to confront diverse perspectives and welcome the occasional algorithmic surprise that shakes up our reading list!

Interested in checking out our shelves and reviews? Find us on Goodreads!
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We absolutely love hearing from fellow book lovers, so don’t forget to share your thoughts and your favorite reads with us on our social media. You can find us on Instagram @lazygirllibrary. Also, be sure to check our website, lazygirllibrary.com – your one-stop-shop for all things Lazy Girl!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Lazy Girl Library, the podcast, where
reading is a pleasure andcaptivating adventures happen
from the comfort of your couch.
I'm your host, darby, and I'mMikayla, and if you've ever
spent more time rearranging yourbookshelf than your priorities,
then you, my friend, are in theright place.
Hello, welcome to episode five.

(00:31):
Welcome back, welcome back.
We are here and we're talkingabout Goodreads.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
My favorite app.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
How's your how's your week been going, mikayla?
It's been pretty good.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pretty, pretty chill.
Not a whole lot going on for me.
How about you?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Not chill.
I have a lot going on at workand will continue to have a lot
going on at work for probablylike the next two months.
You got it, you're doing great,but definitely escaping into
books and that's been helping.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Love it, our favorite way to de-stress.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
We're so happy to have you guys back, excited for
episode five.
I love our book talk episodes,but these are also really fun
too because I feel like in ourdaily lives we're not
necessarily talking aboutbookish topics, so I really
enjoy like getting into thenitty gritty.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I like seeing where the discussion takes off onto,
and like all the differentsidetracks that we get on.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I agree.
Well, before we get into things, just wanted to give a quick
reminder that our next book talkand book club book for April is
the Nightingale by KristenHanna, and it's a World War II
historical fiction Super popularright now.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Really excited to get into this one.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Give it a read if you want to join us on our next
book discussion.
But in this episode we aretalking about Goodreads.
So welcome to Goodreads 101.
We're going to be talking aboutall things, goodreads.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
So what is it?
For those of you who don't know, how do we use it personally,
our ratings and review systems,everything under the sun,
anything you can think of,goodreads, this is your
introduction to exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
So, jumping straight into it, what is goodreads?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
goodreads is a reading database to keep track
of books you've read and booksyou'd like to read, as well as
your friends books and others inthe book community it's kind of
like a library meets publicforum in a way, where they have
like an endless like list ofbooks in there, but then they
also have a way for like thecommunity to interact and like

(02:33):
have kind of like a reddit stylediscussion um for different
groups and things.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
So it's a really cool , really cool application yeah,
I think it's kind of like thetruest book social media, or at
least most popular.
I don't know if there's otherones.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I've seen like ads for other ones, but I haven't
actually tried them because Ifeel like everybody's on
Goodreads and so that's likewhere you're going to get the
most action.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
I agree.
Something that we found thatwas pretty neat was this message
from the co-founder, otisChandler, he says.
Was this message from theco-founder, otis Chandler, he
says when I was in second grade,I discovered the Hardy Boys
series.
Ever since, I've loved to read,both for fun and to improve my
mind, and I'm always looking forthe next great book.
One afternoon, while I wasscanning a friend's bookshelf

(03:19):
for ideas, it struck me when Iwant to know what books to read,
I'd rather turn to a friendthan any random person or
bestseller list.
When I want to know what booksto read, I'd rather turn to a
friend than any random person orbestseller list.
So I decided to build a website, a place where I could see my
friends' bookshelves and learnabout what they thought of all
their books.
Elizabeth, my co-founder, andnow my wife, wrote the site copy
and I wrote the code.

(03:39):
We started in my living room,motivated by the belief that
there was a better way todiscover and discuss good books
and that we could build it.
Goodreads is that site.
It is a place where you can seewhat your friends are reading
and vice versa.
You can create bookshelves toorganize what you've read or
want to read, you can comment oneach other's reviews, you can

(04:00):
find your next favorite book and, on this journey with your
friends, you can explore newterritory, gather information
and expand your mind.
Knowledge is power, and poweris best shared among readers.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Love that.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
That's so cute.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
It is.
I think it really encompasseswhat Goodreads is and how it is.
It's what you make of it andwhat you want to get out of it,
and it's what you get out of it.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, while reading it I was like like that's
exactly why I use it.
Yeah, also, I love that.
That's how he met his wife,right, the fact that it's their
own romance story happening,that's true.
Involved with books.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
They should write like a book on their lives.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, maybe like a novella or something like that,
because I'm sure people wouldlove to read that.
Yeah, oh, cute Love.
We love you, otis and Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Thanks for this amazing application.
We love you yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
So do you use Goodreads?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Oh yeah.
Like Otis, uses Goodreads I doso how I use Goodreads, despite
it like being a niche kind oflike category, because it's like
all for books and for readers.
There's like so many differentways to use the platform, which
I love, and I haven't even doveinto like half of what you can
do on the app.
But personally, as of right now, I use it mainly to keep track

(05:18):
of like what books I'm reading,what I want to read.
I keep up with like what myfriends are reading.
I'll go on and scroll the feedto see what people are up to and
how far they are in their books.
Occasionally I'll find likebooks that interest me by
scrolling through the differentarticles they put out.
So it's like what's new in youknow the fiction world kind of
thing, because they put togetherthose little like what to read

(05:41):
next, or even like therecommendations that they'll
send you.
It like you like this book, somaybe you might like this book.
I like the recommendations,yeah, so I'll use it for that
sometimes too.
But it also gets dangerousbecause that leads to the
endless tbr.
Hey, y'all future michaela herejust wanted to pop in really
quick and explain what a tbr is.
So tbr stands for to be read.
So when you hear us a TBR,we're talking about all the

(06:03):
books on our list that we wantto read in the future.
Now back to the podcast.
But your TBR is a little long,michaela.
It's ridiculous.
Let's be honest, it's insane.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
It's funny because I feel like it really shows our
two different personalities.
Mine, I feel like mine is solong and I think I have like
maybe 30 books or something onthere.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yours is like it's like a normal bookshelf on my
Goodreads versus like my TBR.
It's like 300 books and it's soridiculous.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I want to read more than 30 books, but I'm not.
I don't know.
I try not to seek them out asmuch, because then I'll like I
want to read this right now, butit's like I wanted to read
other books right now.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Well, that's why I had to stop scrolling Goodreads,
because when I first discoveredGoodreads funny story, I found
Goodreads on like what there wasI don't even remember if it was
like TikTok or just like onwhatever Google ad or something
like that and I texted Darby.
I was like Darby.
I found this new amazing app.
I can track of all of our books.
Have you heard of Goodreadstrack?

Speaker 1 (07:04):
of all of our books have you?

