Week 4: Building Base Knowledge with GoodReads

I created a Goodreads account in 2007. I added some books I read in high school and then did not use the account for many years. I started adding books to my account again last year when I received a Kindle. The Kindle automatically asks you to rate a book when you finish and it gets posted to Goodreads.



When I first logged back onto Goodreads this week, I realized the suggestions were not what they should be because my shelves were polluted with things that reflected my 18 year-old self. Today, I enjoy reading narrative non-fiction and children and teen fiction. I cleaned up my shelves, created some additional shelves, and added some books to my Want To Read shelf. Now my recommendations are on point!



Shelves I created include: Teens, Picture Books, Storytime (books that are good for reading aloud), Children, Non-Fiction, and Memoirs. As I read more, I will create more shelves. I think this will be helpful when I reference my account to make recommendations.


I am glad I am now friends with other BCPL librarians! It's super cool to be able to learn what others are reading. This will help increase my awareness of books that might interest readers at my library.


I left suggestions for my colleagues Andrea and Varshea. For Andrea, I noticed her Read shelf contained a lot of cookbooks and books written by popular chefs. She also had given Wild by Cheryl Strayed 4 stars. From this, I suggested a memoir called Julie and Julia in which, like Wild, the author goes on an adventure of a lifetime, but instead of a months long hike, Julie resolves to cook every recipe (over 500 of them!) in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in just 365 days.


For Varshea, I noticed that she is currently reading a couple of memoirs written in prose that discuss race, gender, and other social issues facing people of color. I suggested the 2014 National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson's memoir is also written in prose. Although it is more subtle in it's discussion about race and gender due to it being geared towards children, it offers the unique perspective of a woman who grew up in the 60s, spending time in both South Caroline and Brooklyn.