Speaker 2 (07:04):
heard of goodreads and she's like yeah, michelle,
it's been around for forever,but it was new to me and so I
thought I was new to everybody.
Um, so that when I so yeah,when I first like got onto it, I
was like amazed by this thing.
And that's where, honestly, allof most of my tbr came from is
from the very beginning, whereit just like I kept finding new
books and like I'm like thatsounds good.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I have access to all the books.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Exactly.
Well, because their database isso huge.
And so I was like I want thatbook, I want to read that book,
I want to read that book, kindof thing, and it's like the
endless doom scrolling of it alland then before you know it,
it's like 300 plus pages.
Now I don't scroll as much andI try to avoid the

(07:47):
recommendations because my TBRis too long right now.
So the only time I'll add to itis if I do come across like a
book that I really like, think Iwould really like to read on
like Instagram or something likethat, then I'll go and add it
on there.
But I don't scroll andpurposely go look for them.
It's just more like keepingtrack.
When I do come across somethingnow, then I'll throw it in
there.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
And it's funny because sometimes, like, I feel
like I need to go through my TBRand take off some stuff,
because sometimes I read itreally quickly or read a
friend's review and I'm like, oh, let me read that, but then
I'll like go back and read thedescription.
I'm like, oh no, I don't wantto read this.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, oh no, mine definitely needs some auditing
there.
I don't want to read this.
Yeah, oh no, mine definitelyneeds some auditing there.
But that's something foranother time.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
I use it pretty similar to you, I definitely
mainly use it to keep track ofthe books that I've read or I'm
currently reading.
I don't know if this is crazy,but sometimes I use it as a
bookmark.
That is crazy, Because you knowhow you can update like what
page you're on.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Literally the because you know, how you can update
like what page you're onliterally the last book I read,
I would just have the page.
You just close a book withoutanything in it and you'd go back
and find, yeah, oh my god,which I don't normally do.
That but it makes sense, likeit's a good and I have plenty of
book, like um bookmarks.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yes, I have plenty of bookmarks, so it's not like I
can't use one or find one, butfor some reason I just find
myself being like let me justtype it in real quick and then
close my book it is.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
It's a good safety because, like, even if you do
have a bookmark, if somethinghappens, falls out, whatever,
then you have like because so itmakes sense.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
But like for me to think about not putting in my
bookmark, I'm like, oh my gosh,I do like double check, like
I'll refresh it, and then goback in to like make sure my
number's there, like of the page, because I'm like what if it's
like doesn't save?
And then I go to my last pagethen I'm like, oh, I'm so lost,
but, knock on wood, that hasn'thappened yet, wow.
And then I definitely use it toget book recommendations from

(09:37):
friends and to see like theirpoint of views of books, because
very similar to co-founder Otis, because very similar to
co-founder Otis.
I don't love book talksometimes, especially because I
think a lot of them well, Idon't like generalize, but
sometimes I feel like a lot ofthem can just be like all smut
and spice yeah story absolutely,and I'm kind of like over that.

(09:57):
So not that I don't love goodsmut or spice, but just that's
just not all.
I want to read all the time,every time, a full book of it,
um.
So I definitely like to use itto see what my friends are
reading, because a lot of themalso are not wanting to just
read straight up spice right.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, I feel like book talk and like, just like
the book.
Instagram world is like a topicin and of itself that we should
dive into sometime, becausethat it is.
It's uh, it's taken over.
I feel like at least my socialmedia is.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I get a lot of it, but I feel like it's become like
a really popular thing and itbecause of all the spicy books
and then it's also making likeall of our guy friends think
that we're not reading like nicebooks, like they think we're
just like getting after it, youknow, and I'm like, no, we're
reading like this is ahistorical book, leave me alone.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's about world war ii.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
You should appreciate that, yeah it's war, so that
also I'm like, it's not it is.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
It's created almost like a stigma for girls that are
reading right now too, becauseit's what everybody thinks that
we're reading, which maybesometimes but I mean, and a lot
of times like there definitelyis spice in a lot of the books
that I read, like when we talkabout pearls and returns.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Both of them are definitely spicy books, um, or
have some in it.
So, yeah, it's not that I don'tlike it, but I just don't need
it to be like the whole thing oh, yeah, yeah, it becomes too
much, and I know I totally agree.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, a topic for another time.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Anywho, back to Goodreads.
So I know the answer to this,but our listeners don't.
Shelves Do you create your ownshelves?
Do you have a sorting system,or do you just use what's?

Speaker 2 (11:38):
pre-existing.
Oh no, I create my own.
I personally am that person thatI have very minimal folders on
my desktop for my computerbecause I'm a folders within
folders within folders type ofperson.
So you best believe that I amcreating all these different
bookshelves to organize all ofmy books on Goodreads.
I love that, I thrive in thatsituation, but I do things like

(12:01):
I've created some of the foldersthat I've created.
It's like for my do not finishbooks, books that I'm listening
to on audio, because I feel likeeven though you're still
reading the book, it's differentthan reading the book.
So I like to separate those out.
I have our Lazy Girl Librarybooks on there, so for anybody
going back and listening youwant to read some of our books.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
I don't.
Don't look at mine, look atMichaela's.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
I have them all listed there for you, so feel
free to go and check those out.
I keep my five-star reads, justthings like that.
My favorite, though, that Ihave is I call it my Q shelf,
and it's for those books thatI've already purchased.
So I own them, but I haven'tread them yet, oh, cute.
So instead of going to my TBRfirst, I'll go there to try to
figure out what ready to goexactly which ones I already

(12:46):
have, because I have too manyand I need to start going
through them yeah, so that isfunny.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Not surprising at all , I think.
Um similar to our personalities.
I don't have any shelves, Ijust use what's there.
I tried to make one shelf andthen I got confused and then I
never did it again so I don'tknow if the shelf even still
exists.
I don't have to delete a shelf.
But yeah, no, I just use what'spre-existing.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
The ones that they have, though, are like good
existing books or like shelves.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, Cause I think it's just currently reading,
read and then like want to readyeah, that's kind of all I need.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
It is all you need.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
It's a good starting point it would be cute to like
categorize them like fantasy,but I think because I'm, like,
mainly a physical book personand not necessarily, like I do
listen to audiobooks and I'mstarting to listen to them more
now but I am mainly like apaperback girly so I feel like I
could just do that on mypersonal bookshelf of like okay,
these are my fantasy ones, hereare my favorites, here are ones

(13:45):
that I'm trying to give awaybecause I didn't like no, I get
that and it doesn't necessarilytake them away from other
bookshelves too, so, like you'realways going to have those
books in the preset bookshelvesthat goodreads gives you, it's
almost more like tagging thebooks, yeah, so that way it's
easier to go back and findthings.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Um, in which I know some people that are like get
super detailed and all of theirswhere they like, separate it
through tropes and differentthings.
I'm like that's a little tooexcessive for me personally,
because I know I'm never gonnago back and try to figure that
out, but I do like to add thedifferent categories to go back.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Or if anybody else is like looking on my Goodreads,
then there's a little shortcutto like find what I do think
having a shortcut would be nice,because sometimes I do go back
to see like, oh, did I read thisbook when, like in high school,
or when did I read this book?
Or oh, let me share this bookwith a friend who was the author
.
And then sometimes I have toscroll and I'm like, where is it

(14:41):
?

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Right.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
So I was going to say maybe I'll try again, but I
won't try.
Okay, it's a fun thought, but Idon't think I'll get into it.
I'll give you my Goodreads.
And I will gladly do it becauseI get so much joy from it.
How do you rate and review?
On Goodreads though?

(15:01):
Yeah, we kind of talked aboutthis before on a previous uh
episode, but basically my newerwriting scale, so my goodreads,
is a little skewed for some ofthe older books, because I have
had goodreads since middleschool.
Um, I brand new out, I used it alittle bit in middle school and
then barely in high school andI just kind of dropped it, but

(15:22):
then once we got back into books, then I was like she's coming
back.
So I think I have a lot of fivestars that aren't actually five
stars.
But with my new, moreregimented system, my five stars
are like the best of the best.
Nothing can compare.
You can't touch it.
Like I loved it.
So, so, so, so much.

(15:42):
Like even if someone pointedout a valid reason to not like
the book, it wouldn't affect mebecause it's just like it was
perfect for me.
Four it was a great book.
I really enjoyed it.
I would still recommend it tofriends.
Like it was definitely good.
Like I really, really liked it.
Three is like a solid book.
I liked it, or I liked most ofit, but I wouldn't want to be

(16:07):
recommended a ton of those booksagain.
Or it's just like a book forevery once in a while, like I
can't read those all the times,but they're still good books,
right.
And then a two.
Sometimes I can still kind oflike them, but I'm mostly like
eh, this isn't really for me.
I don't want to read this again.
It was hard for me to finish.

(16:28):
And then a one is like pleasedon't ever let me see the side
of this cover again.
This was awful.
I'm scarred.
I'm traumatized.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Don't show me it.
Do you ever go back and likechange your ratings for books?

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Or is it like set?
So I did for a couple of them,like the high school ones or the
ones from middle school, but no, like the high school ones or
the ones from middle school, butno, I've left most of them.
Yeah, but I think that my likeweirdest part of my writing
skills, that like threes, arestill like good books for me.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
And.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
I feel like for a lot of people that's not the case,
right, but I'm trying to be morelike, strict with them because
they all can each have their ownthing.
So three is really like 50-50.
I kind of liked it, I kind ofdidn't like it, yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I don't.
I don't ever go back Once onceit's set.
Even if my feelings do kind ofchange on the book I try to go
based off of, I rate itimmediately after I finish it.
So whatever I'm feeling, I feellike that's the most accurate
from my book.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
So even if I'm going back and I'm rethinking things
because, like it's done, yeahwell, I wouldn't do it for like
that stuff, but I think more soto fit it within like my new
structure, if you go back andre-read, kind of thing.
Yeah or just like those initialones, like a couple of them,
but there are some of them likeI don't care, like they were
great books at the time, likeit's fine.
So how do you?

(17:45):
What is your rating?

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I feel like I'm more lenient than you a little bit,
especially with, like, my fivestars, but I also am much more
critical at the same time.
I don't know.
It's kind of paradoxical alittle bit.
If that's a word, I think soFor my five stars.
It's just like if I absolutelyloved it and I came across like
I finished the book and like,wow, amazing, no notes, then

(18:10):
that's a five star, no notes youalways have notes.
Yeah, well, the notes come later.
Let's be honest, there's nevera book that I have no notes, but
if I finish it immediately, I'mlike no notes, fantastic, five
stars done.
Yeah, no critique, exactly agood.
You always have opinionsexactly.
Yeah, oh no, I am.
I'm a very opinionated person,if you haven't noticed.
Uh, that's good, though.
A perfect example of this is forthe Crescent City books.

(18:31):
When I think back on them,there are a lot of things that
I'm like okay, well, this Ididn't necessarily like or this
could have been different, butwhen I finished it, I was like
wow, amazing, I loved it.
So they're four or five starsand it'll never change.
Yeah, you saw Sarah J Massa'spost.
Yes, of course I did that newbook, aka what.

(18:52):
Everybody's been speculating.
We know it's going to be anACOTAR book, though I feel like
why would she come out with, whywould she hashtag it Aka, what?
And it's already been knownshe's coming out with a new
ACOTAR book.
Why would it be a Throne ofGlass?
Like, where are people gettingthis from?
I think people think too farinto it, unless maybe I just
have too much trust in sarah.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
But yeah, I feel like I can't fully share my thoughts
until after you finish crescentcity, that's true.
So once we do, or once you dothat and we're planning on doing
a spoiler, not spoiler, uh,episode spoiler thought we're
gonna do an sjm episode yeah Ifeel like that we can really
dive into stuff, because I Ialmost just shared a thought

(19:32):
that would have ruined somethingfor you.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Anyway, super excited we'll talk about it later, okay
, moving on my four stars arelike that was pretty solid, like
I I pretty much I enjoyed thebook.
Um, there are some things maybethat I didn't care for, but
overall I left it like yeah itwas, it was a solid book.
Three stars for me is like ithas its pros and cons.
There's some things I liked.
There are other things I don't.
If it's more like 50-50 split,then that's kind of like my

(19:57):
three stars, two stars, or itmight have been a good book,
like a well-written book, but itjust like wasn't my cup of tea.
I didn't really enjoy it and Iwouldn't pick it up again or
maybe read another book by thatauthor.
So that's a two star.
One star hard pass.
Didn't like it, not so notgonna go back and read anything
from it, or I didn't finish itentirely because you gotta give

(20:19):
a reading a star rating at somepoint.
So no, one stars are absolutelynot.
Don't not doing it.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
I've started to really get into like points like
3.7, 4.2.
Do you do points at all?

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Only if I feel it absolutely necessary to
distinguish.
The perfect example of thatwould be our last book talk,
where I gave it, like I think, a2.7 or something like that,
because it really wasn't a fullthree stars for me, but I didn't
want to categorize it as a fulltwo star either.
It really was better and it wasclose to that three, but I just

(20:57):
couldn't bring myself to giveit the three according to my
rating, because then it holdsmore power.
Exactly so.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
if I have strong feelings about it in that way, I
will but a majority of the timeI can categorize it just within
the straight up star system, soI don't need the points.
Yeah, I've been getting a lotmore into the points.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Um, I've been using them a lot more.
Do you like the points, andwe've been writing more reviews
for them too.
So how do you how do youtypically like write your
reviews?

Speaker 1 (21:23):
for reviews.
I definitely have startedwriting more reviews.
I think part of that has to dowith the podcast, but also I
forget every book I read.
So I'm trying to like share alittle bit more reviews.
And I really like sharing,sharing spoiler free ones,
because I love looking at otherpeople's reviews to get ideas
for if I would like a book, butthen it's hard when they're

(21:45):
spoilers.
It's hard when there's spoilers, but at the same time, it's
hard to do a spoiler free reviewbecause I want to remind myself
when I go back and look at thereview, like what was happening,
like what did I like about it,like specifically right.
So I'm still trying to learnhow best to write reviews for my
own style, and a lot of timesthey're still very brief right

(22:07):
now because it is like rightafter I read the book, i'm'm
like it was great, loved it.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
And maybe like I've seen people do it before on
Goodreads too, where it's likethey put their non-spoiler
review at the top and then theyput like spoilers ahead and then
they write below that liketheir more thoughts about the
book with the spoilers.
So people who are reading itknow not to read like that part.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
But then I'm a real follower and I'm gonna hit the
thing that says spoilers andthen no one's gonna click on it,
yeah, I don't know, I don'tknow if I can do it I get that.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Um, I've just started to like actually writing
reviews, mostly for this book,for this podcast, in case
anybody goes on my goodreads andlooks at it, because before it
was strictly just stars, Ididn't care about taking the
time to go and write a review.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Now our opinions matter.
We are important people.
We are famous book people.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
We're getting there.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
We're Z-list book-lebrities.
I just made that up.
We've got a ways to go.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
I've started doing that.
I've tried to keep it detailedbut brief, so I kind of do like
it sounds like a lot, but it'snot, I promise, like a three
paragraph kind of system, buteach paragraph only has like one
to two sentences, so maybe likea six sentence total review
kind of thing.

(23:26):
I like the structure of thatthough.
Thanks, I try to do it like mygeneral thoughts and then the
beginning, or in the beginningit's my general thoughts and
then it's more specific in thatlike second section, about what
I really liked or didn't like,and then the last section is
kind of like overall.
This is my feeling is how Ikind of try to structure them a

(23:47):
little bit, because I know forme personally, when I'm like
going back and reading reviews,I want some detail for it, but I
don't want these long likenovels in themselves.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh my gosh.
Some of them are like full-onblogs, which like more power to
you, but not there Is anybodyreading them.
It's crazy, but I think peopleare, because sometimes they'll
have like a lot of likes.
To be fair, though, readerslike to read.
I mean very.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
I think people are because sometimes they'll have
like a lot of likes.
To be fair, though, readerslike to read yeah, I mean very
valid point, absolutely.
So yeah, that's kind of likehow I've been doing like my
reviews here recently, dependingon what I need to talk about in
like my more specifics.
If I could, I try to keep itgeneral, so it's not a spoilers
kind of review.
But if it's like likeunnecessary for me to talk about

(24:32):
a spoiler, then I will, andI'll put on the little tag too.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
But also, now that I'm thinking about it, I have
read some of those long ones, Ithink for ones that I like,
really liked or really didn'tlike, but it's the far spectrum
one.
So if it's like an app, like atwo to four star book, I'm not
going to read those long reviews.
But if I feel a certain wayabout a book, then I want to
know like the other people thatwant to feel that certain way,
right?

Speaker 2 (24:52):
yeah, so like when you are looking for like more
books to read or whatever, doyou look at stars and reviews
like how do you use good readsin that sense?

Speaker 1 (25:00):
so stars.
For sure, I'll maybe glance ata review or two before I read,
um, but I think the stars arethe first thing to catch my eye,
and also because people havesuch differing opinions that I
don't necessarily want to beswayed.
Sometimes I think it'simportant to like hear certain
things, like if someone sayslike a trigger warning, or if

(25:22):
someone like says like thistrope wasn't actually in there,
or something along those lines.
I like when that catches my eyein a review because that can
help set my expectations.
But I don't want to know ifit's like the female character
is so annoying or like well,maybe I I'm gonna think she's
cool, right, um, so I don't know, I try not to read reviews
before a book too much, and it'smore so the star rating for me.

(25:47):
But I definitely like take apeek, see kind of like the ones
that like like auto populateright, and then I won't click
like more reviews, you know yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
I'm the same way, but for me it's more.
I look at the stars before Iread a book, I look at the
reviews after I read the book,because when I was early on
goodreads, I got burned a lot oftimes where I'm looking at like
reviews of books, but then theygive spoilers and so I'm like,
well, now I know what's gonna go, how on, so do I really want to
read the book?
Um, so I try to avoid like thereviews, um, and I'll just look

(26:19):
at the stars.
I, for me, like with the starstoo, it is, you take away the
grain of salt.
So I like to use it as kind oflike a gauge more for
expectations the stars won'tstop me from reading a book,
like if it has like two point.
Whatever stars on goodreads, Istill might read the book if
it's something that really,really interests me.
I just will take that with agrain of salt and I'll keep it

(26:39):
in mind that it might not belike my favorite book or the
best book.
So I kind of like sets myexpectations low so that way I'm
not disappointed, but it willlike potentially like exceed my
expectations too if it seemsreally good.
So I kind of use it as like agauge of expectation, more than
like if I'm going to truly reada book or not that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
I don't even know if I've come across many books that
are below like four stars.
I wonder what the averagerating on goodreads is.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Maybe I'm just it's a good question.
I haven't seen very many in thetwo range.
I have come across a couple,but not very many.
But I see a lot in the higherthrees to fours.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, you're right, I have seen a lot of higher
threes.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But there are some too.
I mean, like I said, it's not agood gauge because everything's
so personal.
I've definitely read books thathad like 4.5 stars, which is
really really hard to get ongoodreads because people are so
critical of their books.
So if it's a high rating, thenI mean that's like incredible
that it has that many stars.
But I've read it and I didn'tlike it.

(27:40):
Yeah, so it is.
It's something you have todefinitely take with a grain of
salt that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
That's why?
Um, because I just saw that afriend was reading a book.
I don't remember the name ofthe book, but I like clicked on
it and then I read thedescription.
I was like, ooh, sounds likeinteresting.
And then I read reviews, like acouple, and the stars were
rated so high.
But I read a couple reviews andI was like, oh, this book is
not for me.
Like this is definitely like no,I won't like this.

(28:05):
Like what?
Definitely like no, I won'tlike this like cool concept, but
then sometimes that's when I'llgo in and I'll read the spoiler
ones because I'm like, okay,tell me what the book was about,
but I don't actually want toread it, right?

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Oh, no, I love that, even like on TikTok, I think
it's when you're watching likethose little snippets from the
episode and people of like we'llgo back and I'll look at a lot

(28:34):
of the reviews.
It's also validating, too, whenpeople are saying the same
things about it that you feltand I'll see, like what actually
ended up happening.
So that way, like if mypredictions were correct, I'm
like, yep, knew it.
Yeah, I'm like glad I didn'twaste my time.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, but the reviews are so cool and it like adds to
that community side ofgoodreads.
So, like, what are yourthoughts on the community side
and do you belong to any likespecific groups?

Speaker 2 (28:58):
I don't.
This is a part of goodreadsthat I have yet to explore and
it's kind of intimidating for mebecause I don't know where to
start.
So for those of you who don'tknow, like goodreads has, it's
kind of it is.
It's likereads has its ownReddit system for blogs or
people they call them, I think,groups for discussion questions
that people can go in andrespond.
It's like a public forum kindof thing, and they have so many

(29:22):
different groups under the sunof different people, making them
Kind of like Reddit.
Yeah, would you compare it to?
that it's very similar to Redditand yeah, it's almost exactly
the same thing as if you thinkof that.
It's very much what it is, buteven reddit too, for me it's.
Both of these are kind ofthings that I've almost like
walking the perimeter of, buthaven't stepped over the
boundary yet, because I'm tryingto gauge whether it's something

(29:46):
worth diving into for myself,because I it's something so new
to me and I'm kind of like oneof those people that's more, I'd
like to be the fly on the walland see what other people are
talking about, but notnecessarily contributing myself,
so I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Which is funny because we contribute a lot of
our thoughts right here.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
I think, as opinionated as I am, I'd want to
share them all the time, whichmaybe I will once I get into it
and I'll find like a good spot,but that's just kind of I don't
know.
For me it's intimidating, stillbeing the introvert, that I am
sharing my thoughts and opinionswith people that I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
No, you have the best opinions.
I love hearing anything youhave to say.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
But yeah, so I haven't decided, but it is a
really cool side of it, and thefact that they have that space
for people who love books tolike make all these different
forms and for people to havethese discussions is really cool
.
I just don't know where tostart with it really.
So it's something maybe in thefuture, but right now we're just
going to kind of keep an eye onit maybe.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, what about you?
I feel similarly.
I didn't really know that therewere groups I think it could be
fun to join, but also I thinkit's just been like an untouched
thing of Goodreads.
It's like you don't, like youdon't know something's there, so
like I'm not even thinkingabout it, right.

(31:05):
So because I kind of just go onGoodreads and do what I
normally do, but I think I couldexplore a little bit more
because there's definitely a lotof stuff on there that I
haven't gotten a chance to diveinto.
But at the same time I am prettysatisfied with like how my
little feed looks and seeing allmy my friends and what they're
reading and sometimes I thinklike their opinions mean more to

(31:30):
me, just because not that otherpeople's opinions don't, but I
know them and I know what theylike to read and like, what
their ratings mean and how theydiffer from mine, so I think
that might get confusing for mea little.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
It's so fascinating seeing what people enjoy reading
comparing to theirpersonalities.
Like our friend janine, I justbecame like friends with her on
goodreads because I didn't knowshe had one and like just
knowing her as a person.
I would have never picked thetype of books that she reads,
because she reads very likenon-fiction, like like
biographies from like a soldierfrom war kind of thing, like

(32:07):
those types of like reallyhard-hitting, like non-fiction
books which for her as a personI would have never picked,
because she's so like bubbly,outgoing, like you know, kind of
like super energetic and likethese like super hard-hitting
books.
It was like a new side of herthat almost I feel like unlocked
for me.
I'm like oh, that's sointeresting.
Yeah, these are like what youchoose to read and like your

(32:28):
free time, and some of them Ihave added to my list too
because they're like interestingand I would have never come
across them without her.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
It is so cool.
I also very much agree.
It's so neat seeing whatfriends read, because it can be
so different from the way theyact, like you're saying.
So, yeah, I'm pretty satisfiedwith that.
But at the same time I likeseeing sometimes what
acquaintances because I'mfriends with some people on
goodreads that I'm not likeactually like hey, susie, so,

(32:56):
and I really like hearing theirsas well, I think, because you
have a perception of them andthen when you find out what they
read, right, you're like, oh,that's a little different.
But because they'reacquaintances and closer to a
stranger, I'm like well, maybe Iwould like the groups, because
they're different it's almostlike it's not an unbiased
opinion because, everybody haslike biased opinions, but for
you, because you don't know thempersonally, I feel like it's
almost like an outside unbiasedkind of opinion on something too

(33:19):
but maybe if it's on like thegroup is on a topic that I feel
strongly about and it's like, um, if the group were something
that I don't even know what kindof groups they have, but if it
was something that, like, we allhave the same opinion and it's
known when you join that groupthat you all feel this way, then
I guess I would probably likethat, because I know that we all

(33:40):
generally have a similaropinion on it.
I don't know, now I'm gettingconfused with myself.
Maybe I'd like it, maybe Idon't.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
I think I just have to try it and see, I think it is
something that maybe this yearI might dabble in it a little
bit more.
Yeah, because I do like seeingothers' opinions.
But good reads people can beintense, they can Some of the
reviews that you read, or likethe opinions Even, like I've
noticed, just like from the bookInstagram, tiktok, social media

(34:07):
community like people can beruthless, yeah, and like super,
super opinionated and like notwilling to hear other sides too,
which I'm like that's superintimidating to me so, yeah, I
guess it's kind of like anysocial media where you have like
the, the wings, like you havepeople on one side of and people
on the other, and that's kindof like all you're seeing.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Oftentimes you don't really see the average joe being
like oh it was, it was great,add some flaws, blah, blah.
So that can be hard too.
I wonder why the algorithmalgorithm really just feeds you.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
I don't know extremists and like as much as
I'm a conspiracy theorist, someof the theories that I find like
so far oh my gosh.
Like where did you come up withthis?
Like I thought I was crazy fora lot of these things but wow,
this one strand of hair.
Yeah, that, it's the horse'sbutler it's crazy, some of the

(35:01):
things that people like willpull out of books.
Some of them are intriguing,like and I'm like, oh my gosh, I
didn't even think about that,that's brilliant.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
And others I'm like are truly like the way she
giggled mean to nothing.
The way she giggled mean tonothing.
The way she giggled meannothing.
Don't pull that string.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Exactly, yeah, but another great feature I love on
Goodreads is the like readinggoals.
So what's your reading goal for2024?

Speaker 1 (35:25):
So my reading goal for 2024 is 20 books.
I like to lowball so that I canmake sure that I meet the goal,
because, especially somethingas fun as reading, I don't want
the goal to stress me out and Idon't want it to feel like work
and so, yeah, for me a goal likethat is is not like fun.
To set one really high.

(35:46):
Last year I read 24 books andthat's pretty typical for me of
doing two books a month becausetypically it'll be like the book
club book and then like my own,like personal book that I'm
wanting to read.
But I've started to listen tomore audiobooks this year so I'm
thinking that number will risea little bit.
Possibly I don't know, becauseI'm definitely like ahead of

(36:06):
schedule right now.
But again, the goal like I likeit, but it's not, um, it's not
like a priority for me.
I think what I like more is how, at the end of the year, they
do like your recap, yeah, andyou say how many pages you've
read, and like it is really thatone is more fun.
Like they show you thecollection of the books you've

(36:27):
read and so that makes me morehappy.
But I do like the goal and itis fun to see like, oh, I'm
getting closer, but I'm more solike the recap of it all.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, what about you?
I'm similar, so my reading goalfor 2024 is 35 books In 2023, I
set it at I think it was 30 andI ended up reading 38.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Because you are a faster reader than me.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
I just devour books.
But I will say 2023, I was thatyear.
We talked about it previously.
I was just ferociously readingand reading, and reading.
So I figured at the beginningwhen I said 35, I'm like it's a
little bit less than what Iactually read, thinking I'm
going to slow down a little bit,but still it's a doable number,
but still challenging myself alittle bit from, like the

(37:13):
previous year.
Yeah, um, and I'm doing okaywith it right now.
Um, for me it's like abenchmark almost, where I don't
check it constantly, um, to seelike where am I at?
Or like goodreads will tell youif you're on schedule, behind
schedule.
I don't really check thatbecause that stresses me out.
Oh, I didn't even know that yeah, it takes like into account

(37:34):
like how much time you have in ayear and it'll tell you.
It kind of like breaks up yourbooks into like different.
I don't think it tells you thedifferent benchmarks, it'll just
tell you like you're on track.
You're a little behind, kind ofthing.
So I don't really check thatbecause that will stress me out
and it's supposed to be anenjoyable thing, but it is fun,
like after I finish a book,every once in a while I'll go
back and check and like, oh wow,I'm already like finished that

(37:56):
many books in a year.
Like that's crazy, uh.
But some people are.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Oh my gosh, they make me feel like a snail, my like,
yeah, there's like 200 plusbooks in a year.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
I'm like how?
Where did you find the time?

Speaker 1 (38:11):
like that's incredible.
I wish I could be like that,but like I don't think.
If I read, like if my job wasjust reading every day, I don't
even know if I could get to thatlike it.
I'm speechless.
Yeah, it's crazy.
I know it's so cool for them,but like I can't even imagine
right.
Like even getting to 30 booksright now is kind of like out of

(38:32):
my brain like for me and myprevious like.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
I'm like that is just quite a few more, like I don't
know if I could get thereexactly, and I'm like
technically for 2024, I'm alittle bit behind on my goal
according to goodreads, but um,but yeah.
So just trying to think about,like how much more I feel like
I'm reading as much as I canright now, how much more you
have to read, and for I'm onlydoing 35 what are?
the people have 200 300 booksand I get that.

(38:56):
Audiobooks really help withthat, because I'm the same way
like.
I've started doing that too andthat has helped keep my book
count up a little bit more.
But shout out Spotify foradding that feature for premium
members love it but, oh my gosh,I know that they're not all
audiobooks.
Even if they were allaudiobooks, like how, there's
not are you listening?

Speaker 1 (39:17):
just 24, 7 the people that listen.
We have a friend who listens onlike 2.5 speed, yeah, and it's
like shout out, madison, how doyou even, how do you even retain
what you're getting, becausethat's the only way I can see
you even audiobooking it andgetting to that number we're
talking like this and you haveno idea what they're talking

(39:37):
about.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
You're like, oh my gosh, wait, whoa, I missed
something there.
I slowed down for a second.
Yeah, it's insane, it'sintimidating.
Because you're like, oh my gosh, I'm not even getting close to
that number.
I feel like I should be readingmore, but you got to remind
yourself like no, it's okay,it's a unique experience for
everyone.
We'll get to it when we get toit I want to enjoy, but uh, and
that's, and that's not how I canenjoy exactly overall, what do

(40:02):
you think are the pros and consof goodreads?
can I start with pros?

Speaker 1 (40:05):
yeah, let's start with pros.
Um, actually, let's start withcons and on a positive and on a
positive and on a positive.
Yeah, love that, love that.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
For me, the endless TBR.
As much as I loved it at thebeginning, it got too much for
me, and that's like addingstress to you.
Now it is Well and it'ssomething that I constantly
think about, where I'm likethere's so many books that I
want to read before I die, butthen I don't know if I have

(40:39):
enough time to through them all,plus because of all the new
books that are coming out too,let alone all the ones that
already exist, and so it's justlike an overwhelming sense of
time for me.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I'm like, oh my gosh, I I can't.
If I think about it too much, Ispiral.
I'm hoping in heaven I can justlike every day imagine a
different library that I want tolike design in my head, and
then I get to walk in and gopick out a book to read that.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
That would be fantastic.
God maybe.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
They say everything's perfect in heaven, so that'd be
perfect for me.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
I love it.
Yeah, so the TBR, it gets toomuch for me.
And they have, like, differenteditions of books on Goodreads,
so like if you go to like ourbook right now that we're
reading, they have the paperbackedition, they have the
hardcover edition.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
They have all the different language editions.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
They have audiobook edition because they're
different page counts.
So when you're keeping trackit's like you know it keeps it
more accurate for you.
But with that and with thedifferent editions, when I'm to
my tbr I can sometimes add twodifferent books to it, and so I
wish there was a way to likeknow that and like um, so that

(41:42):
way I don't have like a bunch ofduplicates adding to that
number or what they could do islike you search up the book and
it has the book and then you sayreading and then it gives you
an option which version?

Speaker 1 (41:52):
yeah, then you could choose that?

Speaker 2 (41:53):
yeah, something like that would be great, because
yeah, because I know that thereare at least like one book that
I have on there three timesbecause of the different
editions that pop up on my feedor from different people reading
different editions or somethinglike that.
So a way to like clear all thatout to see what my true number
would be.
It'd still be super high, let'sbe honest, but it might not be
as high as it is right now andit'll help when I'm trying to

(42:15):
find new books to buy.
So I'm not seeing like the samethings over and over again which
also kind of gets into the likeinterface of goodreads, I think
really needs an update becauseit's so much older.
I think that it like there's alot of things that can be
changed to make like the userexperience better.
Um, because it's mostly like awebsite, but even the website is

(42:39):
kind of outdated and the waythat it's formatted um, it could
just be like easier to use andlike the app is can be really
weird sometimes, um, and withlike updating, uh it works and
it gets by, but I think itdefinitely could use like a
refresh on it because it,especially compared to like
other books, uh, like websitesor like apps and stuff that I'm

(43:02):
seeing that have like reallycool features, uh, like the
buddy reading where I've seen Ithink I sent you one where you
can like read a book with aperson you set like a spot and
then, it'll only show like yourcomments and like thoughts.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Like when you get to that spot, when you get to that
spot, so you're not seeinganything.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So like something like that, just like the refresh
it, update it and keep it morelike up to date with new
technology.
I think would be really helpful.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, I agree, I said the same thing, that it's not
very user friendly, and Iliterally said it could use a
bit of a refresh.
For in my notes it also seemslike sometimes it has like a few
bugs or kinks.
Like, if I'm in the middle ofwriting a review, sometimes the
app will just like shut down,like it'll like close, and I
have to reopen it and theneverything's gone.
So for the people that writethose long reviews, I hope

(43:48):
you're writing it in notes andthen like copying and pasting,
because I think I'd cry.
So that does bug me a littlebit.
Or like if I'm trying to likeget to a book or get to a
friend's page and it's thendoing that like really slow
thing.
Or if I'm trying to update mypage count and then it for some
reason freaks out, so sometimesit just like won't work.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Or like being able to like move books around a little
bit more freely instead of justby like how they're organized,
like yeah, specifically likemoving books more around within,
like bookshelves or whatnot, Idon't know.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
It could definitely use a refresh on that yeah, and
I think part of the reason why Ihaven't explored it enough and
know everything about, about itis because the user interface is
not the easiest to get around,yeah, like I don't even know
where to look for some of thesethings, right, so that can be a

(44:42):
con sometimes, because it's likeI want to utilize it more.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
I just I don't know how, and it's kind of hard,
right, and I know that there'ssome things you can use easier,
like on the website itselfversus like on the app, which I
think is kind of backwards intoday's age, because everything
is more mobile now than mostpeople using, especially for
something like this.
People are on more mobile thanthey are on the actual website,
I would at least assume, uh, sowe still love you, odyssey and

(45:07):
elizabeth.
Yes, oh no, it's a fantastic,fantastic database.
We love it in fact, we're goingto talk about what we like about
it in our prose right now uhdatabase, the fact that it's
huge and like I can find 98 ofthe books that I'm looking for,
even like the most obscurelittle ones they're all on there
, yeah, and how they keep upwith it.
I think it's like connected withamazon.

(45:28):
I think is what I've read,because you can buy books off of
goodreads from like Amazon andlike link those two up or
whatever.
So maybe that's how they do it,but the fact that they have
almost every book under the sunon there is incredible to me.
I think that really helps a lot.
Also, love the progresstracking, for both like the

(45:51):
books that I'm reading and likehow many I've read in a year.
It keeps track of everythingfor me.
I love that.
I'm constantly one of thosepeople that's like closing the
book and checking to see likehow many pages are left or like
where I'm at.
So that progress tracker ooh,it's like dopamine in my veins.
Love it.
Yeah, I love seeing, too, likewhat all my friends are reading

(46:13):
and it really is like what youmake of it because there are so
many more features and itencourages you to like expand
your horizons and all thedifferent books because of the
different recommendations you'regetting, both from friends and
from the app itself and like,hey, you might like this, so
you're really like getting tosee a bunch of books you might
not have come across otherwisethose are a lot of my pros.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
I like it Pretty much .
I feel the exact same way asyou.
I love that I can search forany book and it'll be there.
And it's just like sometimesit's really hard in an actual
bookstore, like, even thoughit's like, ok, here's your
fantasy section, here's yourromance, it can kind of be hard
to find what you're looking for.

(46:52):
And I think on Goodreads it's alot easier to like look through
books and like search fordifferent ones a lot quicker,
which is nice.
And then also I love same thingI can easily read reviews and I
can connect with friends all inone place.
And that's really nice.
I can do all of that in onespot.
And then I think one of myfavorite like pros about

(47:15):
Goodreads is I can easily seethe order of books.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Oh yes.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Sometimes books like when you're in a bookstore or
just like physical books, theydon't like number them Like you
don't.
You don't know what book is one, and that I think we talked
about this.
But this affected one of ourfriends one time.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
She was supposed to read like the second book or
third book and she ended upreading like the fifth book and
it completely ruined the seriesfor her yeah, so I love, love,
love that I can find the orderof the books absolutely because
even like yeah, even on likebarnes and noble or like amazon,
where you're buying like thesebooks, even that can be really
unclear about what the?

(47:53):
Yeah, absolutely totally agreewith you.
So I think that is also myfavorite part.
Yeah, no, it keeps it reallystraight and easy to find
anything you want on there.
Yeah, no, I totally agree.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
And it like takes, takes away a lot of like
personal work of, like, like yousaid, like the progress bar.
I don't have to keep track oflike how left, like it'll tell
me, or that recap at the end,like I don't have to like
necessarily make a cutesy thing,even though I might make a
cutesy thing of my books.
It's gonna tell me, like youread 11,000 pages, like it's
like go Darby, and I'm like, yay, go me.

(48:25):
Yeah, I do love that too.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I love yeah, I with the end of year review, like the
graphics and everything thatthey put together.
It's very spotify and rap coded, but for books it it does.
It makes you feel really goodabout like everything that
you've done in a year and eventhough it does, like the
progress tracker tell you likeoh, you might be behind, they
never make you feel bad about it.
Like some like maybe likeworkout apps where, like you

(48:50):
know, or like the apple watchwhere it's like you haven't
stood up today.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
Maybe take a break.
Or Duolingo, when it's likeDuolingo's sad at you and it's
like, hi, sorry, I'll do Italiantomorrow, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So it's really good about like not making you feel
bad and really keeping apositive experience for you.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
We love Goodreads.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Woo, definitely.
Let us know what you thinkabout Goodreads.
I think it has a lot ofpotential to continue to grow
and, as you know, more readersbecome more readers.
Yeah, I think there's a lot ofroom for Goodreads to grow and I
do hope that it continues tolike keep up with the times Me

(49:29):
too, because I do think thatpotentially there could be
another app that comes along,takes over.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
If you're interested in ourGoodreads, they are linked on
our website and I believe I alsohave them on our Instagram in
the bio at Lazy Girl Library.
So if you want to keep up withour Goodreads, become friends.
We love new friends.
Go check us out there.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
I'll like all your stuff and I'll be your biggest
fan.
Comment.
I'll say hi.
I'll say goodreads, I want tosee what you're reading Yay.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Goodreads.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yay, goodreads.
And now what have we beenputting into Goodreads?
What are our borrows andreturns?
You want Borrows and Returns,borrows.
I'm just now starting both ofthese books, so I'm not really
like in the middle of books,besides the one that's like been
on my shelf, my Backburner book, which I'm not even talking
about because I haven't touchedit.

(50:21):
But so Book Lovers by EmilyHenry.
I just started that one.
I've heard good things aboutthis.
I love Emily Henry and I alsohave only ever read her books on
audio.
Like audiobooks, she uses thesame voice actor for it.
I know Michaela didn't love itas much, but I love her, this
voice actor, and so I reallyenjoy hearing her audiobooks and

(50:45):
it's a lot easier for me.
I don't know.
I have no complaints about her.
So I'm excited to dive intothis one and to listen to
another one of her books.
And then my next borrow is I'mgetting ready to start our book
club book.
So the Nightingale by KristenHanna, but I have not started it
yet, so I don't have anythoughts, but I'm really excited

(51:06):
to get into it and I'm going tostart it this weekend For my
returns.
I finished Bride by AllieHazelwood.
I enjoyed it, but it did loseme a little bit in the end, and
I don't know if that's becauseit was audiobook.
Maybe I would have been moreinto it if it was like a
physical book.
And then also they had somespicy scenes which, to be honest

(51:27):
, I skipped a lot of them, butthey had some spicy scenes that
were weird.
In a sense of it was like twodifferent species and it wasn't
like normal.
There was like an additionalpart into it and I was like I've
never experienced readingsomething like that before and I

(51:50):
was like this is for mepersonally, Like it was weird
and not doing it for me.
So yeah, for anyone who's readthe book, I want to talk about
it because I wonder what youropinions are.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
But it was, it was so strange, our friend really
loves like crazy books, likethat too.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
So, yeah, our friend Sarah, yeah, shouting out her,
maybe you'll like this bookspicy Sarah, um, but I did like
the book a lot, but this, thatpart was weird.
I don't want to ruin it foranyone, but anyway.
And then my other return is tenthousand skies above you, which
is the second book in thefirebird firebird trilogy, which

(52:27):
our book talk last month was onthe first one and I really
loved it.
I'm excited for mikaela to readit.
I think she's going to like ita lot more than the first book
because you're connected to thecharacters more.
There's definitely like moredevelopment of the overall plot
line and then there's a bunch ofnew dimensions and they touch

(52:48):
on the ethics a bit more and soIntrigued, intrigued.
So it was really good and I'mnervous for the last book and
how they're gonna end it but I'mexcited to read it.
It was really good.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
I enjoyed it.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I'm definitely gonna.
I have it.
I just have to start it.
So, um, yeah, I will let youknow when I do.
I also need to try an emilyhenry book.
I'm not a huge romance reader.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
She's a slower.
I'll say I think she's a.
It's a slower paced book and Ithink that's why I like doing an
audio, because it's slower pace, but I love her.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
I've just I've just heard a lot of people love her
and like, out of all the romancebooks, like she's like super,
super popular right now.
I haven't touched them becauseit kind of gets on my ick from a
couple episodes ago, with thecovers being really kind of
cartoony with the people, but ithas been one that I've been
going back and forth like maybeI should try, maybe I shouldn't.
So maybe you should give me arec and I'll check her out yeah,

(53:47):
yeah, or maybe our listenerscan give you some rec.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
True, like your favorite one.
I think she just came out witha new one, a new book, so I
haven't read that one yet, butmaybe a future book, talk book.
Yeah, check it out.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
As for my borrows and returns for borrows, I just
started on an audio book.
It's called Wild by CherylStrayed and it's a memoir.
It was really popular.
It's an older not old old, butit's an older one that came out,
I think.
Race Witherspoon made a movieabout it.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
I could be totally wrong, but she did me.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
I, I know what you're talking about, I think um, and
so it's about, um the author and, uh, her life and how she went
and hiked the Pacific CrestTrail as a non-professional
hiker.
She's outdoorsy but she's neverdone this crazy trail which, if
you don't know, it's a hikingtrail that stretches from the

(54:43):
west coast from the bottom, andI think it starts in New Mexico.
I could totally be wrong, Idon't remember.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
I'm not sure I love the outdoors but I'm also not
professional.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah, it's like Southern California stretches
and it goes all the way upthrough, like Oregon or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
So it's like all right, I'm gonna do it honestly.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
You told I could totally see you, as I've been
like listening to her go throughit.
It's something I imagine youand Emily doing together did you
hear that, emily?
we have a hike to do um, so I'mjust kind of like getting into
it.
Um, I'm still early on, but I'mreally enjoying it so far.
Uh, I'm not a huge fan of thenarrator for it, because it's
not the author and a lot of thetimes author will read their own

(55:23):
big, but in this case it's not.
The narrator's voice isn't myfavorite.
It's kind of hard to get into.
But once I get past that, thestory itself has been pretty
good so far and I'm interestedto hear, like, what she learns
about herself along the way onthis trail, because I've gotten
a lot of backstory and now we'retruly I've gotten to the part

(55:43):
where she's truly starting thehike is the the voice actor
narrator, just is it like shedoesn't have emotion behind the
words, or is it?
it's like more.
It sounds kind of like mygrandma reading to me like that
kind of I said, the way that hervoice is is very like soft and
like she kind of does like thisthing with it, and I'm like I

(56:06):
don't know, I don't like it,I'll play it for you after we
finish recording.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
It sounds a little the way that you just did it.
I think that's a little tooasmr-y for me.
Yeah, a little bit, I don'tknow, just did it.
I think that's a little tooASMR-y for me.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Yeah, a little bit.
I don't know.
It's hard to describe Foranybody interested.
It is on Spotify's audiobooks.
That's where I'm listening toit.
But yeah, I'm enjoying it sofar and so I'm curious to see
how that takes off For myreturns.
I finished the AnthropoceneReviewed by John Green.
How was it?
It was really good.
It was another audiobook I didon Spotify.
Four stars for me.

(56:35):
He wrote it during COVID, sothere are a few times where he
talks about COVID or likecertain things and I'm like now
in 2024, I'm kind of like Ireally don't care about her.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Yeah, like I don't want to, don't bring me back
into that Exactly.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
So that's why it's four stars instead of five stars
for me, but than that, Ithoroughly enjoyed it.
Um, all the different essayslike there's some really deep,
meaningful ones, but there'ssome that are like really silly
and funny and just like talkingabout how humans relate to the
world and like the effect thatwe have on the world.
It's really interesting to hearlike his perspective and like

(57:09):
the way that he ties things intogether, because his like
stories and metaphors arefantastic.
It's one of the reasons I lovehim as an author and he
definitely brings this in anon-fiction way, so I really
liked it highly recommend okay,I might have to listen to it.
You should.
It's really good.
It's like, like I said, it wason Spotify's audiobooks.
I'm sure you can find itelsewhere too.
That's just where I listened toit, but it was really good and

(57:30):
he reads it to you and I did.
Did enjoy his voice, yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
John Green is just like.
I don't know.
I like him a lot.
I'm trying to describe like,because you know how there are
some people that you're like aw,grandpa, like they just feel
like that.
That's kind of how he feels,but he's not at that age yet,
you know.
So I'm trying to think of like,yeah, like aw, I like him a lot
, I do too.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
He was one of my favorite authors growing up in
high school and so I think hesaid that this was his first
nonfiction book that he did, butit still reads in that very.
If you like John Green, you'regoing to like the way that he
writes this book, because it isstill very John Green-esque in
the way that he describes thingsand you can go from silly to
like super, like symbolic andmeaningful.
It's really enjoyable.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
I think you'll have to give it a try, because I
haven't read anything John Green, I think since high school.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
And what's nice about it too, is because they're like
individual essays, you don'tnecessarily have to read it in
the specific order.
You can jump around, or ifyou're not liking a specific
topic or essay, then you canskip it and move on to like a
different one, because it's notgoing to affect how you read it.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
So yeah, overall really good.
Oh, I love it, love reading,love talking to you, love
talking to you too.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
I love our discussions I do too.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
I do.
I hope you all do as well.
Even if you don't, let us know.
If you're like, hey, you guystalk about that for too long or
too much, let us know.
We want this to be enjoyablefor everyone again.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
our instagram is at lazy girl library um, and you
can also find us atLazyGirlLibrarycom.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
Let us know your thoughts and opinions, but
that's kind of it for thisepisode.
Hopefully we'll see you onGoodreads and we'll talk to you
next time.
Bye, guys, bye.
Well, dear listeners, we findourselves at the end of another
episode and remember, the LazyGirl Library is not just a

(59:18):
podcast, it's a community.
We absolutely love hearing fromfellow book lovers, so don't
forget to share your thoughtsand your favorite reads with us
on our social media.
You can find us on Instagram atLazy Girl Library.
Make sure to check out ourwebsite, lazygirllibrarycom,
your one-stop shop for allthings Lazy Girl.
Before we go, we want to take amoment to thank all of our

(59:40):
wonderful listeners, whetheryou're listening from your cozy
bed, on your way to work oranywhere in between.
Thank you for making us a partof your day and for being a part
of our Lazy Girl family.
So keep those pages turning,keep those imaginations
flourishing and remember thebest stories are yet to be
discovered.
Until next time, stay lazy andhappy reading.